Montana Sky

thick with trees, the peaks white with snow.
    “Want me to take us down?”
    “I’m handling it.” Barely. “We’ll finish.”
    But when she looked down again, she saw the road where she had found the body. The police had taken the body away, had even taken the mutilated carcass of the steer. They’d combed the area looking for and gathering evidence. And the rain had washed away most of the blood.
    Still, she thought she could see darker patches on the dirt that had soaked in deep. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, and even when they flew past and over pasture, she could still see the road, the dark patches.
    Jim kept his eyes trained on the horizon. “The police came by again last night.”
    “I know.”
    “They haven’t found anything. It’s been damn near a week, Will. They don’t have squat.”
    The anger in his voice cleared her vision, helped her turn her eyes away and toward his face. “I guess it’s not likethe TV shows, Jim. Sometimes they just don’t get the bad guy.”
    “I keep thinking how I won that money off him the night before it happened. I wish I hadn’t won that money off him, Will. I know it doesn’t mean a damn, but I wish I hadn’t.”
    She reached over, gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “And I wish I hadn’t had words with him. That doesn’t mean a damn either, but I wish I hadn’t.”
    “Goddamn bitchy old fart. That’s what he was. Just a goddamn bitchy old fart.” His voice hitched, and Jim cleared his throat. “I—we heard you were maybe going to bury him in Mercy cemetery.”
    “Nate hasn’t been able to locate his sister, or anyone. We’ll bury him on Mercy land. I guess Bess would say that was fittin’.”
    “It is. It’s good of you, Will, to put him where there’s only family.” He cleared his throat again. “The boys and me were talking. We thought maybe we could be like the pallbearers and we’d pay for his stone.” His color rose when he caught Willa staring at him. “It was Ham’s idea, but we all agreed to it. If you do.”
    “Then that’s the way we’ll do it.” She turned her head, stared out the window. “Let’s go down, Jim. I’ve seen enough for now.”
     
    W HEN WILLA DROVE BACK INTO THE RANCH YARD . SHE spotted Nate’s rig, and Ben’s. Deliberately, she stopped in front of Adam’s little white house. She needed time before she faced anyone. Her legs weren’t much steadier than her stomach. There was a headache, brought on, she supposed, by the incessant humming of the plane, kicking behind her eyes.
    She climbed out, stepped through the gate of the picket fence, and indulged herself by squatting down to pet Beans. He was fat as a sausage, with floppy ears and huge mop paws. Elated to see her, he rolled over to offer his belly for a rub.
    “You fat old thing. You going to lie here and sleep allday?” He thumped his tail in agreement and made her smile. “Your back end’s wide as a barn.”
    Her voice brought Adam’s spotted hound, Nosey, racing around the side of the house. With his ears perked up and his tail waving like a flag, he trotted over and pushed himself under Willa’s arm.
    “Been up to no good again, haven’t you, Nosey? Don’t think I don’t know you’ve had your eye on my chickens.”
    He grinned at her, and in his attempt to lick her hands, her face, stepped on his buddy. When the two dogs began to wrestle and dance, Willa got to her feet. She felt better. Maybe it was just being in Adam’s yard, where the fall flowers were still stubbornly blooming and dogs had nothing better to do than play.
    “You finished fooling with those useless dogs?”
    She looked over her shoulder. Ham stood on the other side of the gate, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. His jacket was buttoned and he wore leather gloves, making her think perhaps he felt the cold more these days.
    “I reckon I am.”
    “And you’re finished flying around in that death trap?”
    She ran her tongue over her teeth as she walked toward him. In his sixty-five years, Ham had never been inside a plane of any kind. And he was damn proud of it. “Seems like. We need to rotate cattle, Ham. And we’ve got another fence down. I want those cows moved from the southmost pasture today.”
    “I’ll put Billy on it. Only take him twice as long to do it as anybody with half a brain. Jim can handle the fencing. Wood’s got his hands full down at the fields, and I’ve gotta get the shipment down to the feedlot.”
    “Is this your