Page 40 of Final Ride

Billy turned his head, “Ted, figure out what the guy used to break the glass. Might be prints on it.”

“Copy.”

“They had no idea you were here in the office?” asked Billy.

“No. I called 911 and stayed in the office, but I could hear what they were yelling and what Charlie was saying back to them…”

“That was a good decision,” said Billy. “Does the store have security cameras?”

“Yes. Inside and out. I can show you what the cameras saw, if you’d like.”

“We’ll have to have copies, Pauline, but if you can put the pictures on the screen, I’d like to take a quick look.”

The interior cameras recorded exactly what Pauline told us. Two big guys wearing ski masks smashing the gun cabinets and helping themselves to several guns. One of them being a Winchester shotgun that was the murder weapon.

The camera at the front of the store showed the main street of Cut Bank and several parked vehicles.

“Harlan, write down all those makes and models parked out front and any partial tags you can make out.”

“Copy.”

“When the robbers left,” said Pauline, “after they took the guns and ammo they wanted and killed Charlie and took the money out of the cash, they ran out the back door. I think they might have parked out back. The camera facing the back lot isn’t working. We were waiting on a repair.”

“Okay, thanks. That’s good information.”

“Were the robbers talking to each other?” asked Travis. “Hollering to each other while they were smashing and grabbing?”

“They yelled a lot at Charlie when they were trying to make him unlock the gun cabinets,” said Pauline.

“Anything else?” asked Travis. “Any words you overheard would be helpful.”

“The only words I remember recognizing were Big Bear.”

“That’s the casino in Conrad,” said Virge. He lowered his voice and whispered so only I could hear him. “I used to score there when I was somebody else.”

“Good one,” said Travis. “They may have needed the guns to rob the casino.”

“Too bad we don’t know when,” I said.

After Ted drove Pauline home, we helped Doc Olsen get Charlie into a body bag.

Virgil sealed the store with yellow tape, and we went back to the station to sort it out.

Holiday Inn. Kingston. Ontario.

After Bobby tossed Tammy into the river, he headed for the Canadian border. A little nervous that the border cop would notice he was hurt and not let him cross, he got his passport and ID ready beforehand, so he’d be quicker getting through.

The lineup was long, and the customs officer barely looked at him. Checked his passport and glanced at his driver’s license and waved him through.

Bobby let out a sigh of relief and kept going into Ontario. He made it as far as Kingston before he was forced to do something about the wound and the pain.

Bobby stopped at the first drugstore he happened to see and went inside. He bought a variety of medical supplies he thought might be useful in patching up his gunshot wound.

There was no way he could go into a clinic or a hospital with a gunshot without involving the police. His picture was on wanted posters and there would be some asshole who would’ve seen his face.

Once he had what he needed to patch himself up, he pulled into the nearest hotel—which happened to be a Holiday Inn—and rented a room for him and Cleo.

Bobby stripped off all his bloody clothes, walked into theshower in the ensuite and stood under the hot water until all the coagulated and crusty dried blood gurgled down the drain.

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