Teaching Kelly to ride a horse was not proving easy. Sure, she could sit on the horse but controlling it was another problem entirely. She lacked whatever it was that allowed people to ride horses as we have done for millennia. Still, she tried her best and was able to laugh at her feeble attempts at riding.

Ginger, the gelding that I’d bought her for her birthday sensed this and took off wherever he thought fit as soon as he knew it was her on his back. To give her credit, she did try to control the beast but she could never get the hang of it even if she was on my horse Jake, who was very docile indeed.

One Saturday afternoon, were out riding. I was riding Ginger and Kelly was on Jake. For once, both our mounts were behaving themselves.

We’d pulled up to let the Horses rest and get some water from a stream when out of the blue, Kelly said,
“I received an email from my Father yesterday.”

As far as I knew, Kelly was not on speaking terms with her parents. I let her continue. I could see that even getting this far had taken a lot of willpower.

“He said that Mom had suffered a mild heart-attack just over a week ago and he wants me to go home to look after her.”

This was a new one for me. I’d heard of all sorts of ploys families would use to get the errant child home when I was an MP. None of the excuses apart from attending a funeral were even remotely acceptable as an excuse for someone to go AWOL.

“And?” I replied.

“I called a friend who lives on the same block as us last night. She told me that Mom was taken into Hospital a week past Monday and was discharged three days ago.”

“Are you going to go? Go back East as they want you to?”

“Why? Why should I? I have a whole phalanx of brothers and cousins and aunts and uncles who all live within a mile or two of my parents. No, they want me to go home and do the dirty work.”

I smiled.

“Think of the positive. Could they have accepted that you are a woman now? In many families, it is the job of the women to look after the sick and injured.”

Kelly gave me a dirty look.

“Are you trying to get rid of me? Besides, in my old family, it was always the youngest no matter if they were a boy or girl that had to give up everything to look after the parents. I could be a multi Oscar winning actor getting millions of dollars for a film but, as the youngest, I’d be the one expected to give up everything and stay at home to look after my parents. That was how it was done back in the old country and they see no reason at all to change it here.”

I grinned back at her.

“No, I’m not trying to get rid of you. Far from it. You are your own person and will make up your own mind and there is little I can say or do to influence you except to ask you to marry me.”

I’d been thinking about popping the question for a while but had never quite found the right moment… until now that is.

A very startled Kelly looked at me…
“You chose a really great time to pop the question you know?”

“Yeah but what you said about families sticking together… well will you?”

“Don’t be silly. Of course, I will.”

“Good. Now what are we going to do about your Mother?”

Kelly shook her head.

“Sometimes Matthew Beecher, you are the most frustrating person I have ever known.”

“Isn’t it nice to have someone looking out for you?”

She responded by giving me a passionate kiss.

“Well?” asked Matt after they broke apart.

“Well what?”

“Your Mother…?”

“If I know my family there will be someone with her day and night. I’d expect that Aunt Siobhan will have a roster already in place. She’s the family matriarch in waiting so I know that Mom is in good hands.”

“And you don’t want to go when other members of your family are there?”

“Exactly.”

“Then let me make a call to someone I know in New York who owes me a favour. He’ll get past the family fortress to pass on your best wishes.”

“Really? You don’t know them like I do.”

I smiled.

“He’s on the job and a captain. That should get him through the picket lines at least.”

“Just how many people around the country do you know and how many owe you favours?”

I grinned.

“Being a Sergeant in the MP’s and turning the other cheek just once in a while can work wonders. A bit of give and take along with a stern warning not to do it again for minor things like getting drunk often worked very well. One of those who owe me a favour is now a Junior Senator and this one is a Captain in the NYPD.”

“Ah, the ‘not doing everything by the book’ thing?”

“Exactly but you have to choose when and where to look the other way. Unlike some of my fellow MP’s, I never took a bribe or anything. I just got them to owe me a favour as I’d done them one. Far simpler and not open to charges of bribery and corruption. I’d never ask them to do something that involved money or even remotely illegal.”

Kelly just gave me a look that confused the hell out of me. Then she kissed me again. All seemed right with the world.

---

People talk about the best laid plans and everything… This is exactly what happened a few days after I’d proposed to Kelly.

Kelly had gone off duty and was running some errands for Ma when we had a visitor at the station.

“Hello People? Did you miss me?”

As I looked through the open door of my office I swear that I heard Sue-Ellen curse under her breath. I knew who it was by the voice.

“Goodbye Walt. You know where the door is. Oh Yes, you just came through it,” said Sue-Ellen in a sarcastic tone.

“Well? Did you miss me Darlin?”

“I’m not your Darlin Walt. Never was and never will be even over your dead body which I’d even dance naked over wearing stiletto’s just to prove that you were really dead!”

I smiled at the excellent put down then I took that as my cue to walk out of my office.

“Hello Bro!” he exclaimed.

I didn’t say anything.

“What? Cat got your tongue? I know that Ma will be glad to see me even if you are not!”

I bit my tongue before answering.

“Walt, what the hell are you doing here? Did your lover in Vegas get tired of you sponging off her?

He ignored me.

“Before you ask, there have been a number of changes around here since I fired you. We didn’t miss you did we Sue-Ellen?”

She laughed.

“We didn’t even notice that you’d gone.”

Then she laughed and said,
“Apart from the better smell. That coat of yours was the pits. We were all happy to see it go up in smoke.”

The smile disappeared from Walt’s face.

“There isn’t a job for you here. We are doing very well without you.”

“Yeah, I heard about Old Man Cummings. Who’d a thought it eh? Right under our noses all that time. How did you find out that he was wanted in the Big Apple?”

“That’s none of your business. You aren’t on the payroll now and that information is strictly ‘need to know’ and you certainly don’t need to know.” said Sue-Ellen firmly.

He glared at her.

“What do you want then Walt? Why have you come back knowing that you are not really welcome here now? And besides, we do have a Department to run you know?” I asked.

“Can you tell Ma that I’ll be home for Dinner tonight?”

“Why don’t you tell her yourself? You do have a phone don’t you or has a cat got your tongue?”

He didn’t answer.

“Are you afraid of Ma?”

Again, he didn’t answer.

“Give her a call but don’t expect to be staying at home tonight. Ma’s taken over your old room for her sewing.”

Walt looked very disappointed and went red in the face.

He didn’t say anything but just walked out of the office.

For several seconds, neither of us said anything. I felt like punching a hole in the wall. Walt was bad news. Until he’d left I didn’t realise just how disruptive he was.

In the end, I looked at Sue-Ellen and said,
“This is not good. He has to have a reason for coming back here.”

“Yeah. Money or Women or both is my guess,” said Sue-Ellen.

“You could be right, you could be right.”

“Hadn’t you better be calling Ma!”

“You are very right in that. She will not be happy to see him. Not happy at all and when Ma is unhappy, she is not nice to be around.”

I went back into my office and made the call.

“Hi Ma,” I said when she answered.

“No Ma, I’m fine and so is Kelly.”

“Ma… We have just had a visit from Walt. I sorta get the feeling that he wants back in…”

“Yes Ma, it seems that he wants back in to his old life as if nothing had happened. Well, that’s how it appears on the surface. You can never tell with Walt what is real and what is bluster.”

“No Ma, I didn’t tell him about Kelly. I did tell him about his bedroom though.”

“Sorry Ma. He just walked out. He’s probably heading your way.”

“No Ma, we can’t leave here. We are expecting Jimmy Cain and his Lawyer to come in for a deposition. Sue-Ellen and I are the only ones here.”

“No, she’s out running those errands for you.”

“Sorry about leaving you to deal with Walt Ma, I’ll be back later.”

---

It was close to seven in the evening when I arrived home. I could not see a strange vehicle parked anywhere around so I assumed that Walt had been and gone.

“Hi Ma!” I said cheerily when I walked in through the back door.

“Don’t you dare ‘Hi Ma’ me. Walt is not a happy bunny.”

“Why? I told him that his room was no longer available.”

“Well, he didn’t believe you but even after seeing it he wanted to stay the night or at very least for dinner.”

“Oh,” I replied.

“He saw the three places set at the table.”

“And assumed that the third was his as it was before?”

“I put him straight on that. He took it as an affront that you were dating his replacement. I’m sure he muttered words like ‘back of a dead horse’ when I told him. He was darned lucky that I didn’t get it all or he would have had the back of my hand on his face.”

“Well tough. He wanted to see the bright lights and … Well he left us and we’ve got on with our lives very well since he left.”

Then I changed the subject slightly.

“Did he give any indication why he was back in town?”

“I didn’t give him a chance. I showed him the door and he drove off. He knows what he has to do to get back in my good book. He is totally unrepentant. That’s him all over. He has not changed one little bit I’m afraid.”

“Ma? He’s family.”

“Yeah and families have rules and he broke just about all of them more than once. That coat of his was the last straw. He is up to no good. Mark my words. He has always had a shifty look when he’s up to no good. He had that look when he was here today.”

I knew exactly what she meant. It was one of his ‘tells’.

“Ok Ma. I’ll go and get washed up. Kelly will be here in a few minutes.”

---

None of us saw Walt in the next few days but I had this feeling in my gut that he wasn’t that far away. All I wanted was for him to stay out of our lives. Things had gotten a lot better with him gone from the County.

From a Policing point of view, had other issues to contend with. Some of the kids at the high school had been caught in possession of a small amount of crack. We found that it had been supplied by an elder brother to one of them who had been kicked out of college for dealing.

We came down heavily on those caught with crack and it didn’t take long to find the source. Jake Carmichael was charged with dealing and supplying with intent to a juvenile. With him locked up, things sort of returned to normal. Normal for Custer County is like a Dessert Town in the middle of a summer’s day. Nothing out of the ordinary happens unless there is something wrong.

---

Five days after Walt returned to town, I received an unexpected visit from the local DEA chief, Lawrence Hill Jnr. The moment he walked into the office the temperature seemed to drop by a good ten degrees. He was a cold-hearted bastard. You could not trade with him. He was a typical ‘law is the law and perps will be dealt with to the full extent of the law’ sort of person. He followed the letter of the law to the end. That’s why he was a Fed and I was a lowly County Sheriff.

Every time I came into contact with him, I wondered when he was going to run for office on a ‘law and order’ ticket. He had the insincere smile of a politician along with a limp going on soggy handshake. To me those are the signs of a politician and also a sign of someone who is not to be trusted as far as Joe Montana could once throw a touchdown pass for the ‘49’ers.

With him on this visit, was a late middle-aged woman with him. I’d never her seen before. Her hair was pulled back into a very tight bun and she wore no makeup and was wearing a plain grey trouser suit.

“Sheriff, this is Agnes Pritchard from the Surface Transportation Board said Mr Hill.

“Pleased to meet you Ms Pritchard.”

“It is Mrs. I don’t hold with this Ms palaver.”

“Please take a seat. This is rather an unexpected visit. Normally, we get a heads up that you are coming this way.”

“Sorry about that Sheriff. We received a tip off about some things that could be going down in this neck of the woods late last night. As a result, Mrs Pritchard flew in from DC on the red-eye to Denver overnight. I picked her up at the airport on the way here.”

“This sounds very serious. Let me get my No 2 to join us.”

“Sorry Sheriff, this is ‘need to know’ at the moment,” said Mrs Pritchard.

I closed the door to the office so that they could speak freely.

“Fair enough. Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

My two visitors looked at each other. Mrs Pritchard nodded her head.

Mr Hill produced a map from his briefcase.

“Can I hang this up? It will make describing the situation a lot easier.”

“Sure,” I replied and offered to help him.

Once it was hanging up he began.

“As you can see this is a map of the country that shows the major Interstates and major interconnecting secondary roads. For example, the highway that runs from Vegas to Reno is in the latter category.”

He produced an overlay which the two of us placed on top of the map.

“This overlay shows what we believe is a network of drug smuggling and other contraband freight routes. As you can see, it covers just about every state in the lower 48 apart from Maine and California. California as you know has an intensive programme of border checks to stop alien fruit and other produce from entering the state in case they contain disease or insects that could decimate the crops that the state produces. For the moment, I’m only concerned with the major highway networks.”

“We have for some time suspected that the drug networks were using normal freight transport companies to move their wares around the country. For example, we’d see a particular type of drug in say Seattle and then seven to ten days later, the same strand and I mean 100% identical would turn up at clubs way across the country in Miami. The fact that very large quantities of such drugs that we now seize on a regular basis, seem to indicate that it is no longer down to just human mules carrying the drugs on aircraft or by people driving a car loaded with the stuff. No, we began to believe that it was so well organised that whole shipping containers or semi-trailers were being used to move the product around. It might well be that the containers carry more than one sort of contraband and are a delivery service such as Uber or Deliveroo.”

What he’d said had stunned me. This, if correct was way beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

Then Mrs Pritchard took over.

“Because this is an Interstate matter, we were called in to provide all necessary assistance to the DEA who are leading this operation and the FBI who will be involved on the ground in due course. Last year, we began to obtain shipping details from the various state and DOT inspection points around the country. When we had a good six-month’s worth of data, we passed it to some very clever people from the NSA put it all into one of their supercomputers and what popped out surprised everyone.”

“We found at least thirty… that’s thirty shipping containers that have been circling the country for up to a year. On the surface, they seem to be carrying legitimate cargos but deeper investigation revealed that the companies mentioned on the manifests were mostly offshore shell companies or simply just didn’t exist. The containers arrive at a destination which is usually a nondescript warehouse in a place well outside the major population centres, and a few hours later they are back on the road again. The cycle goes on and on. The length of the cycle is anywhere between two and six weeks. Once we’d seen several six week cycles we really began to get suspicious. It does not take six weeks to get anywhere from anywhere in the lower 48 states.”

“Then we discovered a number of semi-trailers that had never been to the state that they were registered in or at least all the records seemed to indicate that.”

“Are you trying to tell me that these things are just circulating the country, day after day, week after week and year after year?”

“That is exactly what I mean.” Said Mrs Pritchard.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, the trailers and containers have their tractor units swapped every day. We estimate that the periods when the trailers don’t have a tractor unit attached is when the cargoes are removed, replenished or changed. That is the only time it can be done. We attached tracking devices to two containers on one six-week cycle. The only times it stopped was then the drivers needed to take rest breaks or for state inspections. One such container travelled from Manchester, New Hampshire to Bend in Oregon via Georgia, Texas and North Dakota and a few other places. None of the journeys were done via a direct route but by a very roundabout route indeed. It needed a powerful computer to pull that sort of data out of what is being collected by the individual states. This is what you see before you.”

I shook my head.

“This seems more like a plot to a Hollywood Thriller?”

“As strange as it may seem Sheriff, it is real enough. Which brings us down to the reason for our visit,” said Mr Hill.

“The locations of the swap over points change all the time. We have good reason to believe that the Truck Stop adjacent to the Interstate just a few miles away is one such location that is about to be used again. These interchange points are changed every few weeks or every few days some parts of the country,” said Mrs Pritchard.

“This site was according to our records, last used a couple of months ago but we were not in possession of all the information about the routes and things that we are now. The NSA computer is predicting that your county will be used in the next few days.”

“As a result, we want your help in observing the next handover.”

Their words took some time to sink in.

“Sheriff? Is there some problem?” asked Mrs Pritchard.

“No… No. Sorry. I’m just trying to digest what you have said. It sounds so far fetched that it has to be true. It is true isn’t it?”

Lawrence Hill smiled.

“That’s very much the same reaction when I was told about this. I couldn’t believe it at first so Mrs Pritchard was kind enough to let me observe a handover near Indianapolis two weeks ago. It was so smooth and polished that it was obvious to me that this was not the first time that those involved had done this before, many times before.”

My brain had started to function normally again.
“Is this another observation or are you going to move in?”

“Strictly look see. Do not touch. There is to be no interference unless there is a threat to life.”

I nodded my head.

“Do you understand Sheriff?” asked Mrs Pritchard.

“Perfectly. I’m not a shoot first and don’t ask questions sort of person.”

“Good,” she replied.

“Then we are a go for tonight?”

I sighed.

“My Ma won’t be best pleased if I skip dinner… but yes. What time?”

“We think that it should all go down at around ten, ten thirty.”

“Ok. I guess that you want me there in an unmarked vehicle? I know the terrain around the Truck Stop. There is a dirt road that comes in from the other side of the Freeway. About a quarter of a mile from the Truck Stop, it comes over a small hill. I can get to it unobserved if I have some assistance. A camera with a long lens will get everything that goes on. Is that good enough?”

Agent Hill smiled.
“It is going to have to be given the short timeframe.”

“Which one of you will be giving me a hand?”

They looked at each other nervously.

“We have to be in Denver. Rather that we have to be seen in Denver tonight. We know that some criminal gangs have people inside our organisations. Mrs Pritchard here will be giving a lecture to her organisation at their Denver Field Office. I’m going to my daughters school for a basketball game. She’s playing so I can’t be seen to miss the event. No one from our organisations in Denver know that we are here and we want to keep it that way.”

“That means that I have to let someone in on the operation then?”

“Sadly yes. Is there someone you can trust?”

“Yes, there is. She will be eating with me and my Ma tonight.”

“Can she be trusted?” asked Mrs Pritchard.

“One hundred percent.”

“How do you know that?” she said pressing the point.

“Because Mrs Pritchard, she will soon become my wife. That good enough for you?”

Mrs Pritchard went rather red in the face.

“We have to be sure you know!”

“I’m sure and it is my ass that is on the line is it not?”

They could not argue with that.

“I’m going to need the details of the trucks and what am I going to do with the evidence?”

He handed me a sheet of paper. All the details were there including pictures of the trucks in question.

“I will be back tomorrow afternoon. Do you have somewhere we can meet without attracting attention? This place is a little too public if you know what I mean.”

I thought for a moment before saying,
“I think the best place to meet is at the next intersection east of the Truck Stop. It is always pretty deserted around there. Only dirt roads go anywhere from there. The underpass is often used for people to sleep at night but is usually very quiet during the afternoon. You can remain hidden there until I get there.”

---

The two Feds left me some twenty minutes later. When they’d gone, I sat at my desk thinking about what they’d told me. The more I thought about it the more incredible it seemed to be.

My deliberations were interrupted by Tom.

“Boss, Walt is getting drunk at Harry’s and is causing a nuisance.”

I smiled back at him.

“Why don’t you go and offer him a bed in our cells for the night?”

Tom chuckled.

“And if he does not want to accept?”

“If he’s drunk then arrest him. If not send him on his way but be sure to give him a sobriety test first. We don’t want drunk drivers on our streets.”

“Sure thing Boss.”

As Tom turned to go I called him back.

“Tom… By the book please. He knows the rules so don’t give him cause to file suit. You know how he holds a grudge.”

“Gotcha Boss. Where will you be?”

“Going home for dinner with Ma and Kelly but later I’ll be close to the Interstate.”

“Working for the Feds now?”
“Reluctantly Tom, reluctantly but we are only doing some observations.”

I didn’t offer any more information and Tom didn’t press me. Since Walt had left, no one got hot under their collars if they didn’t know every little detail about every investigation that was going on in the department. Everyone knew that help was just sitting at the next desk if it was needed. Tom knew that if I needed his help he’d be brought into the loop. What you don’t know about, you can’t worry about or worse, blab about.

“Are you reachable?” he asked.
“In case of issues with your Brother.”

I smiled.

“Only if there is a big problem. If he is our guest then he will need babysitting. As Jenny is away…”

Tom grinned.
“I’ll do the dirty.”

---

[8:45pm on the other side of the Interstate to the Truck Stop]

“I’ll walk ahead and you follow my flashlight. Just don’t run me over ok?” I said to Kelly.

We were about half a mile from the Interstate and the Truck Stop. One of the best things about this part of the world is the total absence of light pollution. The only lights apart from the incredible views of the Milky Way were the vehicles on the Interstate and there were well spaced out at this time of night. We were hidden from the Truck Stop by a small hill.

“Don’t you want to drive?” complained Kelly.

“No. I know the direction that the road takes. You don’t so it is best for me to drive.”

“Ok. You are the boss.”

Ten minutes of slow walking brought us to within a hundred yards of the Truck Stop. The place was a beacon of light in the middle of not very much. We could see cars, trucks and people moving around clearly.

I’d just finished setting up a video camera that had been supplied by the DEA when the radio burst into life.

“Sheriff? Are you busy?”

I could tell from Tom’s voice that something was up.

“Tom, what’s the problem?”

“Sheriff, it is your brother. He’s sobered up and is demanding to be let out. He keeps going on about some meeting that he has to be at.”

A sudden feeling of dread spread through my body. I had to wonder if Walt was mixed up in the event that Kelly and I were hopefully about to witness.

If that was the case then I knew that I had to do my duty but… he was my brother but…

“Sheriff? Are you there?”

“Sorry Tom. I was thinking.”

“Ok Boss.”

“Let him go but can you follow him from a very discrete distance. Use that Buick we impounded last week. I don’t think the owner is interested in coming up from Orlando to pay their fines and get their car anytime soon. But Tom, don’t make it look too easy for him and when you do follow him, hang well back. Remember that he knows all the tricks of the trade.”

“Gotcha Boss.”

“If he heads towards the Interstate then turn off at Old Road and take the long way back to town but let me know what he does.”

“Boss? Where are you? Should I know that?”

“Tom, Kelly and I are on Stebbings Road just the other side of the Interstate. If Walt is involved with what is going down, I need to know.”

“Gotcha Boss.”

I looked at my watch. It said a few minutes after 9:00pm.

“Give him another twenty minutes to cool his heels. That will give you time to get the Buick ready. Then let him go. Are you clear on what you have to do?”

“Yes Boss. He’s not a happy person at the moment. I’ll be on his tail but from a distance.”

“Ok. Tom. Keep us informed.”

I turned to Kelly.
“I really, really hope that Walt is not up to no good.”

“If we have to arrest him, wouldn’t it be better for me to do it? I’m not known to him at the moment?”

“That’s a good point Kelly. Yes, you can put the cuffs on him but we are not going to do that tonight. Tonight, we just sit and observe, understood?”

“Understood.”

“Why don’t you get your camera ready?”

Kelly looked at me sternly.

With a sigh, she got out of the SUV and proceeded to get our own camera kit ready. We were the owners of some really good photographic equipment thanks to a driver who was six times over the legal limit when he crashed his SUV and took out the power to around one hundred homes on the other side of town.

When we had finished throwing the book at him the judge sent him to prison for six months and we took his camera kit in lieu of fines. It was worth far more to us that way than if we’d sent it to the State Auctions.

When Kelly had finished setting up, she joined me back in the SUV. Then we just sat and waited.

---

Just before 10:00pm, the radio came alive.

“Sheriff. Tom Here.”

“Go ahead Tom.”

“Walt has left town and is not heading for the Interstate. He’s gone the back way into Old Man Summers property.”

“Where are you now?”

“Carrying on along Parsons Road. I thought is best not to stop nearby.”

“That’s good. Can you take the long way back to town? Then you can call it a day.”

“Wilco Sheriff. Out.”

“Are you relieved that Walt is not involved in this thing?” asked Kelly.

“Yes and no. Yes, for obvious reasons but no because I have no idea why he’s back in town.”

“There is no one living at the Summers place is there?”

“No. It is still for sale. He’s up to no good that’s for sure but what it is I really don’t know.”

“That’s for tomorrow then?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

---

Just before 10:30pm, a Semi with a 40ft container on its trailer appeared out of the darkness from the East. It parked in a spot well away from the bright lights of the Gas Station and Restaurant.

“Here we go,” I said quietly to Kelly.

“You don’t have to whisper you know!”

“Sorry,” I replied with a smile on my face.

“Let’s get the cameras going.”

A few minutes later, a second Semi with a similar unmarked container on it appeared out of the darkness from the West. It pulled up alongside the first Semi. Both drivers got out and from the way that they greeted each other it was pretty obvious that they knew each other.

They headed for the Restaurant deep in conversation with each other. It looked like they were going to be some time when the radio came alive.

“Sheriff, do you read me?”

It was Tom’s voice.

“Reading you loud and clear. What’s the problem?”

“I circled around and was heading back to Town when Walt passed me going in the other direction like a bat out of hell. It looks like he went right through the Cummings place and my guess is that he’s heading in your direction. I think he must have made me when we left Town.”

“Thanks Tom. Do you have an ETA for him at the Interstate?”

“Five minutes, ten at the outside.”

“Thanks Tom. Get yourself home. You did good tonight.”

“Tom out.”

I turned to Kelly.

“This gets weirder and weirder.”

“Are you going to let me in on what is going on?”

“Tomorrow, but only if the Feds say so.”

“Gotcha on that. They really do like to keep things to themselves and often for no good reason other than their own self-importance.”

I laughed. She and I had exactly the same opinion of most Federal Law Enforcement Officers.

---

Walt’s car appeared less than ten minutes later. He drove up to the Semi’s where he stopped and got out of his car.

As bold as brass, he went up to the rear of one of the trailers and undid the lock. He opened one of the huge doors and climbed inside. Less than a minute later, he appeared again. He jumped down onto the floor and then he pulled out a duffel and dropped it onto the floor. From the dust that got thrown up, it seemed pretty heavy.

Walt shut the door and locked it. Then after picking up the duffel, he got back into his car and with a good deal of wheelspin, he took off.

We watched as he took the westbound down-ramp and disappeared into the darkness. He was heading west.

I managed to resist the urge to go after him. The state line and the limit of my authority was less than five miles away. Given the 457in block that was under the hood of his Camaro, he could also out run me with ease and I had no prima-face evidence that he was actually committing a crime.

“Say something before you blow up!” said Kelly.

“My little brother is up to no good and that’s for sure.”

“Is that the polite version?”

I managed a chuckle.
“Yes.”

More than twenty minutes had gone by before the two drivers emerged from the Truck Stop. They wandered back to their rigs as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

The drivers said goodbye to each other and got back in their trucks. A few seconds later two plumes of Diesel Exhaust could be seen as they started their engines.

Less than a minute after returning to their trucks, the two Semi’s moved off. One went eastbound and one went west. We waited for a minute or two before switching off the Video camera.

Kelly packed up her kit and after stowing it away, we got back into the SUV.

I was about to start the engine when Kelly said.

“Can I see the last bit of the video again?”

“Eh? Sure, but why?”

“I think the drivers switched rigs.”

Together we watched the drivers return from the restaurant.
“Ok, so the one with the baseball cap and a Bronco’s sweatshirt got into the truck that went west.”

I rewound the video to the time of their arrival.

Sure enough, the Bronco driver came from the west.

“Neat and very well planned. My guess is that the drivers have no idea what they are carrying,” said Kelly.

“That looks very much like it. That puts a different ring on the term ‘drug mule’ and that’s for sure.”

Then I looked at Kelly.

“There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. Not a word to anyone especially Tom.”

“Strictly need to know eh?”

“Exactly.”

---

There was no sign of my brother in the county the following day. I had Tom and Sue-Ellen run the speed trap that was just inside the State Line. Our speed limit was 10mph lower than our neighbours. They were under orders to let me know if Walt and/or his Camaro appeared.

I kept my appointment with Agent Hill and Mrs Pritchard in the middle of the afternoon at the next exit eastbound from the Truck Stop.

They were waiting for me as I turned to go under the highway.

A rear door to their SUV swung open so I took that as an invitation to get inside their vehicle.

“What happened last night?” asked Mrs Pritchard before I’d even got the door closed.

“There was a meeting of two semi tractor-trailer units as you suspected. The drivers went to get something to eat and then returned. However, they swapped rigs. The one that came from the East returned to the East and vice-versa.”

Agent Hill’s shoulders visibly sank.

“There is something else you need to know before I hand over the video.”

Suddenly, I had their attention.

“While the drivers were eating in the restaurant, a third vehicle appeared and parked next to the two semi’s. The driver of that vehicle got out and proceeded to unlock the trailer of the semi that had come from the east. He went inside and removed a package and after locking the trailer up again, he drove off westwards towards Denver.”

“Good. I’ll get our lab people to enhance the registration and try to do facial recognition on the driver.”

I smiled.

“There really is no need for that. You can check for yourselves, but I know who the driver is.”

I paused for half a second.

“The driver was my brother Walt. He came back to town a few days back and yesterday he appeared to get a little drunk so one of my officers locked him up for a few hours. He used to be one of my deputies so it was done out of courtesy I hope you will understand.”

Both of them nodded.

“I was just setting up the video kit when another of my deputies called me on the radio and said that Walt was playing up and going on about some meeting that he had to attend to. I ordered my deputy to let him go but to follow him discretely. Sometime later, the deputy radioed in that Walt had turned off the road and onto a property that is for sale. I ordered my deputy to circle around the property and head back to town. A little later he radioed to say that Walt was heading for the truck stop. He arrived at the stop and as I said, he removed something from the trailer.”

The other two looked at each other slightly surprised.

“It is all in my report.”

I handed over a video tape and a folder that contained my detailed report. What I didn’t say was that Kelly had made two copies of the video that morning. We might be in the back of beyond but we to have some pretty good technology at our disposal thank to the fines we levy on speeding drivers or unsafe vehicles.

“Sheriff, you did everything you were asked for and more,” said Mrs Pritchard.

“Do you have any idea where your brother might be?”

“The last I heard was that he was in Vegas. That seemed to be backed up by the fact that his Camaro had Nevada plates. But, it seems that Vegas is far too far away to be directly connected what happened last night. My guess is that he’s operating out of Fort Collins at least on a temporary basis.”

“Why Fort Collins?”

“Walt likes to think of himself as a ladies man and has had several girlfriends in the past from that part of the world. He won’t spend a penny on putting a roof over his head unless he really, really has to. Past form leads me to think that sort of thing.”

“That’s a good lead Sheriff. Thank you very much.”

“My pleasure. I had hoped that my brother was not involved in this but there is no love lost between us. He came waltzing back into town yesterday and wanted his old room back. Our Ma sent him away with a clip around his ears. He took advantage of her once too often so he’s not welcome. If I have to put the cuffs on him I will do so and I won’t hesitate.”

“That’s nice to know but it appears that your brother may well be a very minor player.”

“That’s as maybe. If he needs locking up and he’s in my county then I’ll arrest him on the spot especially as it looks like he’s moving whatever it is across state lines.”

Before either of them could respond I opened the door and started to get out before saying,
“If you need my assistance in the future, please just ask. I really don’t like bad guys operating out of my County especially interstate traffickers even if they are my brother.”

I left them to ponder over the tape and what I’d said and drove home. More questions had been asked and there were no answers in sight.

[to be continued in part 2 (of 2)]