Page 44 of Final Ride

“I don’t agree.”

“Why not, Harlan?” asked Dad.

“Because, if they were taking the guns to sell them, they would’ve taken all of them.”

“Yep.” Travis nodded. “That makes sense. They would’ve taken more than they did.”

Holiday Inn. Kingston. Ontario.

Tired from blood loss and exhausted from driving around wounded, Bobby wanted to do nothing but sleep.

Tammy the Terrible was dead, and Bobby no longer had plans or a mission in his life. He and Cleo would stay in the hotel and rest until they had somewhere better to go.

Bobby needed time to heal physically and time to regroup and put his life back together. No Ray to hang out with, and now no Tammy to hate, he had nothing to focus on.

Big Bear Casino. Conrad. Montana.

Me and Virge picked Ted up at the station and drove down to Conrad to the casino. “Ever been here before, Ted?” asked Virge.

“Yeah, I brought a couple of girls here for dinner and a night out. Like that.”

“Together or one at a time?” asked Virge.

Ted snorted. “One at a time, you asshole.”

“You make any cash money?”

“Hell no. Casinos are for losing money, not making it, Virge.”

“Some people win jackpots,” said Virge.

“The casino wants a few people to win jackpots. They take the pictures of a few winners holding those big fake checks and that’s how they lure more people in to take their money.”

“Huh.”

“You got your fake ID?” I asked my brother. “I think we have to be twenty-one.”

Ted laughed. “I’m over twenty-one. You guys can wait in the truck.”

The security guy on the door scanned our IDs and gave both of us a second look. Especially Virge. Right away I was suspicious of him. He could let people in to rob the place if he wanted to. I was sure he was one of the inside guys.

“Why were you staring at that security guard?” Virge asked me.

“Didn’t trust him.”

“I’m going to write down the name and employee number of every guy I see who looks like a con,” said Virge.

“What about girls?”

“Okay. I guess there could be con girls too. Even girlfriends of the robbers who might work here. If we had the IDs of the guys who robbed the Outfitters store, we could find out if their girlfriends worked at this casino. Make that connection and we’d have them by the fuckin’ nuts.”

“Possible.”

“Ted is working on the prints at the store, and he might have an ID on one of the robbers by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, if I get lucky,” said Ted. “That’s a huge store to print.”

“Did you find what they broke the glass in the gun cabinets with?” asked Virge. “Dad thought that was your best bet for prints.”

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