Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

Author:Craig Johnson [Johnson, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780593830703
Google: Xhs1EQAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0593830709
Barnesnoble: 0593830709
Goodreads: 217245615
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2025-05-27T05:00:00+00:00

9

There’s dark, and then there’s in-the-middle-of-nowhere-Wyoming dark, and that’s what we were driving through, but at least it wasn’t raining.

The feeble headlights of the International failed to pierce the absolute black of the Red Desert and, not for the first time, I was having second thoughts about coming out here at night. My chances of finding the group in the day were bad enough, but attempting to figure out where they were at night was nigh on impossible—except for the map.

I’d unfolded the piece of paper and stuck it on the dash with a piece of stale gum I’d found in the glove box that I’m pretty sure was from when the Travelall had been assembled. My flashlight was tucked between the upholstery and aimed at the thing, but the pencil marks sometimes eluded me in that I’d already doubled back at least twice.

As near as I could tell, I was somewhere in the vicinity of the Jack Morrow Hills off BLM-4102 or possibly Freighter Gap Road, but I’d crossed Jack Morrow Creek three times and it was possible I was on the outskirts of Boise, Idaho, or Lyon, France.

Dog barked for the second time, and I was pretty sure he needed to hop out and lift a leg.

“Okay, okay.” Easing the International to a stop, I pulled over and climbed out.

The air was sharp, the pungent smell of the recently anointed sage and juniper cleared your senses whether you wanted them to or not. Opening the back door, I watched as Dog trailed out into the grass near the edge of the road and disappeared.

Whoever made the map, whether it had been Freebee or one of the others, made sure it led in the opposite direction of where the body of the unknown woman had been found over in the Alkali Basin.

Why try to pass the woman off as Blair? She was, after all, wearing McGowan’s clothing but, with Blair having been employed by the federal government her fingerprints and dental records, not to mention possibly her DNA, would be readily available.

What would they gain, other than a little time, by having a substitute body found?

Were they really that stupid?

And who was this woman, and how was she tied to the group?

And why send me the note and map?

On top of all that, what was the story with Zeno Carruthers and Ritt Ravitch? Obviously, the man had been an actor at one time, but he appeared to have lost the ability to drop the role of the week and was destined as a cult leader for the long run. Was it just another scam the group had worked up that was headed for a bad end?

Dog trotted back into the headlights and I opened the rear door, allowing him to climb in before closing it and noticing a set of headlights panning over the Steamboat Rim.

I pulled my coat back, unsnapped the safety strap on my Colt, and waited to see which way the vehicle was headed, but it was hard to tell from the angle of the road.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.