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He died instantly in the driver’s seat. Luckily, his wife and child were riding in the back seat and were injured but not dead. A miracle that the wife had chosen to ride in the back with the toddler.

It took Doctor Olson, the coroner, an hour to drive across route two from his office in Cut Bank to the scene—a distance that would normally take about twenty minutes.

During that wait time, the ambulance came and took the wife and child to the hospital. The wife sobbing and not quite believing her husband was dead.

I stood next to the open door of the truck while Doctor Olson did the preliminary examination of the driver. He was wedged in tight, the motor shoved right back, crushing into him—and nothing in God’s imagination the fuckin air bag could do for him.

Billy and I managed to pull the driver—Gary Lockwood—out of the truck and we carried his corpse to the Doctor’s van. His helper had the body bag spread out and we lifted the body into the van out of the wind.

Dina and Gary Lockwood and baby Gary Junior. A bad start to the day for them. And for us.

Not quite as bad for us.

Billy and I were about frozen solid when we got back to our truck. Even with the heat on full blast, I couldn’t get warm. Billy was born in Montana and he wasn’t as hateful of the cold as I was.

As we drove away from the scene, I couldn't shake the image of Lockwood’s lifeless body out of my head. It was a harsh reminder of how quickly life can be taken away, how something as simple as a routine drive to the store and back can end so tragically. The radio played in the background, but I couldn't focus on the music. My mind was still processing everything that had just happened.

Billy broke the silence. “You doing okay, Travis?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need some time to process everything.”

He nodded in understanding. “I hear you. Scenes like that never get easier, no matter how many times you witness them.”

We drove in silence for a few more minutes before Billy spoke up again. “Hey, you want to grab a coffee after we finish up at the station?”

I thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that sounds good. I need something to warm me up.”

On the way to the office we came across our second accident of the morning. Two trucks had crashed about a mile north of Coyote Creek, maybe a mile from the Dry Run.

The dark green Ram was tipped up on its side against a six-foot snowbank, and the red Silverado had the passenger door caved in.

Both drivers were in the road hollering and cursing at each other. Billy got their IDs. Owner of the Ram was Charlie Boswell and the Chevy belonged to Terry Kovaks.

“You guys call Ted?” I shouted to be heard above the goddamned wind.

“He’s busy,” said Kovaks staring at his smashed truck.

Billy finished getting the insurance info for each driver and vehicle while I tried calling Ted to see how long he was going to be.

“Yeah, Travis. Terry Kovaks called me already and I told him I was on another job. About a half hour at least before I get there.”

“No problem, Ted. I’ve got the guy from Shelby Service Center cleaning up my last mess.”

“That the one with the dead driver?” asked Ted.

“That’s the one. I want you on my payroll for the rest of this storm. No other calls for you until I get clear of the ones that came into the office.”

“Copy that, Travis.”

As I ended the call to Ted, I felt a little uneasy. Two accidents in one morning, and both of them involving trucks. It was clear that the storm was taking its toll on the drivers, and I couldn't help but wonder how many more accidents we would come across before the day was over.

I turned to Billy, who had just finished exchanging information with the drivers. “Billy, I want you to follow up with both of these guys later today. Make sure they’re okay and see if they need any assistance from us.”

“Sure thing, Travis,” Billy replied, jotting down some notes in his notepad.

I glanced over at the two drivers who were still shouting at each other. I made my way over to them, trying to calm them down.

“Hey, guys, let's try to keep it civil, okay? The storm's making it tough for everyone out here.”