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“Umm… how about Friday night? I’ll make a reservation at the Inn. The food there is the best in town.”

“Never been there but it sounds fine to me. Friday night is date night.”

A flicker of a smile crossed Tammy’s face and I had to try hard not to laugh out loud.

Glenda was being a bitch to me because I wouldn’t commit to having a relationship with her. No way I was starting anything when I’d be gone in two weeks. I was never coming back to Montana and even if I was, Glenda Conklin wasn’t the one I’d pick.

Billy and I didn’t continue talking about the case with Glenda present. Nobody was saying anything until I broke the silence.

“Would you like a drink, Glen?”

“Yes, I would love a drink, Travis. I had never even been in this roadhouse until the night my sister and I met you and Billy, and now I’m here almost every day.”

“Funny how that happens, isn’t it?” I tried to keep it light but failed miserably.

Tammy took a big slurp of her Coke and I thought she was going to burst out laughing. I tried to picture her as a giggling teenage high school girl but couldn’t do it.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

When we got home to the ranch, we had chores to do. Billy and Tammy took care of Outlaw while I fed the dogs and got the stove going in the front room.

We’d eaten burgers and fries at the roadhouse, so there was no need to bother with dinner. Tammy loved to eat out. Maybe she’d never done it before and it was a novelty. The way she coveted food, maybe eating anything was a novelty. If Garrison was a user, he probably didn’t bother much with food—hence Tammy’s malnutrition diagnosis.

Before bed, Billy plowed the lane while I cleaned up the kitchen and set up the coffee maker for the morning. Once the house warmed up, we all went to bed.

No idea what time it was when the dogs jumped up off their beds and ran barking and snarling down the hall towards the front door.

Before I had my jeans pulled on, Tammy was awake and running down the hall past my bedroom door with the gun I’d given her in her hand.

While I was running to catch up to Tammy, I heard Billy thundering down from upstairs.

Bang. Bang.

Tammy ran into the kitchen and fired two quick shots at Tibor Garrison. She missed by at least a foot and shot Tyrone Reading instead. He dropped to the floor and rolled around hollering and grabbing onto his bleeding leg.

Tibor never stopped to help Reading. He jumped over his buddy’s body and lunged at Tammy, growling like a mad dog and trying to grab the gun out of her hand.

I glommed onto the first thing I came to and smashed a kitchen chair over Tibor’s head. Letting go of Tammy, he staggered backwards and in that few seconds, Tammy turned and ran like hell.

Billy tore through the kitchen, grabbed Garrison by his coat and spun him around. He smashed Tibor in the face, knocked him down and beat him into the floor.

Garrison struggled and fought like a wild hyena, but he couldn’t get the best of Billy. Billy’s sheer strength did Garrison in.

“Watch the knife,” I hollered as I ran down the hall to grab cuffs off my dresser. I ran back and tossed them to Billy.

He had Garrison on his belly on the kitchen floor, holding him down with a knee in his back and a gun to his head for good measure. He cuffed Tibor and then secured his ankles and his mouth with duct tape.

“Tammy, where are you?” I called to her. “It’s okay now. We’ve got them.”

No answer from Tammy. I ran to the back of the house for a quick look in her room and she wasn’t there. The door to the woodshed was open and Tammy was gone.

“Damn it. I hope you have your coat on, Tammy.”

Billy and I got dressed while our prisoners lay on the kitchen floor. One silent with duct tape over his mouth and the other cuffed and bleeding from the bullet hole in his leg.

Tammy hadn’t returned by the time we were ready to leave for the station.

“She’ll be here by the time we get back,” said Billy. “She’ll come in. It’s freezing outside.”