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“Shit, how long was he in the bush this time?”

“No, idea. I’m looking into it and we’re trying to find where he parked his truck. Any ideas?”

“Nope. He didn’t show up for poker on Saturday night and Charlie phoned Suzie. She didn’t say where he’d gone hunting.”

“His body was found on Robert Thorn’s ranch. You know where that is?”

“Umm… we might’ve hunted on the public land behind his ranch a couple of times. I know where it is. I know the names on all of the mailboxes. Pass by them so fuckin often.”

“Yeah, you would.”

“If Chris was camped in that bush, his truck would’ve been on County Road number ten. I’m not that far from there. I’ll look for it and call you.”

“Thanks for your help, Jud.”

“No problem, Sheriff. I can’t believe Chris is dead. He really did it this time, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did.”

Concordian Residence. Conrad.

Billy had been parked down the street from Chris Concordian’s former residence for several hours before any visitors showed up to call on the widow.

Half asleep from sitting in his truck with the heater on for so long, Billy was instantly alert when a pickup truck pulled into the driveway and parked.

Running the tag didn’t take long and the guy heading to the front door of the house to see Suzie Concordian was Carter Raza. No police record.

Despite his bulky winter clothing, Raza appeared to be about thirty, dark hair and tall. About six feet tall. Nothing unusual about him.

Raza went into the house and about twenty minutes passed before he came out again and this time Suzie was with him.

The pickup backed out of the driveway and Billy shoved his own truck into gear. No point doing surveillance in a squad car.

Staying well back so he wouldn’t be noticed, Billy followed the truck.

Thorn Ranch. Oilmont

Making sure Raza didn’t know he had a tail, Billy followed all the way north on the interstate to Oilmont and then along the county road to Robert Thorn’s ranch.

He couldn’t figure out why they’d be going to Thorn’s ranch unless Suzie wanted to see where Chris had died.

Didn’t make any sense.

Nothing further he could do without blowing his cover, so he headed back to meet Travis at the Dry Run.

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek.

Billy walked into the roadhouse and found me sitting in a booth with Savanna Larson. Pale and too thin, she looked like she was released from the hospital way too soon, but I was happy to see her up and walking around.

Jack was even happier about that than I was. He was sitting close to Savanna with a loving arm around her so Billy shoved in on the other side of the booth beside me.

“How did the surveillance go?”

“Weird. It turned out a little weird.”

“How weird was it?” I laughed at Billy.

“A guy came to the house and I ran his tag—Carter Raza. He goes inside and gets the wife, and they drive up to Oilmont and then they go out to Robert Thorn’s ranch.