Breaking Point

then? You and the ex-sheriff are tight?”
    “Fuck, no.”
    The trees started to pinch in. Farkus could feel Dreadnaught start to gather beneath him, as if preparing to bolt.
    “I get it,” Farkus said, irritated. “You’re a man of few words. Well, I’m not. And if I’m going to risk my ass going up into these mountains, I need to know what kind of company I’m keeping.”
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “I’m not kidding,” Farkus said, feeling his neck flush with anger.
    Sollis didn’t look at him when he said, “I tried to sign up for the military, but I had a record, so they wouldn’t take me. All I wanted to do was serve my country, and they wouldn’t have me. I wanted to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.”
    At the last second, before Dreadnaught bolted or crowded Sollis’s horse into the trees, Farkus clicked his tongue and moved his mount back in front. Over his shoulder, he said, “So you just want to
shoot
somebody with that rifle of yours.”
    “Damned right,” Sollis said coldly.
    —
    A S THEY RODE, Farkus heard a high whining sound become more pronounced. At first he thought it was an insect near his ear, and he swatted at it clumsily before realizing the sound came from somewhere above the canopy of trees.
    “What’s that?” he asked McLanahan.
    The ex-sheriff shrugged. “Sounds too high-pitched to be an airplane, but maybe the Feds are sending a spotter over the mountains to look for Butch.”
    The high whine passed overhead and began to recede in volume.
    “Whatever it is,” McLanahan said, “it’s not going to see much through these trees.”
    “My tax dollars at work,” Farkus said, and sighed.
    “If you paid any,” McLanahan said.

13
    AFTER DROPPING LISA GREENE-DEMPSEY AT THE Holiday Inn with a paper sack of fruits and vegetables, and shock on her face that had been imprinted there since the takedown of Bryce Pendergast, Joe spotted Marybeth’s van parked on the street outside the Saddlestring Hotel and pulled behind it. Matt Donnell’s Lexus was also on the street.
    Joe wanted to let Marybeth know what was going on—that he’d been called out to Big Stream Ranch to join the search for Butch Roberson and that his first meeting with his new boss . . . had not gone well.
    He stepped through a gap in the orange plastic fencing on the sidewalk that indicated there was construction in progress, and entered through the magnificent old front doors. As he did, a heated conversation between Marybeth and Donnell stopped him cold.
    Matt Donnell stood on one side of the old lobby with a loosened tie and his hands jammed into the pockets of his trousers. He was paunchy and balding; his face was flushed. Joe could see beads of perspiration on his scalp through his thinning hair.
    Marybeth stood across from him, hands on hips, bent slightly forward toward Donnell, in her coveralls, her hair tied back with a red bandanna. Even though both had stopped talking, Joe knew the look on Marybeth’s face, and he knew that Donnell was in trouble. Joe had been on the receiving end of that look many times in their marriage.
    To Donnell, Joe said: “Just say three words: ‘You’re right, dear.’ Trust me on this.”
    Joe expected a smile, but Donnell looked straight down at the tops of his shoes. Obviously, whatever they had been arguing about was worse than Joe had thought, and he turned to his wife.
    “Everything all right?”
    She softened when she looked over at Joe, though, and said, “Honey, what happened to the side of your face?”
    “I met my boss and got in a fight,” Joe said. “I’ll fill you in later.”
    “You got in a fight with your
boss
?”
    “No—with Bryce Pendergast. We arrested him for cooking meth and shooting an antelope.”
    “Are
you
okay?” she asked.
    “Peachy. So what’s going on here? It doesn’t look good.”
    “It isn’t,” she said, biting off the words. “Maybe you should ask Matt.”
    Joe said, “Matt?”
    “I’m just the messenger,” Donnell said softly, then looked up at Joe with pleading eyes. “Don’t let her kill the messenger.”
    “Tell him, Matt,” Marybeth said.
    “Tell me what?”
    Donnell said, “I met with the agencies and departments we needed to talk to so we could get our financing for the next stage of construction. We’ve got big problems.”
    Joe shook his head, not understanding.
    Donnell said, “I knew the old state fire marshal, and he was a reasonable guy, but he retired. The new one is some kind of fire