On This Lonely Road

Trying to Make It

She walked into Audrey's with her head down and eyes up.  Johnny was behind the bar shining whiskey glasses. His eyes picked her out of the crowd and the look of frustration that took over his gaze told her he wasn't looking forward to their upcoming conversation. She sat down and picked up one of the glasses and turned it right side up. She reached over the counter and picked up a whiskey bottle pouring herself a glass. 

"What do you want Raven?" Johnny snatched the whiskey back. 

"Where's Aiden?" her eyes flicked up. 

"I'm going to give you the same answer I gave your Marshall boyfriend," Johnny snapped, "I don't know." 

"Bullshit Johnny!" Raven hissed through gritted teeth. 

"You know as well as anyone else when Aiden doesn't want to be found he doesn't tell anyone where hes going!" 

"He shot up my house Johnny!" 

Johnny stood back trying to process what the woman had just said. Raven raised an eyebrow wondering what he was thinking. Raven turned and went to walk out of the bar knowing she wasn't going to get the answers she wanted from the man. Before her hand could grab the door handle, Johnny's words caught her off guard. 

"I think you should know," he called out, "Bo Crowder is out of prison." 

"Johnny why didn't you tell me that sooner?" It was all Raven could do to keep herself composed. 

There weren't many people who hadn't had a run in with the Crowder family. They basically ran Harlan's drug ring. At least that was before Bo Crowder ended up in prison.  One of the Pierce family downfalls was that Aiden had been one of Bo's enforcers. Since Bo had been in prison, Aiden taken it upon himself to be his own boss and run his own drug trade. He knew Bo wouldn't kind to her brother once he tracked him down. Aiden was good at hiding himself, sometimes a little to good. If she knew the Crowder's well enough, she wasn't safe as long as Aiden was hidden because Bo would do anything he deemed necessary to pull the man out of hiding. 

Then she realized what had truly happened last night. IT hadn't been Aiden trying to kill his sister. She even knew deep down Aiden wouldn't pull a stunt like that. She knew it had to have been Bo's men trying to make a statement. She knew that they had made their point because she had walked right into Audrey's no questions asked. 

"Johnny," she whispered, "where's Bo now?" 

"Raven Pierce!" The gut wrenching familiarity of the voice made her stomach churn. 

"Bo Crowder," She turned around trying to look anything but terrified. 

"Sit," he gestured to a chair and she tip toed over and sat down stiff as a board. 

"So," Bo sat down across from her signaling to Johnny to bring over glasses and a bottle of liqueur, "haven't seen you in ages. Look at you all grown up. How have you been?" 

"Swell," she decided to keep her answers short. 

"Good to hear," he poured two glasses of whiskey and slide one across the table to her, "so Raven, I heard your brother decided he could start his own drug ring in my county. I dont take to kindly to those who think they can go against me." 

He shot back the whiskey and then slammed the glass on the table, "where's Aiden?" 

"I don't know," she felt herself jump. 

"There's no use in protecting him," Bo's voice got cold.

"I'm not protecting him," Raven kept her composure, "you know as well I do do that when he don't want to be found you ain't finding him."

"If you hear from him," Bo stood up grabbing the glass he had poured for her, "you best tell me." 

He swallowed the glass then walked away. Raven looks out of the corner of her eye at Johnny who had a concerned look on his face as he watched Bo leave. Raven stood up a hurried to the door feeling the need to escape to Raylan.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She walked into the Marshall's office in search of Raylan. The look on her face had to tell everyone she was desperate to find him and wasn't very happy about what was on her mind. Raylan was no where to be scene as she stood in the center of the office. 

"Can I help you?" Tim stood up stepping around his desk. 

"Where's Raylan Givens!" Her words were short and on point the irritation high in her voice. 

"Hes not here," Tim answered her, "he's out working a case." 

"I need to see him!" Raven's voice obviously full of panic. 

"You ok?" Tim stepped closer to her noticing the woman's complexion had gone pale. 

Raven covered her mouth and nose with her hands as her eyes danced around the room. She could feel all eyes on her. She knew she was making a scene and didn't want to be there. But she didn't want to go back to Raylan's room either. It as one of those moments she hated. One of those moments she felt so vulnerable and afraid. Growing up in Harlan made you cold or it made you weak. Survival of the fittest was definitely the definition of the land. She had trained herself to fear the "higher powers" of the land. Then she also blamed it on her brother's abuse. 

"No, I'm not ok!" she snapped, "I  need to see Raylan!" 

"You con sit in the conference room until he gets back," Tim gestured her towards the door. 

"Thank you," Raven walked into the room and took a seat. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raylan walked back into the Marshal's office and saw Raven in the conference room. He walked over to Tim keeping an eye on the woman. 

"Why is she here?" Raylan asked his fellow Marshal. 

"She came looking for you," Tim looked over. 

"I'm so getting shit from Art over this one," Raylan pulled his hat down and walked over to the room to join Raven. 

Raven's eyes met his with a look concern. He had told her to stay at the hotel and the last thing he wanted was for Art to say he couldn't chase Aiden. 

"Why are you here?" Raylan asked Raven. 

"Because you failed to tell me that Bo Crowder was out of prison," She stood up facing him. 

"I don't see how its an issue." 

"My brother worked for him Raylan."

"Well then that changes things." Raylan sighed, "And now Boyd Crowder is out as well." 

"This definitely complicates things."