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He jumped into the passenger seat of the squad and gave me an unhappy look. “Why didn’t you eat breakfast with us, Travis? Annie made pancakes for me again, and a pan of those great biscuits. What’s going on with you and her?”

“Can’t talk about it.” I stared at the white line and drove.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

We picked up breakfast containers at the diner and before I unlocked the door of the run to deliver the food, I could hear the screaming inside.

“Sounds like trouble,” said Harlan.

Josie Masters was shrieking and writhing in pain on her bunk, and I had no choice. I had to call an ambulance for her, and it would take fifteen to twenty minutes for them to respond from Cut Bank Hospital.

Instead of this being a brief Sunday morning trip to the station on my day off, it was going to take half the morning to get Josie taken care of.

While Harlan and I waited, Hannah Hargrove shouted more abuse at me. “You should’ve done something about that woman long before this, Travis. She needed medical help, and you ignored her needs. People have rights.”

“Thanks for your diagnosis, Hannah. What do you care about people’s rights? You deliberately sent your men onto my property to steal protected horses. You violatedmyrights.”

“You’ll have to prove that, Travis. One ofmyrights.”

Deciding it was better to wait in the safety of the break room, Harlan made coffee and we sat in there listening for the siren.

“Why can’t you tell me what’s going on with Annie? She’s not mad like you are.”

“She said something I didn’t like, and that’s all I’m telling you.”

“You didn’t sleep with her last night, and you wouldn’t talk to her at breakfast. The girls noticed and they were upset and talking about it at the barn.”

“Okay, if you have to know, here it is. She made a remark about Jackson’s father that rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn’t ignore it. It pissed me off.”

“You knew Jackson’s father?”

“Oh, yeah, I knew him all right. He was the boss of a Vegas MC calledThe Rule. After flattening six years in Huntsville, he was released.”

“First thing he did when he got out, he came looking for Annie and that’s when he found out Annie and I were a couple. He tried to kill me more than once—ran me down with a fuckin Toyota—when he found out she hadn’t waited six years for him to get out of the slammer.”

“He still alive?”

I shook my head. “Nope. He’s been dead a few years. A friend of mine, Jesse Quantrall, killed him. I owe Jesse for that favor.”

“If he’s dead, why would you be upset by something Annie said about him?”

“Don’t know. Just the way my demented brain works. I can’t explain why her words hit me so hard.”

“Should you say you’re sorry?”

“Sorrydon’t cut it with Annie. Once you say something, you can’t saysorryto her and make it go away. That ain’t her style at all. She’s more like—should I shoot you in the foot, the nuts, or the fucking heart?”

Harlan laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. Not kidding.”

“Too bad you’re missing all the fun. The poker tournament was a hoot, and now you’re gonna fuck up Sunday too. The girls have to go back to Marilyn’s ranch tonight. Did you forget that?”

“Course I didn’t,” I snapped at Harlan and didn’t mean to. “What’s going on? Did we change roles? You’re the parent now?”

“No, but I’m an expert on people fucking themselves over. I’ve done it all my life.” He got up and went to open the back door for the ambulance guys.

You’re right, Harlan. That’s exactly what I’m doing.