Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“Well, shit.” Cole came around to the L of the couch. “Wouldn’t you have more dead cattle if that’s how they did it?”
“You’d think. Hell, they could have sprinkled it on the grass. Thank God we penned off that section to be safe, but still. Someone came onto my damn property and killed my cows.” He started pacing the small space.
Cole stood silently watching him.
“I can’t believe this,” JB said, throwing out his arms. “We do so much to keep our animals healthy and free from predator attacks. There’s enough shit out there trying to kill them. I don’t need to worry about this. Some…asshole…who probably planned to kill a lot more.”
“Do you think it could have been one of your ranch hands?” Cole asked, his voice low.
JB stopped and stared at him. “No! No, of course not. Those men and women love this place as much as I do. I can’t imagine any of them doing this. Besides, this place is their livelihood, too. We go under, they’re out of a job. There ain’t exactly a huge job market for ranch hands.”
“Unless this person was paid handsomely to do it,” Cole suggested.
JB frowned at the man before shaking his head and starting to pace again. The thought of one of his own people betraying him like that curdled his stomach. He didn’t want to believe such a thing was possible, but he wasn’t blind to the way the world worked. People did horrible things for the right amount of money.
“Maybe,” he said grudgingly. “But I doubt it. No one on the payroll springs immediately to mind.”
“What about Logan?”
JB sighed but didn’t deny the possibility. Cole was playing devil’s advocate and he appreciated it. He was too damn close to see things clearly. “I don’t know. Yeah, he hates my guts, but he’s a rancher himself. We get attached to the animals, have a healthy respect for them. The man’s too much of a straight shooter. If he wanted to hurt me, he’d attack me. Not my cows.” He paced toward the kitchen and back, his boots clicking on the hard wood floor, but not before he caught Cole’s skeptical expression.
He got it. His dad selling Alexander Ranch would solve a hell of a lot of problems for Logan. Less competition for his ranch and he’d have the bonus of getting rid of JB as a neighbor. So what if he had to do some dirty things? It was a big win for Logan if it succeeded.
Anger boiled through him like scalding water. “How the hell are we going to figure out the culprit? That section of ranch is near a road. Too easy for someone to hop the fence, poison the field, and then escape. We may never know who did it.”
Cole walked toward him and placed his hands on his shoulders to stop his pacing. “We’ll find out.” Cole paused, his eyes darting away as he licked his lips. When he spoke again, his voice was a little unsure. “I called Rowe, told him what’s been happening. I hope you don’t mind. He’s helping me look into the people around here, especially that property developer.”
JB stared at him. “You think it could have been Dillinger?”
“You said he’s been after your land for a while now. Poison could be used to scare you off. And if he intended to kill a lot more, it could put your ranch into financial trouble. Force you to sell.”
It made sense. A lot more than one of his own people. But was Brad Dillinger or even Logan really that dirty and underhanded?
“Is it possible the vet got it wrong? She sure this wasn’t some kind of natural anomaly?”
“No, she was pretty damn adamant. And alarmed.”
Cole squeezed his hands. “Well, I can look into this poison, see if I can find where it was purchased.”
“You’d do that?”
Cole looked surprised by the question. “Of course. I want to help.”
“Thanks.” JB tried to smile at him but failed miserably. The dead cows and poisoning were just too much. This ranch meant everything to him. To his family. If those cows hadn’t wandered off alone, it could have been a whole herd that had been killed. And what if that wasn’t the only area with poison? “I’m going to take the truck out, see if I can find anything helpful in the field.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Again, he tried to smile and failed. “You don’t have to. I know you have a lot of work here.”
“I want to.”
The smile finally caught and stayed this time. JB nodded. “Then let’s go.”
Cole let go of his shoulders. “Let me close out what I was doing and get my boots.”
JB waited by the door, his mind wandering to that surprise kiss. What had it meant? Had it been a spur-of-the-moment thing brought on by the danger? Or was Cole interested?