Page 63

“I looked them both up for Billy and as far as we could tell, Cole Lyttle is the owner of Cut Bank Ford and Logan Arthur is a lawyer.”

“Neither one with any military training or law enforcement experience.”

“None,” said Molly.

“How are they going to stand up to a bar fight when the hunters come into town and get wild and crazy?”

Molly laughed. “They won’t. Billy is the one the county needs. I hope the citizens realize that and vote for him.”

“I’m glad the Cut Bank paper is backing Billy. That should help him a lot.”

After Billy finished with Wyatt Thompson, he left for a surveillance assignment. We didn’t mention to Tammy that he was watching Tibor Garrison at the trailer park.

Sunburst Acres Trailer Park.

Tibor’s truck was parked in front of his trailer and all the while Billy watched from down the road, the truck never moved.

He and Travis had talked it over and decided not to take Garrison down on new drug charges for the time being. Even though they were fairly certain Garrison and his buddy, Tyrone Reading had just picked up a drug order in Canada, they were sitting on it.

They planned to let Tibor cool out until Billy was sheriff. After Billy won the election and hired a new deputy and Tammy was safely gone to Texas, Billy would arrest Tibor and Tyrone and put them away for good.

If they were selling drugs from Tibor’s trailer, there was no sign of it. No customers showed up the entire time Billy was parked down the road.

Sheriff’s Office. Coyote Creek.

I was determined to leave Billy with a clean slate when I left the sheriff’s office and to that end, I’d been cleaning up all the old stuff that had been sitting around since Sheriff Monroe dumped the office and Harrison County on me.

I had almost reached the end of it when Molly hollered from the squad room, “Putting a call through to you, Sheriff.”

The call was incoming on the landline. I picked up the receiver and said, “Sheriff. How can I help you?”

“This is Robert Thorn, Sheriff. I found a dead body in the snow. Think he’s a hunter. Got a rifle with him. He’s frozen solid. Don’t know how long he’s been dead. Sorry.”

“Give me directions, Mister Thorn. How do I get there?”

Thorn gave me details and I wrote it all down. His cattle ranch was north of Coyote Creek, up near Oilmont. I shrugged my coat on and hollered for Tammy.

“Come on, girl. We have to go on a call.”

“Can’t I stay with Molly? It’s cold out.”

“You’d better come with me. You can sit in the truck with the heater on. Remind me later and we’ll get you a warmer coat.”

“Don’t want a warmer coat if I’m moving to Texas.”

“Right.”

“Where’s Billy?” she glanced around the station. “Ain’t he coming?”

“Meeting us there. I called him already.”

“Where’s he been all morning?”

“On surveillance.” I wasn’t mentioning Tibor no matter how many questions she asked me.

I left the station driving one-handed north towards Oilmont.

We drove north, the snow-covered roads feeling slick beneath the tires. Tammy kept her eyes fixed outside, the occasional snowdrift catching her attention. The heater was blasting and the cab was warm, but I could tell she was still cold. I made a mental note to buy her a better coat when we got back to the station.