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So, you did know him a little better than just as an employee of your husband’s company.”

“A little better.”

“We have an eyewitness who places you inside the Masters’ house for at least half an hour on the day Tory died, Mrs. Boyd.Do you want to tell me what you and Tory were doing during that half hour period?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Perhaps your memory will function better at the station. Tanya Boyd, you are under arrest for the murder of Tory Masters.”

“No. I didn’t kill him. I didn’t.”

“Cuff her, Harlan.” To Tanya: “You’ll have plenty of time to explain to the judge at your trial, Mrs. Boyd.”

“You’re making a mistake, Sheriff. I didn’t do it.”

“You were the only one in the house, Mrs. Boyd. Mrs. Masters was long gone. You and Tory were alone for that half hour and then he was dead.”

“I want a lawyer.”

“Good call, ma’am. You definitely need a lawyer.”

Out on the driveway, Harlan helped Mrs. Boyd up and into the back seat of the tow truck. She was forced to sit with Max and Sarge, no other place for her to go.

“Sorry about the tow truck, ma’am,” I said. “It’s only a short ride back to the station.”

“I want to call my husband.”

“You’ll be given one phone call after you’re booked. It can be to your husband or to your attorney. Think about who you wish to call.”

Harlan smiled as he backed the truck into the street. He loved driving the tow truck.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Harlan parked Ted’s big tow truck next to the back door of the station. I jumped out, opened the back door, and released the dogs, then helped Tanya Boyd out of the back seat. She had trouble jumping down with her hands cuffed together.

Indignant over being arrested and mad as a wet hornet,Tanya called me a few choice names as I escorted her inside the building.

“You can stand right here to get your picture taken.” I positioned her in front of the mug shot backdrop and she wouldn’t stand still.

“I want to call my husband,” she shouted at me, wiping tears, and trying to fix her hair that had blown wild in the back of the tow truck.

Using a voice calmer than I felt, I smiled and said, “You will be allowed to make a phone call as soon as you are booked, Mrs. Boyd. I already told you that’s the way it works.”

Then she went from angry to more tearful and I had to put up with her crying and sniffling while I tried to get a picture of her.

Watching me trying to cope, Harlan took pity on me, “Do you want me to print her?”

“Yeah, finish her up and before you lock her in the run, she can make her phone call in the squad room.”

I left Harlan on his own with the sobbing Tanya Boyd and walked through to the squad room to tell Molly about Peterson.

Molly stared at me in disbelief. “You’re telling me that on the main street of Cut Bank somebody jimmied the door of the sheriff’s Bronco open and took your prisoner out?”

“Yep. That’s what happened. Max and Sarge were loose, and they ran up the hospital steps to meet us when Harlan and I came out.”

“One thing for sure,” said Molly. “You’re looking for a couple of guys with torn clothes and dog bites. The dogs wouldn’t have let them take Peterson without putting up a fight.”

“I’m glad they didn’t hurt the dogs.”