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Chapter Two

Wednesday, April 20th.

Best Western Hotel. Raton. New Mexico.

After giving the dogs a run around the hotel parking lot, I stashed them in the truck and went inside to the breakfast room. Completely empty except for one of the kitchen staff preparing the buffet.

I helped myself to the fresh sausages and scrambled eggs and ate at a table alone. When I finished, I fixed a coffee for the road and left.

The dogs and I were on the highway before sunup.

Cut Bank Hospital. Montana.

Billy was in so much distress during the night, the doctor had to be called and he authorized an increase in the morphine dosage.

Morning light filtered through the drapes and found him miserable and wishing he’d died on the operating table. He’d never let his mother know he was thinking thoughts like that. She’d make his wish come true.

Brenda constantly came to visit him, and he wanted to break up with her and tell her to leave him be, but he didn’t have the strength for it.

The nurses tried their best to make him comfortable, but it was an almost impossible task. He barely ate anything on his tray. No appetite. The only thing interesting Billy was the time of his next dose of drugs. The good stuff wore off way too soon and he constantly needed more to kill the pain that was frying his brain.

As the breakfast tray was being removed from his rolling table, his cell rang. Figuring it was Brenda, Billy hesitated answering.

“Your phone is ringing.” The nurse standing in front of the monitors handed it to him.

“Hi, Billy. It’s Molly.”

“Molly.” His speech was labored.

“Billy, you sound so…I’m not going to say it. I called to tell you that I talked to Travis and he’s on his way.”

“When will he be here?”

“Late tonight. Very late. Too late to visit you, but you’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Molly. I think I might live through the day now that I know he’s nearly here.”

“I’d come and sit with you, but I’m the only one at the station for now. It will be better tomorrow when Travis gets here. We’ll come up with a plan to get us through.”

“Thanks for calling, Molly. You made me feel better.”

Billy ended the call feeling a little more optimistic. Travis would get to the ranch late—during the night—and he would be there at the hospital the following day.

Billy let out a long breath of relief. When Travis came to his room, he could tell him everything that needed to be done at the office.

Does he still have his deputy status?

“I might have to deputize him again,” Billy mumbled to himself, then he closed his eyes.

Cheyenne. Wyoming.

The truck was guzzling gas at an alarming rate, and I had to stop for fuel more often than for anything else. Always well-behaved in the truck, Max and Sarge needed more runs than I was giving them. I had to slow down a bit and give them more consideration.

I was pumping more gas into the tank when Tammy called me on the phone Annie bought her. The sound of her voice told me she was upset.

“Mama told me you have to go back to Montana because Billy got hurt. I’m wishing you came back to the ranch to get me, Travis. I would’ve gone with you.”

“I couldn’t do it, Tammy. It would’ve added another whole day to my travel time, and I have to get up there. Sorry, Tam. I knew you’d be upset about Billy.”