Sorry for the long, long wait. Between work and my better half's parents and their health issues, I've been bogged down.

Longmire: Frames

Chapter 11…..Mood

Deputy Ferguson sat as his desk admiring the new lures he'd carefully made, lures that he hoped would land some serious trout on his next fishing expedition. He already had the place in mind and thought the colors would entice the local fish population into taking the fly.

The slamming of the door startled him, and the look on Vic's face as she stormed out of Walt's old office was one he'd seen before; someone was about to have their ass handed to them and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see it or not.

That wasn't unusual. What really got his attention was Ruby trailing out after her. He could see that she was trying not to cry, but the thing that disturbed him most was the anger he saw behind the tears.

He slid his chair back and stood up. He moved slowly toward Ruby and reached out a hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked, gently laying his hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"WHY CAN'T THEY GET A…. BREAK?" Ruby shouted, the unspoken profanity clear in her hesitation.

He tilted his head slight to the right. "Who?" he asked, although he was pretty sure of the answer.

Ruby closed her eyes and tried to gain control of herself. "Some… some… some…" the words wouldn't come to her. How could she describe what she'd seen with those pictures?

"Ruby? What's going on?". He slid his arm around Ruby's shoulder. Worry and fear gnawed at him. Ruby was the proxy mother, aunt, grandmother of the Absaroka County Sheriff's Department. He knew that for her to be so upset, things couldn't be good for Vic. Or Walt. "What happened?" he asked.

Ruby took a deep breath, staring at the ceiling. "I wish I could tell you… I WANT to tell you, but…" she trailed off.

Ferg took his own deep breath. And another. "Ruby?"

"Some one took pictures of Walter and Vic…". She didn't need to say any more. The Ferg understood immediately. "Jesus", he muttered. He wasn't prepared when Ruby slammed her fists on his desk.

"It's not FAIR!" she shouted. He laid his hands on top of her clenched fists, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to roll down his cheeks. He struggled for words, came up empty.

Then the phone rang. Ruby stiffened her spine, wiped the tears of anger from her eyes and answered "Absaroka County Sheriff's Office, how can we help you?"

Sawyer Crane answered, "I need to talk with Deputy Moretti".

"She's not here at the moment" Ruby replied.

"Where is she? Get her on the radio". The tone pissed Ruby off even more. "She's not here and not responding to radio. Is there something you need?"

"Just tell her to call me when you can. We have some serious stuff to talk about".

Ruby set the phone gently into the cradle. "No. She has enough to deal with."

Deputy Ferguson stared at the lures on his desk. Someone was looking to catch a big fish, either Vic or Walt or most likely both. But who? There was a list of some seriously angry people. The mayor? Walker Browning? Those nut jobs? Why not toss Sheriff Wilkins in the pot?

Ruby walked over and slid her arm around his waist. They both stared into the heavens and wondered just who would be so cruel.

Vic slid her car to a stop just outside the Cheyenne Rez. She'd told Walt to meet her where Mary Red Wolf had been hit by that asshole. She got out of the car and stared at the… she didn't now the words. Sure it was lonesome, it was majestic, it was empty, it was full of wildlife. There were no words to describe her surroundings.

Her anger boiled. She wasn't sure which bothered her worse; that she'd been violated, Walt had been violated, or they'd both been violated. Which pain was the worst? Or was there a "worst".

Barely conscious of the movement, her right hand dropped down to her holster, unsnapped, drew, and started pounding out 9mm rounds at the first convenient target, a left over poster from Sawyer Cranes last run for Mayor. Her hands automatically performed the functions she'd be taught: her thumb hit the magazine release, her left hand grabbed the next magazine and inserted it, her right thumb pressed down on the slide lock, the slide jacked forward with a satisfying thunk.

Her anger spent, or at least calmed for now, she bent down and retrieved the spent mag. Leaning in her Silver Bullet, she opened the glove compartment and retrieved a box of ammunition. She slowly started sliding rounds into the empty mag. Pull a round from the plastic tray, point it in the right direction, slide it in with her thumb, each round needing more pressure to over come the spring tension, weighing the magazine with its rounds in the palm of her hand…

She only looked up when she heard Walt's POS Bronco pull up behind her car. She would recognize it anywhere.

Walt opened the door, looked around. There was no way anyone could spy on them here. He didn't give Vic a chance to move. He moved forward and wrapped her in his arms. After a few seconds they separated. Walt looked at the old campaign poster. "Nice grouping" he drawled.

"Yeah well that punk…" Vic trailed off. "It was handy." She said

Walt took a deep breath, exhaled, took another. "Let me see the pictures" even though he really didn't want to see.

Vic reached in and grabbed the envelope with pictures. It was only when she started to hand them to Walt that she noticed the gauze wrapped around his palms. "What the fuck?" she asked.

Walt turned his palms upwards. Here and there on both hands, spots of red were leaking through. "I…" he didn't finish the sentence, wanting to tell Vic he'd lost his temper. He didn't need to. She slid his arms around his waist. "Yeah, I kinda…" she trailed off, pointing at the roadside campaign poster. They both laughed, a momentary release of tension. But they both knew that the pictures weren't the end of it all.

Walt pulled out his new cell phone and dialed his best friend, Henry Standingbear.

A couple of rings later… "Walt? What has caused you to actually use a cell phone? Would not smoke signals be more appropriate?"

"Henry? Can you get in touch with Martin James?"

"Walt, what is going on?"