Landry trails his fingers over the red-dented body of the car, deep in thought.
“The guard rail must be destroyed,” Bowen looks over the wreck like he’s trying to replay the crash like I am.
He hasn’t been there yet? If I hadn’t looked for the camera, I might not have gone out there either.
“No, it wasn’t. Just the end is mangled.”
Bowen lifts his brows. “You’ve been the to the crash site?”
“Meredith wanted Holly’s camera back. I looked for it, but no luck.”
“Maybe some fisherman walked off with it?” Bowen doesn’t sound confident. None of us have questioned Meredith about Holly having it on her. It’s not at the house, and we haven’t moved Dad or Holly’s stuff. If she really was into photography, the camera would’ve been laying out somewhere.
“I’ve been there too.” Landry stops at the back end and inspects the driver’s side.
“You have?” He never mentioned it.
He only nods, his expression impassive. “There’s a chunk busted off the guard rail, but I can’t believe there isn’t more damage if he hit it hard enough to roll. And then there’s the passenger side.”
“I know what you mean.” Bowen takes the same path Landry did, running his fingers over the frame.
I follow him, taking in the damage. “Dietz said the dents are from rolling.”
Bowen frowns, steps back, and props his hands on his jean-clad hips. “Maybe a car from the past decade, but this old tank? How many times did Dietz say it rolled?”
“He estimates twice.” I clench my hands into fists. The indifferent way Dietz talked to us continues to crawl under my skin and fester. He respected Dad, and grief from the loss of a friend was in his voice, but he brushed off the cause of the accident. “How fucking fast did he have to be going to roll twice?”
“Dietz can tell us,” Landry says.
“His investigation was shit.” Bowen meets my gaze.
“Agreed,” I say. Sheriff Dietz has seen many tragedies, many of which were motor-vehicle accidents. I can’t say why I feel like he should’ve looked into this crash more, but I do. “It doesn’t feel right to us, and Dietz would argue we’ve been gone so long we lost touch with Dad. But Meredith says it doesn’t feel right, and other than Holly, she and Sawyer were the closest to him. He wouldn’t risk Holly and the car for a deer, and he didn’t speed in that thing.”
“He could’ve that day.” Landry continues to circle the Bel Air. “A guy’s gotta live once in a while.”
Holly couldn’t take pictures going fast, and if Holly had wanted to snap away, Dad would’ve coasted along for her. He was the same with Mama.
“Possible.”
“We aren’t going to have answers,” Landry says. “That’s the awful thing about accidents. Maybe we should be grateful we didn’t have to watch him waste away.”
The reminder of Mama cracks a healing fissure open. “Hell of a silver lining.”
Landry shrugs. “No point in getting hung up on the past.”
Sawyer drives by in the old blue pickup—only, this time, there’s a guy in the passenger seat.
Bowen rubbernecks until he loses his balance. “Who the hell is that with Sawyer?”
“Probably another vet.” I didn’t get a good look, but I haven’t seen Sawyer with a single person other than Meredith. “Meredith said she used to date one of the guys she works with.”
He’s still frowning. “If she needed help, why wouldn’t she call me?”
“Why would she call you?” He doesn’t want to admit it, but he cares about the ranch and who’s on it.
He grunts. “I’ve been helping her and Carlos this week.”
“She might need another vet’s insight.” Is this less about a possible injury, more about the sight of another guy with Sawyer?
