Coyote's Regret by Rich Curtin

Author:Rich Curtin [Curtin, Rich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781796754766
Publisher: Monticello Press
Published: 2019-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

15

RIVERA’S CELL PHONE buzzed as he turned left on Route 347 and headed back to the sheriff’s office in Monticello. The caller was Bill Converse.

“I asked my foreman to talk to everyone on the ranch to find out if they’d seen anything unusual around here lately. It took Slim most of the day to connect with everyone, but he said no one saw anything that could be described as unusual.”

“Thanks Mr. Converse. I appreciate the cooperation.” Rivera tried to hide the disappointment in his voice but knew he wasn’t doing a very good job.

“I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but we’ve asked everyone on the place to keep an eye out and let me know right away if they see anything or hear any gossip that might help. If any information comes my way, I’ll call you immediately.”

Rivera thanked him again and clicked off. He shook his head. Clues in this case were hard to come by. Too little information, an unclear motive for murder, things not making sense. Trouble was, he had exhausted almost all of his potential sources of information. He had yet to hear back from Sam Dryden. Maybe one of Dryden’s employees would have noticed something unusual. Or maybe Abby would come through after Herman talked with her. Right now, all he had were two dead civilians and no idea what his next step would be.

As he crested a hill and drove past the airstrip, he thought he saw a flash of reflected sunlight in a stand of junipers atop a hill beyond the far end of the runway. He took note of the location and kept driving. A half mile later, he pulled over to the side of the road, grabbed his binoculars, and proceeded on foot to the source of the flash. He scanned the juniper trees atop the hill where he saw the flash, spotting a chrome rear bumper protruding from the foliage. It was attached to an extended-cab Ram pickup truck.

He waited, watched, and listened for fifteen minutes, seeing no movement and hearing nothing but the sound of the breeze rustling the dead grass and the occasional bellowing of a distant cow. Why would someone be hidden in a place overlooking the airstrip? The question seemed to answer itself. Someone was waiting for a plane to arrive with a delivery. Which meant danger. If the vehicle belonged to dope smugglers and Rivera was spotted out in the open, he’d be an easy target for a rifle shot. If the Masons had been killed because they had stumbled onto a drug deal, he’d be killed too.

He waited another thirty minutes. There was no sign of the pickup driver or an incoming aircraft. Rivera wondered how he was going to phrase this part of his investigation when he typed up his report. Why did he wait so long before ascending the hill on which the truck rested? Was it an extended surveillance? A strategic pause? A normal precaution? Or was he

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