Archive of Our Own

Raylan woke to the early alarm he had set and managed to drag himself through his morning routine and down to the bar despite a hangover headache. The bartender had just arrived and was cleaning up, looking like he was dependent on the cup of coffee he had on the bar.

“Morning,” Raylan said on his way out.

“Hey, um, I just wanted to say that I don’t have a problem with you.”

“Well that’s good.” Raylan came to a stop. “Is there some reason you would?”

“Well just cause, with you and… your um friend last night I just know that some people might have a problem with that, but like I’m not one of them.”

Raylan nodded, as his hungover brain finally caught on.

“And like with all the college kids that come in here sometimes we have other people like you, so like I’m used to it you know. I mean like some people aren’t and they might have a problem, like the pastor on the radio sometimes he talks about how bad that is, but y’know my sister’s husband’s cousin’s friend’s pastor talked about how it's fine as long as y’all don’t start trying to get married. And that y’know that seems pretty reasonable.”

“Well I don’t think we’ll have a problem then,” Raylan said, the thought of marriage almost making him laugh. He couldn’t quite imagine Boyd letting him drop to one knee and ask, let alone have an actual wedding.

The bartender nodded and smiled like he was proud of himself for having an important conversation. Raylan said his farewell and headed out, hiding his own amusement and promising himself he would not share that conversation with Boyd or Rachel no matter how much it amused him. Neither of them needed the added fear of awkwardness when they were just beginning to gain confidence.

Boyd was almost beginning to regret the deal he had made to defeat his clover hill rivals until he saw them sitting in his bar. They were relaxed like they owned the place. They could own it easily, probably did own much better establishments. At the sight all of his worries about what being in Theo Tonin’s debt might mean for his chances with Raylan, disappeared and he knew that he was going to enjoy laying these men low.

Watching their ego’s deflate into fear was everything he had hoped and more. There were few people of their power and pride that he could lord over. He even found himself almost believing his rhetoric about class and the oppression they laid down on people like him.

It was in that vein that he laid down his final demand for a dairy queen. Before the men could voice any derision Boyd turned and walked back to his office, making sure that his retreating back seemed confident and unafraid.

He closed the door to the office and turned to Ava who had been waiting there. “That seemed to go well,” she said, with little excitement.

“It did,” Boyd said, matching Ava’s level of excitement. Her tone had brought him back to the conversation he had struggled to plan on the drive back from Lexington. He sat down at his desk. “Ava, I think there’s something we have to talk about.”

“This about where you went last night?”

“In part. I’ve been lying to you, Ava, and the only defense I can offer is that they were lies that I told myself as well. I hope you can accept an explanation that might meander slightly as I have a habit of doing.”

“Just so long as you start it pretty soon.”

Boyd smiled and nodded. “I remember the first time Bowman asked which girl I liked. We were hanging out after school and he was watching the cheerleaders. I had no girl to answer with and I knew of his feelings for you, so I said your name and gladly lost the fight he challenged me to for your hand.

From there all I had to do was watch you a bit too much and no one would question why I didn’t have a girl, and no one would connect that with the time I spent with Raylan.Then after he left I felt drawn to you, being as you were the only person who missed him like I did. It was just after I’d gotten back from Kuwait that I convinced myself that that’s what love was.”

Boyd paused as he failed to find any words to soften his confession. “I have been using you, Ava, loving you because it was the closest I could get to loving him.”

Ava nodded, showing none of the surprise that he had expected. “Boyd, you’re talking like I wasn’t doing the same thing.” Ava took Boyd’s confused silence as a chance to continue. “Bowman would joke about you and Raylan. He was never sure enough to say it to your face, but behind your back he’d joke that you were missing your boyfriend, and say worse when he was drunk. I didn’t think he was right till I saw Raylan kneeling over you in my dining room, looking like he’d just shot himself. So when he was done with me, when I was desperate to see him again and hating him for making me some fling, I turned to you.”

“Oh,” Boyd said, for once not sure of what to say.

“Now, the reason you’re admitting this now, that’s because you think he might take you back right?” Ava couldn’t stop an edge of bitterness from creeping into her voice.

“He has admitted some interest in that direction, and while I can’t be sure he will, I want to be worthy of him if he does.”

“And what would your Raylan say if he knew about what you just did to those men?”

“Now Ava, I’m not going to pretend that I am in any way worthy of him, but it seems to me that the first step in changing that is to admit that desire to myself, and to you, my closest friend in the world.”

“Uh, huh. What are you expecting to get from that flattery?”

“That is God’s honest truth, Ava.”

“You don’t believe in God.”

Boyd sighed. “No I do not, but the sentiment still stands.”

Ava accepted that with a slight tilt of her head. “Alright then, so what do we do now? I don’t see how you handing Drew Thompson over to Theo Tonin is gonna help you get back in Raylan’s pants.”

“No it would not, but by finding Mr. Thompson we will be able to dictate how things play out from there, and that is how we ensure the safety of us and everyone else we have gotten involved in this.”

“And do you have some clever plan to find him?”

“I have the inkling of one that will require your expertise on the client’s who frequent Audrey’s.”

“Alright Boyd,” Ava said and sat down to get to work.

Rachel woke to the alarm she had set the night before. It was earlier than she liked, a necessary sacrifice to keep Raylan from doing something stupid. The house was silent and empty as she went through her typical morning routine, Nick and her mother both still asleep. She made up Nick’s lunch and started the coffee maker for her mother. Nick stumbled out of his room as she was grabbing her keys. “Have a good day at school,” she said, and smiled at the half awake grunt she got in response, before heading to her car.

She drove off, listening to the Indigo Girls CD she had bought on her shopping spree to prepare for her first date with Gina. The roads were near empty in the early morning light, letting her make good time and arrive five minutes early. She got out her phone and sent the text to Gina that she had been trying to build up the courage to. How do you feel about picnics? With that done, she rose from her car and headed into the prison.

From there it was the standard array of questions and forms that led her to finally taking Hunter Mosley from the prison. She found Raylan leaning on his car as they stepped out past the last prison fence. He stood up at the sight of her, confused and concerned.

Mosley protested, but Rachel kept him moving towards the car. “Good morning,” she said to Raylan once they were close.

“I was under the impression that Dunlop would be handling this transfer,” Raylan said.

“He was, but since he doesn’t know how to say no to you, I figured I’d take over.”

“So you’re here to say no to me?”

“That depends on how stupid whatever you want to do is.”

“I just want to drive around and have a few conversations with a couple people.”

“So you’re not planning to enact any sort of revenge on the man who killed your father?”

“He did the world a favor as far as I’m concerned,” Raylan said, fake casual.

“Uh, huh,” Rachel said, making clear she saw through him. “Well mr. Mosley will be reaching his new cell unharmed by the end of the day.”

“Of course, and I don’t need you babysitting to make sure of that.”

“Well you’re getting that anyway.”

Raylan glared at her and found no chance of her backing down. “Fine, but you're sitting in back with him,” he grumbled and then gestured for her to go ahead to the car.

“Works for me,” Rachel said.

“So what happens now that you’ve lost your chance to pretend I tried to escape and shoot me?” Mosley asked once they were in the car.

“I was never gonna throw away my badge on a piece of shit like you,” Raylan answered and put the car in drive.

Tim didn’t realize it was morning until his phone rang. He had been lost in thought, drifting between rage, despair and confusion. It had been untold hours since he had made his way to the dealer’s place, already knowing what he would find before he had opened the door with a gloved hand.

He answered the phone without a thought and identified himself when the police officer asked who he was, read out his marshal’s badge number and then agreed to come to the address the officer gave.

He didn’t have to fake a reaction to the sight, even knowing what he would see, Mark’s body made him flinch and grow distant. He gave useless answers to the questions the detective asked. They wouldn’t find the killer, having already decided to put the case file on the bottom of their pile and just be happy that a drug dealer had bit it.

He was glad of that. The last thing he wanted to have to worry about was a local cop getting in the way of his own investigation. He knew where to start. A single word from Mark, ‘Bagram,’ a base he had and Mark had stayed at for barely a week before being transferred. In that time Mark had had his first relapse and had needed Tim to save him from getting caught.

The text had been an apology, Tim was sure of that, but he also knew that there were countless other words that Mark could have written to say that. He had chosen Bagram to let Tim know who had killed him. Neither of them had actually believed that Colt was at that clinic for Bagram lung, but it was an easy way to identify him.

He had called an army buddy to track down info on Colt after first meeting him, assuming that Raylan would be asking for it before too long. He was grateful for that foresight when he reached the office and saw that the file had been emailed to him the night before.

Tim had barely gotten into the first page when Art emerged from his office and headed towards him. “Have you seen Rachel?” he asked.

“Not since yesterday.”

“Hmm,” Art grumbled, his face telling of some instinctive concern.

“Oh she’s probably still handling Mosley’s prison transfer,” Dunlop said as he walked back to his desk with his coffee.

Art turned to Dunlop and tracked his movement. “She’s doing the prison transfer that I assigned you? And you gave her that job without checking with me?”

“She wanted to do it. She interrupted final Jeopardy to ask, so I just figured she’d already checked with you.”

“Well, did she say why she wanted to take over the transfer?”

Dunlop shrugged thinking back to the call he had only been half paying attention to. “Well she mentioned Raylan wanting to talk to Mosley, but I didn’t really ask cause I thought…”

“Jesus Christ!” Art snapped. “So you let Rachel get Mosley, the man who killed Raylan’s father, and bring him to Raylan?”

“Well Raylan said he wasn’t that broken up about it,” Dunlop said before wisely closing his mouth.

“Find out where they both are,” Art said, jabbing a finger towards Tim. He then strode into his office and slammed the door behind him. Tim did as was asked, not liking the conclusion that the two locations led him to. He elected to call Rachel, who was likely to be more reasonable than Raylan.

“Hey Tim, everything alright?”

“I think I’m supposed to ask you that,” Tim answered. “And I should probably tell you that it would be best for your career if you're stuck at the prison with a flat tire and not riding around with Raylan and the prisoner who killed his father.”

“I take it, Art’s pissed?”

“Even I’m starting to get worried about his blood pressure.”

“Look, you can tell him that I’ve got things more or less under control. I’m keeping Mosley in my sights and making sure that Raylan doesn’t do anything stupid. We’re making progress figuring out who put the hit out on Arlo. We’ve already ruled out Wynn Duffy.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna be enough to calm Art down, but if you’re doing this I could always drive down and keep an eye on Crowder for you.”

“Yeah, it would probably be better if we didn’t have to keep an eye on him, but you sure you want to make the drive?”

“Yeah, there’s something I want to check out down there anyway.”

“Alright then, thanks.”

Tim hung up. This gave him an excuse to head down to Harlan, though he knew he would have gone down there either way. He headed to Art’s office.

“I don’t suppose you have good news?” Art asked.

“Rachel is with Raylan driving Mosley around to try and figure out who ordered the hit.”

“Dumbasses,” Art grumbled.

“I can head down to Harlan to knock some sense into them,” Tim said, risking voicing it as an offer.

Art nodded. “I’ll put a bolo out on them, but the more eyes the better. I don’t want Rachel wrecking her career today.”

Tim headed out quickly before Art could change his mind.

Rachel hung up the phone. She was half expecting to get a call from Art as soon as she did. Instead her notifications were empty except the sounds like fun! text from Gina. Rachel schooled her expression as she read it over. She had no intention of giving Mosley more to read into.

“So your boss isn’t happy with you doing this?” Mosley asked Rachel.

Rachel didn’t bother answering, putting away her phone, and watching Mosley from the corner of her eye in case he made another attempt at jumping out of the car.

“I was figuring your boss had tasked you with babysitting Raylan, but if he didn’t, what are you even doing out here?”

“Given that my presence is probably making this ride a lot less painful for you, how about you try harder not to annoy me,” Rachel answered.

“You two screwing?” Rachel gave a snort of disbelief and amusement, while Raylan chuckled. “Or are you hoping he’ll screw you as a thank you?”

“Few things could disgust me more,” Rachel answered.

“With how much you’re thinkin about me screwing, I’m wondering if Johnny might have been right about you,” Raylan said, the words having their desired effect of drawing a dismissive snort and shutting Mosley up.

They kept driving in silence, Raylan plotting a meandering path farther into Harlan. Rachel kept an eye on Mosley while considering her response to Gina and fearing a call from Art.

The call still hadn’t come when Shelby pulled them over. Rachel stayed in the car to watch Mosley as Raylan and Shelby talked. She exchanged a nod with Shelby when he glanced into the car, and then glanced to her left to see a flash of something close to nervousness, cross Mosley’s face.

She let herself fade into the background after Shelby climbed into the front seat and they started driving again. Shelby didn’t pay her much mind, and while Mosley did his best to not give anything away, his focus was on the story he was telling.

Rachel might have been interested in the story of a local feud and what it said about Raylan’s father, but the story wasn’t for Raylan she realized. Mosley was talking to Shelby with the added pleasure of hurting Raylan along the way.

“I’m talking about who we are, cause that’s why we do what we do,” Mosley said, eyes on Raylan until the statement was made, but glancing to Shelby in the moment before Raylan responded.

Shelby glanced back at him, and then seemed to relax, his shoulders lowering, and the fingers of his right hand drifting a few inches from his holster to his thigh. Rachel kept her head towards the window after that, letting Mosley stew in the silence as she considered Shelby’s age and what little of his history she had heard.

Those thoughts were put on hold at the sound of gunshots as they approached Lee Paxton’s hunting lodge.

“God damn it, Bob,” Raylan grumbled shortly before they rounded a bend to see Bob Sweeney opening up on the lodge’s porch with an assault rifle.

“I’ll cover the back,” Shelby said, exiting the car before it had even stopped. Raylan put the car in park and he and Rachel stepped out of it guns drawn. Rachel took cover behind a tree while Raylan stayed behind his car.

“U.S. Marshals, everybody stop shooting!” Raylan yelled.

No one wanted to disobey an actually skilled marksman, so the fight deescalated quickly, the only delay being the minute it took for Bob to realize he was being chastised as well. The way his expression deflated would have made Rachel pity him, if not for her anger at him for just assuming he had the right to shoot at citizens with an automatic weapon.

“Alright, now did Bob let you know that I have a few questions for the two of you?”

“No, he didn’t,” Paxton answered. “He must have gotten distracted by thinking about dinner.”

“Oh come on!” Bob snapped, throwing his hands up in outrage.

Raylan holstered his pistol while his left hand gave a placating wave to Bob. “Can we come inside and talk then?”

“Fine,” Paxton grumbled and headed into his house, Johns following him.

Raylan started up towards the door, turning to Bob as he did. “Please, just… behave alright?”

“I will as long as they do,” Bob said following Raylan. Rachel followed the two of them, glancing around for any sign of Shelby. He had disappeared around the house, perhaps he would enter through the back and join them inside, or perhaps he was just waiting around the corner until everyone else left.

“You’re not gonna stay with Mosley?” Raylan asked.

Rachel shook her head. “He’s cuffed and you could probably use the extra set of eyes in there.”

“You sure?” Raylan said, confused about being the more reasonable one.

“I’m sure,” Rachel said, giving him a ‘trust me’ look.

Raylan acquiesced with a slight shrug. “Come on in,” Lee said at the door gesturing them into the now bullet ridden lodge.

Bob nodded and strutted in, shoving it in their face that they wouldn’t be stopping him this time.

Rachel pulled Raylan back as soon as they were inside. “How long has Shelby been in Harlan?” she asked.

Raylan shrugged, thinking back on his childhood as he caught on to what she was asking. “Most of my life I think, I didn’t meet him till I was twelve, but Arlo knew him before then.” The statement made Raylan search his memory for anything to rebuttal Rachel’s implication. “You think he’s Thompson?”

“It’s a possibility I’ll keep an eye on,” Rachel said, moving to the nearest window that gave her a view of Raylan’s car and Mosley in the back seat.

“Alright,” Raylan said and followed Bob and Paxton into the lodge’s main sitting room.

“We’re within our right to protect our property,” Paxton said as soon as Raylan had entered the room.

“Save it. I don’t give a shit,” Raylan answered. Rachel kept half an ear on their conversation as she watched out the window. Shelby moved back into sight shortly, slinking along, gun still out.

Her gut told her that she had Drew, but she held back and kept watching. Shelby moved towards the car, glancing up at the house for any sign of being watched. He had no chance of seeing Rachel though.

He still hadn’t holstered his gun. Rachel had been assuming that he was about to spring Mosley, or talk to him, but the far easier thing for him to do was to just shoot him. She rushed to the door, drawing her gun. She was careful to open the door quietly and slip out so as to not alert Shelby too soon. The door was well oiled and opened and closed without a sound.

Shelby was at the door to the car. Rachel had a shot on him. She was about to tell him to freeze when she noticed the way Shelby was moving. He was hesitant, like he was thinking over what to say, and too focused on Mosley to be considering how to kill him without being noticed.

Rachel stayed quiet and moved closer. He opened the door and sat down next to Mosley. Rachel moved towards them, circling around to get to the back of the car and avoid being seen. She trusted that Shelbey wouldn’t risk a gunshot with two marshals nearby and that she would see the sudden movement of him drawing a knife early enough to put a bullet in him.

She was standing only a few yards from the door when Shelby got out of the car. He noticed her gun trained on him when he was halfway out, his gun hand useless as it pushed him out of the seat.

“Drop the gun, Drew,” Rachel said.

Defeat flashed across Shelby’s face before he steadied his features. He complied to the order, dropping the gun at his feet and kicking it over. “What are you doing, deputy?”

Rachel didn’t bother answering. “Mosley throw those keys he handed you out here.”

The keys barely got out of the car, thunking into the edge of the seat and then spilling to the ground. “I wasn’t even gonna use them,” Mosley grumbled.

“I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding,” Shelby said.

“Let’s not insult either of our intelligences by trying to come up with an explanation for this other than you being Drew Thompson.”

“I don’t think you have any evidence of that that would be admissible in court.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Rachel paused to smirk at Shelby’s fear. “Then again it doesn’t matter if we can convict you, because Theo Tonin will know who you are before you’re even arraigned.”

Shelby sighed, admitting that he’d lost. “What gave me away?”

“The interest you took in helping Raylan out, and then your familiarity with Mosley, and how you were about to make a run for it.”

“I should’ve known better than assuming you were as stupid as Raylan just cause you were going along with him.” Shelby offered his hands to be cuffed.
Rachel chuckled at that as she got out her handcuffs.

“Rachel!” Raylan yelled, rushing out of the house, gun drawn. “You were right about Shelby!” Raylan caught sight of Shelby at gunpoint and relaxed. “Alright then, I guess you’d already figured that out.”

“Yup,” Rachel said, keeping her eyes on Shelby. She holstered her gun now that Raylan was there. She cuffed him and then put him back in the car.

“What in the jeepers is happenin?” Bob asked, coming out of the lodge after them.

“The guy I been looking for, Drew Thompson, Rachel caught him,” Raylan said, gesturing towards Shelby.

“What, the sheriff’s your guy? That’s ridiculous!”

“Bob, I need you to trust me on this one. Shelby wasn’t always the man you know.” Raylan looked into Bob’s eyes, only looking away with a nod, when he was sure that Bob’s admiration for him had won out over loyalty to Shelby.

“Let’s go,” Rachel said. We need to get these two to Lexington before anyone realizes we got Drew.”

Raylan shook his head. “Those two assholes know why we’re here and they have every reason to give us up to Boyd. We’d just be asking for an ambush along the road,” he said, gesturing up towards the lodge

“You really think Boyd would sell you out like that?”

“I don’t know,” Raylan admitted. “But I don’t want to put him in that position. If he didn’t sell us out, he’d be dead as soon as anyone found out.”

“Alright, so one of us watches things here and the other takes the prisoners?”

“One marshal for two prisoners? We can’t risk them jumping you and making a run for it.”
Rachel nodded her agreement and took out her cell phone. “Tim said he’d be coming down to Harlan, maybe he can solve our manpower problem struggles.”

“You know I’m here too,” Bob whined.

“And do you think you’d be better suited to guarding the two people you just got into a shootout with or your two mentors who you have a fair bit of admiration for?” Raylan said as Rachel dialed.

Bob let out a string of incoherent grumbling, but took the point.

Tim’s phone gave out its first buzz as he watched Boyd Crowder walk away, a hand at Colt’s back to hurry him along. The urge to just raise his gun and end the whole mess with two bullets clawed at him, but he held back the impulse. He wanted to see Colt’s eyes when it happened, clear eyes that understood why he was being gun downed, what he had taken.

“Hello,” Tim answered, expecting a lecture from Art.

“You in Harlan?” Rachel asked.

“That’s where I said I was going ain’t it?”

“Great, we need you to meet us.”

“I got a pastor here who Boyd’s goon was looking to put some hurt on. I was gonna stick with her to make sure they don’t try again.”

“Just bring her with you. We got Drew, now we need as many people as we can trust to get him back to Lexington.”

“Alright then,” Tim said. “Now where am I going?”

“I’ll let the local give you directions.” Rachel handed the phone over to Raylan who talked Tim through the particulars of Harlan navigation.

“Alright,” Raylan said after hanging up and handing Rachel back her phone. “He’ll be here in 20 minutes and then the two of you can drive the prisoners out while I stay and babysit.”

“You know you’re not gonna get much credit for this if you stay.”

Raylan shrugged and headed back to the lodge. “I’m gonna make sure those assholes don’t get any ideas.”

“Alright then.”

Paxton and Johns had cleared the debris from two sections of couch and sat down. Raylan found them there sitting silently, arms crossed and expressions sour. “So will you be leaving us be now?” Paxton asked.

“No I will not. I will be staying here for a few hours to make sure you don’t sell us out. Bob and some preacher will be staying here as well.”

“You got any legal right to do that?” Johns asked.

“It seems to me I’d be doing you a favor. Something’s got you pretty scared to be hiding out up here. So if you don’t want the protection of a deputy U.S. marshal that raises all kinds of questions about what sort of illegal shit you’re up to.”

“Then you’re protection would be much appreciated,” Paxton said with a fake smile.

“And since I’m protecting you, maybe you ought to fill me in on who I’m protecting you from?”

“Boyd Crowder,” Paxton said.

Raylan let out a sad chuckle, the name not a surprise and the way Paxton twisted it with hatred all too familiar. “And what does Boyd want from you?”

“He wants us to get him a god damn Dairy Queen built.” Johns said.

Raylan tried and failed to hold back the smile that broke out across his face. “A Dairy Queen huh? Now that doesn’t sound so bad. You know the only Dairy Queen in Harlan closed in ‘81. I was real upset about that when it happened, ‘cause my ma and ant Helen used to take me there on Sundays after church. We’d see the Crowders there most weeks, though not so much after Mrs. Crowder passed.”

Paxton and Johns’ faces grew tight with confusion and a growing fear at the familiarity with which Raylan spoke of the Crowders. Raylan let himself continue his reminiscence, enjoying the fear it brought out.

“Now you folks don’t know this, given your… backgrounds, but the closest one’s way out in Cumberland now. Near an hour drive each way, but you know me and Boyd must have done that drive over a dozen times summer after junior year. Boyd ordered every item on their menu at least once. Me though, I always kept it simple, just a nice cone of vanilla ice cream.”

“Now Deputy Givens,” Paxton started.

Raylan ignored him. “You know what Boyd would say most every time? He’d tell me I should try something new, that variety is the spice of life. You know what I used to say to that?”

“What?” Johns asked when Paxton stayed silent trying to read how much of a threat was in Raylan’s words.

“I’d tell him ‘Ice cream aint supposed to be spicy, dumbass.’” Raylan chuckled at the memory. “Now if you have any evidence of wrongdoing on Boyd’s part I’d be happy to hear it, but if you don’t, I think maybe Harlan could do with having its Dairy Queen back.”

“I suppose so,” Paxton said. He and Johns shared a worried look as they continued to sit in silence. Raylan wandered the room, looking out the windows for Tim’s car and wondering if he should be angry at Boyd for extorting the two rich assholes.

Tim’s SUV sped up the driveway after twenty minutes. Raylan headed to the door, pausing to address Paxton and Johns over his shoulder. “If either of you so much as touch a phone, I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

Tim and a worried looking blond woman had gotten out of the car by the time Raylan reached them. Tim gave him a nod. “Cassie, this is deputy marshal Raylan Givens, he’ll be keeping you safe while Rachel and I transfer these prisoners.”

“Ma’am,” Raylan said to her.

Cassie nodded back. “I appreciate the kindness.”

Once Cassie was out of the way, Rachel opened the car door for Shelby to get out, hand on her holster. Shelby complied without complaint. “You know I’m willing to cooperate, tell your bosses everything they want to, and not make any trouble.”

“What are you asking for Drew?” Raylan asked, trying to hurry him along.

“For you to give protective custody to Ellen May. I’ve had her hiding at my house since Boyd tried to have her killed.”

“He’s still looking for her,” Tim said. “Whatever she knows must be good.”

“Alright, I’ll go get her once I’m done babysitting these folks. That good enough for you?” Raylan said.

“It is,” Shelby said, and headed into Tim’s car. Mosley followed without complaint.

“Alright then, you make sure everyone gets a juicebox while you’re watching them,” Tim said, heading for the driver's seat.

“Uh, huh. You make sure that you’re in the marshals office in two and a half hours, and if you’re not gonna make it by then, call me as soon as you know.”

“You don’t have to worry about us. We’ve been doing this job for at least a week,” Tim drawled.

“He’s not worried about us,” Rachel said. “He’s worried about when he’s gonna warn Boyd that we got Drew.”

Tim laughed and then sighed when he looked at Raylan and realized it wasn’t a joke. “Well good luck with that.”

Tim climbed into the car, joined shortly after by Rachel.

“Why in the hell would Raylan be worried about warning Boyd?” Tim asked as they pulled out of the Lodge’s driveway.

Rachel glanced back at the two prisoners before allowing herself to answer the question. “If Theo Tonin finds out from one of his law enforcement informants that we got Drew, he’ll blame Boyd and more likely than not kill him.”

“Obviously. The part that’s confusing me is why Raylan cares enough to risk his badge over that.”

“They dug coal together,” Rachel said, unable to hide her smile at the ridiculousness of that explanation.

Tim laughed as well. “So this mean that all the other times that his actions have helped Boyd were intentional?”

“I believe it’s a more recent development. You might have a better idea if you’d come along for drinks last night.”

“Hmm,” Tim grumbled, unable to keep his mind from going to why he’d missed out.

“Did you find your friend at least?”

“Yup.”

“Was he alright?” Rachel asked, already having a good sense of the answer she was gonna get.

“Nope.”

“Sorry,” Rachel offered. “Is he…”

“Look I appreciate your concern,” Tim interrupted, digging his hands into the steering wheel. “But I really don’t want to have this conversation, especially not with these two assholes listening.”

“Fair enough.” Rachel fell silent.

“You know you don’t have to worry about us ratting on you,” Mosley said from the back. “We’re both former lawmen. We know that sometimes we have to step outside the law to make damn sure what needs to get done gets done.”

“I have been thinking that I look good in orange, so I’ll take that under advisement.” Tim glared into the rearview, hating that he now had to consider how stupid his intentions were if Mosley had followed through on them.

Rachel declined to add anything seeing that the point had been made. Tim kept driving in silence, speeding slightly to eat up the miles. The car stayed silent, Shelby and Mosley staring out the window to enjoy their last sights of freedom, and Rachel watching them. She texted Raylan when they were out of Harlan and again when they were forty minutes from the marshals’ office.

“I’m thinkin’ that if I just talk to the test administrator this time, he’ll let me do the physical in the summer. You know when the pollen isn’t so bad,” Bob said to the room.

Cassie was the only one seeming to listen. She gave a polite nod as she paged through the untouched bible she had found on a bookshelf. Paxton groaned at Bob’s continued presence and turned the volume up on the TV for the seventh time. Raylan was glancing between the windows and his phone, counting down the moments until he deemed it safe to make the call he was dreading making.

“Alright, they’re close enough to Lexington now,” Raylan said once the clock on his phone had ticked another minute. “Bob, you mind giving Miss Cassie a ride to wherever she needs to go?”

“Of course not. And don’t you worry Ma’am, if anyone tries anything they're gonna have another thing coming. Ollie Camp would tell you that if he could say anything.”

Cassie stood up, setting aside the bible. Her composure slipped for a moment, showing the annoyance that she had managed to hide for the last two hours.

“Sorry,” Raylan offered. “I’d take you myself, but I gotta go find Ellen May.”

“Don’t you worry about it, Raylan, I’m happy to help,” Bob said, completely missing who Raylan had been talking to.

The two of them left, leaving Raylan with Paxton and Johns. “You two enjoy your time hiding out up here. I’ll be looking forward to visiting that dairy queen.”

“You have a nice night Marshal,” Paxton replied.

Raylan already had the contact open on his phone. He hit dial as he made his way down the steps from the door. He leaned against his car and watched the sun set as the line rang. He’d never seen a clover hill sunset before. The horizon was below him through the trees, the sun slipping behind the mountains he had seen since he was a kid, but never like this, never from this view reserved for those with richer fathers and prettier mothers. The sight made him glad of Boyd making these clover hill men fear him.

The empty gun clicked as Boyd pulled the trigger. Colt flinched, but the moment gave no comfort to Boyd from the terror rising in him. He lowered the gun, holding in his reaction to a calmly stated, “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

Colt couldn’t hide his own anxious terror, fidgeting and shifting in his seat. “Boyd I’m so sorry. I…”

Boyd’s phone rang.

Boyd glanced down at his pocket but ignored the sound. Colt watched not sure if he was supposed to keep talking. Boyd’s phone rang again.

“Now whoever that is can wait while you give me a damn good explanation for why you didn’t kill her.”

“I tried Boyd, please, I just stepped away for a minute to check my gun and she just vanished! I’ve done everything I can!”

Boyd’s phone rang again and he pulled it from his pocket to glance at the caller ID. “Shit,” he muttered before gesturing for Colt to continue.

“I even asked Shelby what one of his deputy’s saw!”

“You told Shelby?” Boyd asked, finally beginning to see what had happened.

“Not everything. I…”

“Johnny, get him out of my sight.”

“I’m…” Colt mumbled, trying to find words through the fog of guilt and shame and heroin craving.

“Now!” Boyd yelled, finally pushing Colt to stand and start towards the door, Johnny following along.

Boyd took a long breath, pushing down everything he could and then answered the phone. “Hello Raylan, what can I do for you?”

“You sound worried, I interrupt something important?” Raylan asked.

“Nothing so important that it can’t be postponed for you.”

“That’s good, cause what I got to tell you is rather important and somewhat time sensitive.”

“Now that sounds a little ominous.”

“I suppose it does,” Raylan said, trying to draw up the courage to say what he needed to say. It was just one more step into shady territory, no worse than the bounty hunting, or leaning on whoever he had to make them give him what he wanted, and unlike any of those it would truly protect someone he loved. Still his tongue felt dead, and his badge was heavy on his belt, seeming to scream that this would be a betrayal too far.

“Given that ominous note, could you perhaps see fit to disclose whatever it is you wanted to share? Or would you prefer I start guessing?”

“We got him.” Raylan finally managed to say.

“And by him I assume you mean Drew Thompson?”

“Yeah.”

“Well Raylan I hope you understand the position this puts me in, in regards to whether I pass this information onto Theo Tonin’s men?”

“He’ll be in the marshal’s office before Theo can set up an ambush.”

“I take it you’ve thought this through then?”

“Little bit,” Raylan admitted.

“Then, have you considered providing the kindness of Thompson’s new name, so I can give Tonin that while I beg for my life?”

“I suppose so, you even know him pretty well given that you got him elected.”

“Shelby? Now I never would have guessed that.”

“Neither would I, Rachel’s the one who got him.”

“So if Shelby has left Harlan never to return, that really leaves quite the opening down here. I’m sure the party of staties searching his house right now are just the beginning of the chaos it will bring.”

“Well those staties have yet to be informed of that party, given that we didn’t want Tonin getting word of the transfer.” Raylan opened his car door and climbed in.

“Well then, I guess it's time I make a call to Tonin’s man,” Boyd said, placing his gun in his waistband and grabbing his keys.

“I suppose so, unless you want to consider the second option.” Raylan started the car.

“And what might that option be? Making a run for it?”

“With my help. I can get you and Ava, even Johnny if I have to, in a marshal's safe house where you can wait this out.”

“Now, Raylan, I appreciate that offer, but I think we both know that it is doubtful that you have the sway with your boss to get that kind of support for us when your office is about to be quite busy. Besides I’m guessing that the marshals of your office are about to become the main targets of Tonin’s wrath.” Boyd headed for the door.

“Alright then. You… stay safe please.”

“I shall endeavor to be as careful as possible, Raylan.” Boyd opened the door headed out into the bar. “I’ll see you when I see you.”

“Alright then.” Raylan hung up and continued driving.

Boyd hung up and looked over Ava, Johnny, and Colt who were all looking at him. “The marshals got Drew Thompson.”

“Shit,” Ava said.

“So what do we do?” Johnny asked.

“I’m about to call Mr. Augustine and beg for our lives. If you’d rather make a run for it, now’s the time.”

“Alright then.” Johnny stood up and started for the door. “You give me a call if you survive.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.”

“If you’re staying I’m staying,” Ava said, glaring at Johnny’s back.

“I’m gonna make this up to you, Boyd. Whatever I have to do,” Colt said, eyes down.

“Ok then, make this place ready for receiving guests. I’ll be back once I’ve dealt with the Ellen May situation.” Boyd headed to his car, brushing by Johnny without a word. He dialed the number of Nicky Augustine, ready to say whatever he had to say, and then go and finally deal with Ellen May.

“Ellen May?” Raylan called into the house as he stepped through the doorway. The last of the sunlight had left the sky leaving the house dark except for a small light over the stove and the soft light of a quiet television in the back room. They could have easily been left on by Shelby to discourage anyone breaking in.

Raylan moved farther in. looking over the mess he could barely see. “Ellen May?” he said again. “Shelby asked me to come by and find you.”

“Marshal?” A shaky voice asked from a back room.

“That’s right. Are you alone back there?”

“I am,” Ellen May said, stepping out into the kitchen light. She was holding a frying pan which she set down on the counter. “Is Shelby all right?”

“He’s ok. He’s just run into a bit of trouble that’ll have him up in Lexington for a while, so he asked me to take you up there too.”

“Alright. You’re not gonna cuff me or anything are you?”

“No, you haven’t done anything wrong have you?”

“I’ve done a lot of bad, marshal, but I don’t think I should be telling you about that.” Ellen May started walking towards him, grabbing her jacket from a chair along the way.

“That would probably be for the best.” Raylan guided her to the door and then pointed out his car. They were barely down the steps when the truck pulled up.

Boyd climbed out, worry and anger flashing across his face before he opened up with a smile. “Now isn’t this quite the coincidence! We spoke on the phone barely half an hour ago and yet neither of us thought to mention that this was our next intended destination.”

“I reckon we both hoped to get here first, seeing how we both came for the same thing and only one of us is gonna get their way,” Raylan said, his right hand dropping to his holster on instinct while his left stayed at Ellen May’s back.

“And what is it that you are assuming I came for?”

“You came to shut up Ellen May before she can spill whatever secrets will put you behind bars.”

“While she may make some conjecture as to my role in some of her more recent ordeals, Ellen May does not have anything court worthy on me.”

Raylan tilted his head to stare at Boyd, and then glanced over at Ellen May who was nodding her head as she sank into herself as much as possible while staying upright. “Then why are you here?”

“Because while I am safe from her, Ava is not.”

“Oh,” Raylan said, noting Ellen May’s nervous gulp. “So you’re here to murder her in the name of your woman?”

Boyd gave a tilt of his head in acknowledgment, knowing better than to state his intent aloud. “You might be interested to find out that Ava is no longer my woman as you put it. Our relationship seems to be heading in a new more platonic direction.”

“You think telling me you're single is gonna help you get what you want?” Raylan asked, not daring to confront what that new information meant for them.

“I thought you might be interested to know that.” They fell silent, neither knowing what to say next or how to move on from the impasse.

“You remember that business with Johnson Maclaren and Arlo?” Raylan eventually asked.

“When Arlo fed him dog shit? Of course I remember it, my daddy would tell that story any time he was looking for a laugh.”

Raylan nodded, well I was telling some folks about that today, trying to get us to hash out all the bullshit, but they didn’t seem all that inclined to do so. It was only Rachel pointing a gun at Shelby that prevented me bein’ stranded up on Clover Hill while he ran off to Mexico.”

“On clover hill huh? You hear anything interesting while you were up there?”

Raylan smiled. “I think that conversation can wait a while. What I was trying to suggest is that, while those folks might have been disinclined to talk things out, the two of us definitely can. So what do you say to me putting Ellen May in the car and then I’ll come back over here and we’ll hash this thing out.”

“Alright Raylan, I trust you won’t just drive off with her?”

“Of course not, Boyd.” Raylan guided Ellen May to the passenger seat of the car.

“Please, Marshal, you can’t let him kill me!” Ellen May whispered once they were several steps from Boyd.

“You’re gonna be fine, just let me talk him out of this, ok.” Raylan opened the door for her and she climbed in with a fearful nod.

“Alright then, Boyd,” Raylan said walking back to him. “Now that she’s not listening can you tell me what she has on Ava?”

Boyd nodded. “I hope you understand the level of trust I will be extending to you here, and the price that breaking that trust might have.”

“I know.”

“Alright then, Raylan, several months back, Delroy, the former owner of Audrey’s had a scheme going where he had some of his girls commit armed robberies, among them Ellen May.”

“Really?” Raylan glanced back at Ellen May. “I wouldn’t’ve thought she had that in her.”

“Indeed, she was not particularly good at it. Which then led to a rather unfortunate circumstance where one of the girls died and Delroy felt the need to clean up the others to cover his tracks. Now Ellen May managed to make it to our bar and ask Ava for protection.”

“So Ava killed Delroy,” Raylan said, stopping Boyd from giving the fully extended story.

“Those would be the bare bones of what happened.”

“No one’s gonna arrest Ava just on a prostitute’s word, Boyd.”

“Well no, but they might make use of her word to lead them to what they will use to lock her up.”

“She knows where the body is.” Raylan adjusted his hat, as the realization that this would not be as easy as he hoped set in.

“She does. And given that and Ava’s last name, she’ll be arrested. You well know that I will do everything I can to make sure Ava has a favorable trial, but that will take months. I can’t put her through that after I drew her into this life.”

“Ok, then you get her out of the state, buy a new identity for her from Limehouse. No one’s gonna be looking for her outside Kentucky.”

“Remind me, Raylan, how did things go the last time that you tried to get Ava to leave the state?”

“Fair enough. Could you move the body? If there's nothing to be found where Ellen May says to look then there’s no case.” Raylan made the suggestion without a second thought, only feeling their contents after they left his mouth. Still the line was easier crossed than the last, all the more so for his own feeling of responsibility at Ava’s situation.

“It’s down a splinter shaft. And while you are the one who’s afraid of mines, I am none too keen on trying to go down there.”

“You more keen on killing Ellen May in front of me?”

“If those are my two options I suppose I do prefer going down a mineshaft to you thinking less of me.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Raylan said.

“Yes, but I think you need to think through what is happening here. Ava killed a bad man to save someone’s life. That’s the sort of thing you quite like to do, but Ava didn’t have a badge to make it legal. She only had her will and her spirit to guide her in a difficult choice, a choice between the easy path of greed, of taking Delroy’s money and never seeing Ellen May again, and the harder path of righteousness, of fighting for justice here and now, regardless the risk to herself. She chose the harder choice, to walk the path that you like to tell yourself you’re walking.

Are you really prepared to see her pay for making that choice? Cause we both know that no matter the promises you might make, things aren’t gonna look good for the next few weeks, and I’m gonna be needing to focus on the here and now to keep my people safe. I might not have the chance to move that body before Ellen May lets something slip.”
Raylan shook his head, trying to laugh off Boyd’s words. “Damn it Boyd,” he grumbled on the realization that he couldn’t. “How about this, we drop Ellen May off with state police and then get the moving done tonight?”

“Nicky Augustine will be arriving here within two hours, by helicopter no less. I don’t expect he’ll be in the forgiving mood if I make him wait.”

“Boyd, I can’t let you kill her,” Raylan said, voice falling in defeat.

“Alright then, Raylan.” Boyd laid a hand on Raylan’s shoulder bringing him back into focus. “Now all we need to do is to guarantee that she doesn’t talk for a week or two, so that we can find a time to do what needs to be done. I think we can convince her that she has an obligation not to say anything if she doesn’t have to. Is there a way you can guarantee that she has leverage against anyone who might want to pressure her into making a deal?”

“You think we can get Ellen May to understand the leverage she has?” Raylan joked.

“Well if you have a better idea I would be happy to hear it.”

“No, you’re right. I’m only here ‘cause Shelby wants her safe, it was the one condition he gave for his cooperation. No one would be willing to put the Thompson deal at risk by playing hardball with her. We’ll have until he goes into Witsec which gives us at least a week, probably two.”

“Alright then, that seems to get us somewhere.”

“I’ll have a day off before then. I assume if you’re busy handling Tonin you’ll have a man you can spare to help me finish this thing?” Raylan forced himself to say the words, the thought of descending into a mine shaft already setting his heart racing.

“I most certainly will, Raylan.”

“Alright, I’ll just explain the situation to Ellen May and then be on my way, unless you want to have a word with her?”

“I would, just so long as that is ok with her.”

Raylan nodded and headed to the car. Ellen May was watching him, hands clutched together.

“Are you giving me to Boyd?” she asked when he opened the door.

“I’m not,” Raylan said, leaning down to look in her eyes. “I’m gonna take you away from here in just a minute. There are a few conditions we have about what you do next.”

“Ok, I mean I’ll do whatever you want me to, just so long as you keep me safe. Anything…” Ellen May said, making assumptions about what was about to be asked of her.

“Well I’m glad to hear that. Now Boyd was hoping to have a word with you, is that alright? He won’t hurt you or anything.”

Ellen May nodded, fear obvious on her face.

Raylan waved Boyd over, who approached casually, hands out and empty. “Hello Ellen May,” he said.

“Hi, Mr. Crowder.”

“Now I believe I owe you an apology, Ellen May. I took actions that may have caused you some discomfort. I acted rashly and harshly, but I think you know why I acted that way.”

Ellen May nodded.

“You are dangerous to someone I hold very dear, someone who has saved your life, now I think you owe that person one last favor, that we are now calling in.”

“What does Ava want me to do?”

"First she wants you to answer honestly when I ask you if you told anyone what happened to delroy?"

"No sir, I didn't. Not even Shelby!"

"I'm glad to hear that Ellen May," Boyd said, a fear and harshness leaving his voice. He turned to Raylan to explain the rest

“When we get to Lexington there’s gonna be some people asking you questions,” Raylan explained. “You’re gonna tell them that you were staying with Shelby cause you lost your job and had nowhere else to stay. Now if anyone asks you any questions about Boyd or Ava or anything you might have witnessed you just tell them that they’ll have to ask Shelby, alright?”

“Ok, I can do that. I won’t let Ava down.”

“Good, now we’ll be leaving in just a minute,” Raylan said and closed the door again. He and Boyd stepped away, stopping at the back of the car where Boyd would turn towards his truck and Raylan would head to the driver's seat.

“I must say Raylan, it is odd to find us on the same side of something yet again.”

“I’m glad we are, at least for now.” Raylan moved closer to Boyd, letting their shoulders brush.

“But I think we both know that there is very little that I can do that will both keep me and mine alive and not cross you.”

“Yeah. We’ll figure it out though, you just make sure you’re alive for me to….” Raylan trailed off, he had been planning to say ‘for me to be angry at’ but he knew that he wouldn’t have any anger for Boyd surviving, whatever the cost.

Boyd seemed to hear the sentiment, moving closer and pressing a kiss to Raylan’s lips. “You’ll see me again, cowboy,” he said before turning to head back.

Raylan smiled after him, lost in the realization that he once again lived in a world where Boyd would kiss him. “I better,” he said before turning back to the car, Boyd’s laugh echoing at his back.