Endangered Read Free

Marybeth said. “That’s all they can say. She isn’t conscious, and as far as I know she hasn’t opened her eyes or tried to speak. I keep seeing doctors and nurses rushing back there, but I don’t know what they’re doing other than trying to stabilize her for the Life Flight.”
    “This is so terrible,” he said.
    “I kept telling her . . .” Marybeth started to say, but let her voice trail off. After a beat, she gently pushed away from Joe and said, “I’m going with her in the helicopter to Billings. We just have to hope that, with all she’s been through, she can hold on another hour.
    “I called the high school and left a message with the principal that you would pick Lucy up,” Marybeth continued. “Maybe you can take her out to dinner tonight, but you’ll need to feed the horses when you get home.”
    Joe started to argue, started to tell her not to worry about his dinner or anything else, but he knew this was how she processed a crisis—by making sure her family was taken care of. Only after it passed would she allow herself to break down. So he nodded instead.
    “I’ll call Sheridan as soon as I know something,” she said. “I’ve already made arrangements to be gone a few days from work. They were very good about it.”
    Sheridan was a junior at the University of Wyoming and had chosen not to be a resident assistant in the dormitory another semester. She was living with three other girls in a rental house and making noises about staying in Laramie for the summer to work. Joe and Marybeth didn’t like the idea, but Sheridan was stubborn. She was also not close to April, and the two of them had often clashed when they’d lived in the same house together.
    Lucy was Joe and Marybeth’s sixteen-year-old daughter, a tenth grader at Saddlestring High School. She was blond like her mother and maturing into self-sufficiency. Lucy had been a careful observer of her two older sisters and had avoided their mistakes and errors in judgment. April had stayed in contact with Lucy more than anyone else, although Lucy had relayed what she’d been told to Marybeth.
    Joe said to Marybeth, “You know who did this.”
    “We can’t jump to that conclusion.”
    “Already did,” Joe said.
    In his peripheral vision, he saw Sheriff Mike Reed roll his chair toward them. If Reed hadn’t overheard Joe, he’d at least gotten the gist of what had been said, Joe thought.
    “When you have a minute . . .” Reed said.
    Joe turned to Reed and Boner, then shook Boner’s hand. “Thanks for bringing her here. We appreciate it. You made the right call not waiting for the ambulance to show up.”
    Boner was new to the department and Joe didn’t know the man well.
    “Just doing my job,” Boner said softly. “I’ve got a three-year-old girl at home. I can’t imagine . . .” He didn’t finish the thought, but looked away, his face flushed red.
    Joe said to Reed, “It was Dallas Cates. That’s who she left with. We need to find him.”
    “Whoa,” Reed said, showing Joe the palm of his hand. “I know you’ve got your suspicions, and I do, too, but right now we’ve got nothing to go on.”
    “It was him.”
    “Marybeth is right,” Reed said. “You’re emotional right now and you’re jumping to conclusions. I know it’s against your nature, but you need to let this thing work. I’ve got my guys working on the investigation and my evidence tech out there on Dunbar Road to see what we can find. It’s only been a couple of hours, Joe.”
    Joe said, “If you don’t find him, I will.”
    “Joe, damn you,” Reed said, shaking his head. “Slow down. Just slow down. You know as well as I do that we could screw the whole thing up if we put blinders on and make accusations that turn out to be false.”
    Joe smoldered.
    After a moment, he felt Marybeth’s hand on his shoulder and he looked back at her.
    She was grave. She said, “Promise me you won’t do anything crazy while I’m gone. I need