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“I’ll get you more coffee and I’ll get you lunch at the diner when I go over to get food for the prisoners.”

“Thanks, Molly. Tell the kids I did great, okay?”

She laughed. “Are you doing great, Travis?”

“Almost. I’m nudging greatness.”

Shelby Fairgrounds.

We found parking spots side by side in the designated area and split up from there. Billy took the food trucks so he could sit at one of the picnic tables, drink a Coke and smoke without anybody noticing him.

Ted took the section where the laborers were running the rides. Ticket takers, helpers getting people on and off, the guys controlling the length of the rides.

The fairgrounds was crawling with carney workers and day laborers. Men and younger boys milling around all over theplace. A few girls in the ticket booths, and a few older guys supervising, but mostly guys in their late teens, early twenties.

Harlan strolled the midway watching the guys running the games and at the same time, keeping an eye on the crowds of people who might be attracting pickpockets. The wallet grabbers were slick and professional, and you could barely see them make their move.

I watched long tables of vendors who were following the carnival selling guns and knives and related hunting gear.

Those booths were manned by older guys who needed a closer look, but at the moment they didn’t have any young kids working for them. Not yet anyway.

When Billy passed by them he wondered if they were selling stolen weapons. Over the course of the weekend, he intended to find out a few more details about those guys and where all their shiny merchandise came from.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Mid-afternoon, Molly tip-toed down the hall to check on Travis and he was slumped down in his chair sound asleep. She wanted to take him home to his ranch but couldn’t leave the office or the phones unattended.

Taking a chance that Savanna still liked Travis enough to do him this favor, Molly called her at the store and explained what she needed.

Travis opened his eyes, and he was looking up at Savanna’s beautiful face. A bit disoriented, he said, “Hey, girl.”

“Hey, yourself. Come on, Travis. I’m going to take you home.”

“No. I can call Tammy.”

“Molly said Tammy is in Shelby working. I’ll take you home. Let me help you up, and don’t give me a lot of your macho bullshit. Don’t be a butt.”

“Aw, Savanna, I ain’t worth helping up and you know it.”

“Up.” She pulled him gently out of the chair and wrapped an arm around him for support. She helped him down the hall and out the front door of the station to her car parked at the curb.

Travis groaned as he eased into the passenger seat. “I’m a goddamned mess, girl.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

On the drive to the ranch, Savanna apologized for not coming to see him at the hospital when he was shot. “I didn’t come to see you on purpose, Travis. If I’d come to the hospital and seen you like you are now, I’d have come back to you in a second. I guess I was trying to avoid that, but still I felt mean.”

“You gonna change your mind any time soon?”

“You want me to?”

“Course I do. Kids miss you every fuckin day. They’re always ragging on about you moving out and they blame me.”

“I miss them too. I’m attached to those kids after living with you as long as I did. I miss Billy too. You guys were the closest thing to family I ever had.”

“I was never clear on why you left me,” said Travis.

Savanna sighed. “I guess I thought I’d get hurt if I got in too deep. You’ve left a trail of broken hearts in your wake, and I figured I’d be next on the list.”