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"Kathryn," said the woman deputy, a tall, striking Latina. The other, a squat African American, nodded to her. She knew both of them well.
"Kit, John."
"The hell happened?" Kit asked.
Dance explained about the mob. She added, "You could probably get a few collars for assault and battery." A nod toward Billy and she showed her own rock-bruised arm. "I'll leave that up to you. I'm not processing criminal cases."
Kit Sanchez lifted an eyebrow.
"Long story. I'll witness, you need it."
John Lanners, the other deputy, looked over Billy Culp's shattered face and asked if he wanted to press charges against anyone in the mob. Billy's mumbled words: "I didn't see anyone."
He was lying, Dance could see. She understood, of course, that it was simply that he didn't want any more publicity as the man responsible for the Solitude Creek disaster. And his wife and children...they too would be targeted.
Dance shook her head. "You decide."
"Who's running this? CBI or us?" Lanners asked, nodding back to the roadhouse.
Sanchez said, "We don't care. Just, you know..."
"Bob Holly's here, for the county, so I guess you are." Dance added, "I came to check licenses." She shrugged. "But I decided to stay. Ask some questions."
Lanners wiped sweat--he was quite heavy--and said to Billy, "We'll call in some medical help."
The driver didn't seem to care, though he was in significant pain. He wiped tears.
Lanners pulled his radio off his belt and made a call for the EMS bus. The dispatcher reported they'd have one there in ten minutes. Dance asked Lanners, "Can you go with him?" She added in a whisper, "It's like there's a price on his head."
"Sure," he said. "And we'll give his family a call." The deputy too must have noted the wedding band.
Dance swiped at her own injury.
Kit asked, "You all right, Kathryn?"
"It's..."
Then Dance's eyes focused past the deputy, to another sign on the wall. She pointed. "Is that true?"
Henderson squinted and followed her gaze. "That? Yeah. Saved us a lot of money over the years."
"All the trucks?"
"Every single one."
Kathryn Dance smiled.
Chapter 10
The man Ray Henderson was going to sell out, the man the crowd ten minutes ago was ready to lynch, was innocent.
It took only five minutes to learn that Billy Culp was not responsible for the tragedy at Solitude Creek.
The sign Dance'd seen on the wall of Henderson Jobbing, not far from where the driver sat, miserable in his heart and hurting in his jaw, read:
WE know you Drive safely.
Remember: Our GPS does too!
