Page 86

“Huh. News to me. I’ll call Doctor Olson in the morning and see if he’s done the autopsy yet. I sensed Bronowski was dirty when we were there, and I said so to Harlan. Harlan said there was a woman in the house with him while we were there, but we didn’t see her.”

“How’d you know, Harlan?” asked Billy.

“Smelled her perfume on the dude.”

“Something ain’t right there,” I said, “but not much I can do until Doc Olson makes his ruling. If he says it was an accidental drowning, I’m fucked. I won’t be able to investigate.”

Chapter Seventeen

Thursday, May 5th.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

I was beat at breakfast and didn’t feel like facing another day as sheriff of Harrison County. My injuries from the plane crash were sending me signals and I desperately needed down time. But the way things were going in my life, there was little time for me to kick back and be a couch potato.

“When are we taking our horses over to the Pellegrino ranch?” asked Lucy.

“We have arraignments this morning at the courthouse, so it will have to be later. Probably at the end of the day when Harlan and I come home, we’ll load them then. Y’all can still get ready—tack, saddles, and all the rest. Be ready for whenever I can get back here.”

“I wish I had my license,” said Tammy, “and I could tow the trailer over to Marilyn’s ranch by myself.”

“Harlan will have his license soon too, then we will have no shortage of drivers.”

Harlan had no comment. He reached for more toast and the jar of peach jam.

At the breakfast table, Billy complained about being left behind with the girls, but there was nothing I could do to help him. The healing of his leg would take whatever time it took. No way I could speed things up.

“You think I don’t want you to get better faster?” I asked. “Soon as you take over, I’m off the hook. I probably want your leg to heal more than you fuckin do.”

“Yeah,” said Billy. “I shouldn’t be bitching at you. I did this to myself.”

“It was an accident,” said Tammy. “You’ll be better soon, Billy.”

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

Molly had fed the prisoners and provided them with coffee before Harlan and I got there. All we had to do was load them into the squads when Ted arrived and transport them to the courthouse.

I poured myself a coffee and went through the messages on my desk. Nothing pressing but there was one from Olivia asking me to call her. While I waited for Ted to get to the shop, I called.

“Travis, thank you for calling.”

“No problem. What is it, Olivia?”

“I wanted to thank you for cleaning up the mess I made with Miller. I noticed the five hundred dollars deposited to my business account.”

“That will be a weekly deposit until he extracts what’s left of the principal from the market. I trust that’s satisfactory?”

“It’s wonderful, Travis, and I thank you for talking to him. It takes a lot of pressure off me.”

“Happy to help.”

“Would you come for dinner sometime soon? Bring your whole family, I’d be delighted to see all of you.”

“I may do that, Olivia. The girls are leaving soon for Marilyn’s training camp, and I may bring them to the Inn for dinner before they go.”

“I’m so looking forward to it, Travis. I miss having you in my life more than I thought possible to miss someone.”

I ended the call to Olivia thinking about which day I’d take the girls out for dinner. My cell rang and startled me. Doctor Olson was on the line, and I wanted to talk to him. “Doc, you got something for me?”