Colton 911--Caught in the Crossfire

by Linda O. Johnston

  Although there was something about them that made him wonder how innocent they were. All four of them acted like the drivers they were as they stood with Melody and him. But he’d noted that those drivers seemed to be studying the five of them, as they discussed their instructions, when the other cattle would be brought inside, and the route they would take to get to the ranch in northern Arizona where the Dodds apparently intended to sell the cows. Had they heard of the theft? Did they know what was going on?

  Were they okay with driving a bunch of stolen cattle this way? He wondered how much Sean had offered to pay them.

  Maybe they were watching him for some indication of whether they could demand more—from the person who’d stolen these valuable cows.

  But there was something about them that suggested there was more to this part of the situation than Casey had figured out.

  He’d just have to wait and see.

  Suddenly, someone ran up the ramp and into the back of the trailer.

  Someone pointing a gun toward Sean.

  At the same time, all four drivers also pulled weapons from their pockets and aimed at Georgia and Delilah.

  And Casey erupted into laughter, nodding happily as Melody aimed a confused gaze toward him.

  The man who’d run up the ramp didn’t meet Casey’s gaze, though, and he knew full well why he didn’t. Instead, the guy used his free hand to pull something out of his pocket—his identification.

  “FBI,” he said. “Sean Dodd, Georgia Dodd and Delilah Kennedy Dodd, you are under arrest for the murder of Pierce Tostig, an act of violent crime.”

  “What!” Sean shouted, and he started digging into his own pocket, presumably for his gun. But the female driver grabbed his hands and wrestled them behind his back, where she cuffed him and pulled out his gun, sticking it into her own waistband.

  The other FBI agents frisked Georgia and Delilah and apparently found only the one additional gun. Soon they, too, were cuffed.

  And as the Dodds were all led down the ramp, one by one, sirens sounded in the distance. Clearly, official help was on the way, so no one would have to drive these criminals to town in the semitrucks.

  That gave Casey time to do as he’d wanted to for the last few minutes. He hurried to Melody’s side.

  “FBI?” She sounded confused. “Why are they here? I wouldn’t have thought this was their jurisdiction.”

  “Probably not, normally,” Casey agreed. But he looked toward the agent who’d run up the ramp and begun the arrest process. “Hey,” he said, giving the agent a high five. And then he turned back toward Melody. “Melody Hayworth, I’d like you to meet my twin brother, Everett. My older brother, Agent Everett Colton.” He turned back to Everett, whose grin was enormous. “So what brought you here, bro?” Casey asked.

  Chapter 21

  Melody remained standing next to Casey on the roadside near the trucks. She felt relieved. Was this over at last? It appeared that way. And how interesting that Casey’s brother Everett, from the FBI, had been the agent in charge of bringing this to an end. The official Sur County Sheriff’s Department black SUVs had already picked up the real truck drivers a mile down the road and they were being interrogated about what they knew about the cattle rustling, if anything.

  Melody gathered from the shouted discussion that the FBI agents had commandeered the semis so they could dash out here undercover to apprehend the rogue cattle rustlers—the Dodds. And even if they were cleared quickly of any wrongdoing those real drivers wouldn’t be able to take off with their trucks, not with the cows still inside.

  Fortunately, the agents had found Melody’s phone, along with Casey’s, in the saddlebag still on Sean’s horse, located with the other Dodd mounts behind the fence near the road. Though the phones would be evidence in the multiple crimes the Dodds had committed, Everett handed them to Casey and her, anyway—a good thing. She really needed hers.

  She called Clarence. The ranch owner was thrilled to hear that the cows were now safely in Melody’s control, and the rustlers had been apprehended. “By Everett Colton, I presume.”

  “Yes, and some other FBI agents,” Melody responded, keeping her curiosity about what Clarence knew to herself. Getting the cattle back to the main ranch land was paramount.

  And, of course, that was Clarence’s opinion, too. He promised to send a few other ranch hands there via the road—and Melody promised she’d make sure the five horses, including Casey’s and hers, were available for them to help herd the cows back where they belonged. Surely, with the Dodds no longer in charge, that would be the case.

  “And you?” Clarence asked. “I assume you’d rather just come back here, right? That’s what I want. I need to hear your story about what happened and how it got resolved.”

  “Fine.” Melody felt a bit relieved that she wouldn’t be one of the drovers on the way back. She needed some time off.

  And...well, she didn’t need to remain with Casey right now, but she wanted to. If nothing else, she wanted to learn how he had secretly worked with Everett so that this situation came to a positive conclusion.

  But she also hoped to stay in Casey’s company just a little longer. No, they didn’t really have a relationship, despite their wonderful one-night stand. But she hoped they would see each other occasionally, as friends who had successfully worked together and helped to resolve a difficult situation.

  But despite all they had been through together, she still wasn’t ready for anything beyond that. Wasn’t sure she’d ever be.

  Although if she ever was, Casey would definitely be her pick...

  And he seemed to value the idea of her being a ranch hand.

  In any case, when she ended her conversation with Clarence, she invited both Casey and Everett to join her at the ranch house to provide a summary to the town selectman about what had happened.

  “I’m going to check with my fellow deputies about the status of things around here,” said Casey from beside her. “Hopefully, we’ll all head back to town soon.”

  “Let’s go get our horses before anything else,” Melody told him, and they did. Fortunately, both Witchy and Cal were where they’d tethered them and seemed happy enough to be walked to the nearby roadside. The activity around the official sheriff’s department vehicles had quieted down, and Melody was happy to join Casey there after they tied up their horses inside the pasture fence near where the Dodds’ steeds had been secured.

  Casey was soon met by Jeremy Krester. “Glad you’re okay,” the sheriff said. “Both of you.” But the tall, thin man with graying hair leveled his gaze mostly at Casey, his deputy.

  “I see you have a bunch of our guys here, too—including Captain Walter Forman and Deputy Bob Andrews.” Casey glanced toward Melody. She recalled meeting both of them when the helicopter had arrived to pick up poor Pierce.

  She asked, “Is the other emergency over?”

  Casey stared at her. “Other emergency?”

  The sheriff appeared a bit embarrassed. “Yeah, though we haven’t yet caught the perpetrators. Like I said, it was an armed robbery, but by the time we got there, it was over and the perps had disappeared. No indication yet where they are. I probably should just have sent more of our deputies out here to help you.”

  “Well, we’re okay now,” Casey said. “Interesting, though, that the FBI helped out this way.”

  Melody had the sense he was rubbing his boss’s nose into his possible mistake, but she didn’t say anything.

  Still, having a federal agency like the FBI here, represented by a deputy’s brother, resolving things did sound a bit off to her—something she might see on TV or a movie.

  Everett stood on the road shoulder near the three official vehicles that still had their red lights flashing on top. Melody wished she could bombard him with questions, but this wasn’t the time...or, most likely, the place.

  But ri
ght now, she couldn’t have been happier to meet Casey’s older brother—who was also in law enforcement and apparently had been instrumental in getting out here to bring down the Dodds and save the cattle.

  “Good job,” Everett called to Deputy Andrews, who was about to get into the driver’s seat of the second SUV. There was a third one, too, behind it.

  Melody couldn’t help it. She peered inside that second SUV. Sean and Delilah were ensconced in the middle seat, with deputies both in front of them and behind them.

  They remained in cuffs, from what Melody could see. And though they’d shot dirty looks at both Casey and her from the moment they were taken into custody, she doubted they’d have an opportunity to exact any revenge.

  Speaking of teasing, she had an urge to yell something inside to them, taunt them about their failure, the fact the cattle would go back to their normal lives, but these thieves—and murderers—certainly wouldn’t.

  But why bother? It wouldn’t really make her feel any better. Besides, judging by their posture and expressions, they already knew their despicable escapade was over, and so was their freedom to try to harm anyone else this way, or any other way, including cattle.

  Melody considered peeking inside the first of the police vehicles where Georgia was detained, but decided not to. She figured she’d see all of them again eventually.

  In fact, she’d look forward to testifying at trial against them.

  Everett began talking then, and when she turned back toward him, she noticed he was on the phone. In a minute, his call was over, and he faced Casey, who now stood close to Melody.

  “Hey, bro,” he said. “We’ve been officially summoned to the ranch house—you, me and Melody—to provide our esteemed selectman and ranch owner a rundown of all that happened.”

  Which Melody was already aware of, but Clarence’s invitation definitely made it official.

  It would be interesting to hear their takes as they described all they knew, all that had happened, to Clarence, along with her.

  * * *

  Casey was fine with the idea of talking with Selectman Edison again, especially since Melody would be along. Not to mention his hero brother, Everett.

  He wasn’t surprised, though, that they had to wait until the first two of the three department vehicles, the ones containing the prisoners, took off for the station. Clarence Edison was sending some of his remaining ranch hands to take charge of wrangling the cattle back to their more usual environment in the closer pastures.

  Fortunately, though, Clarence was more interested in having Melody join them for their discussion than having her do any herding right now. She’d remain in Casey’s presence a while longer, which was fine with him.

  He’d talked briefly with Everett and Sheriff Krester. Yes, the FBI team, with Everett in charge, had been the ones to initially place the Dodds under arrest, but that was for convenience, since they’d gotten to this area first, although Casey realized there was more to the delay than that.

  However, the local authorities were taking over. The legal proceedings—arraignments, trials and all—would occur in this area, where the evidence and witnesses were.

  There were reasons, though, why Everett and his FBI contingent had happened to be present in Cactus Creek, and the brief mentions in the conversation suggested that Selectman Edison had had something to do with that.

  Which made Casey even more eager for this upcoming meeting.

  Especially since, fortunately, his initial suspect, Clarence’s ex-wife Hilda, apparently hadn’t been involved in the rustling, which would have made this conversation difficult.

  “Hey, there they are!” Melody, standing near the remaining department vehicle beside him, pointed toward another SUV that was approaching from down the road. The white vehicle sported the OverHerd Ranch name and logo, with the head of a cow on its side.

  Four men and two women got out and greeted Melody effusively once she’d approached them, giving her hugs and exclaiming that they hoped she was all right.

  Casey felt irritated when the men hugged her, then he castigated himself. Melody and he were just friends. Colleagues who’d gone through a lot.

  Two people who’d attempted to ease a difficult situation by having a night of passionate sex...

  Which he’d need to forget, or at least not keep thinking about. It was done, it had been a good thing, and now it was over.

  Although...well, the fact that Melody seemed even more beautiful now, while she was happy and relieved and surrounded by friends dressed like her in work clothes for a cattle drive, somehow made it harder for him to simply stick the memory of their wonderful night at the back of his mind.

  But he would.

  In a short while, Melody had helped her fellow ranch hands get the cattle back out of the trucks and secured behind the fence of the ranch land, though one of the men drove the SUV they’d arrived in back to the ranch house.

  That gave the semi drivers, who’d been milling around, the go-ahead to take back possession of their vehicles and get on the road, but not before they had been interviewed and gave their contact information to Captain Forman. Evidently they did not appear to have known what the Dodds were up to.

  And after that, it was finally time for Casey and the rest to get on the road, too—a good thing, since daylight was beginning to fade, and there certainly weren’t any streetlights out here on this remote road.

  Casey took charge of the remaining sheriff’s department vehicle, promising to drop off Walter at the station before he, Melody and Everett, also riding with him, returned to the ranch to talk to Selectman Clarence.

  This had been quite an interesting, revealing day...and Casey recognized it wasn’t over yet.

  * * *

  Melody was back at the ranch house. Not exactly her home, the apartment in one of the auxiliary bunkhouses near here, but Clarence’s house.

  This time, she was there with both Casey and his brother. They’d complied with the summons by her boss, and they had a story to tell.

  Melody hoped she learned something, too.

  As he had the last time, before Casey and she had gone on their adventure to bring back the stolen cattle, Clarence had them shown through the wooden entryway into his ornate living room to talk. He soon joined them, having a member of the help, whom Melody had seen before but not met, bring them coffee, promising drinks later since he intended that they all stay for dinner.

  Clarence took over one of the sections of the room’s brown leather sofas. He gestured for Melody and the two Colton brothers to take seats on other portions of the sofa facing him.

  Then it was time to talk.

  “Hey, you three,” Clarence said in his usually jovial tone—the one he used when he wasn’t upset about stolen cattle. He started to joke about how lonesome he’d been without some of his cattle and one of his favorite ranch hands—he looked at Melody, which made her smile, despite knowing he was kidding—plus his favorite sheriff’s deputy and FBI agent abandoning him for a while.

  A good, useful while, he admitted.

  Looking at Everett, Casey spoke first. “You know I’m always glad to see you, bro, but why did you happen to be around here to save me?”

  “Oh, you can thank our favorite selectman.” He turned toward Clarence, whose senior face lit up in a huge smile. “He happened to call my superiors in Phoenix and expressly request that I be sent here with a team of agents because he said some federal laws were being broken and he needed help.”

  “Help my department wasn’t providing just then,” Casey said, shaking his head.

  “Exactly,” Clarence responded. He told the story from his perspective, probably exaggerating a bit.

  Melody gathered from what Clarence said that he’d been irritated when Pierce happened to disappear right when she, who was less experienced, headed out with Deputy Sheriff Casey to find th
e missing cattle. Pierce’s job had been to help oversee care of the remaining cattle.

  “I wanted him back,” Clarence said. “I also considered calling the sheriff about this but figured he already had someone in the field from that office chasing his cattle—Casey. So I called a superior in the Phoenix FBI office and asked him to send our buddy Everett Colton, who knows the Cactus Creek area well, to try to find a missing ranch hand. And, of course, it didn’t hurt that Casey is Everett’s brother.”

  Clarence had claimed there was the possibility of a violent crime being committed—one of the areas where the FBI had jurisdiction—although he hadn’t yet known of Pierce’s death. As a result, with Casey still out in the field, Everett and his team members had been sent.

  And Clarence had demanded silence—that Everett not attempt to contact his brother, at least not yet.

  By the time they arrived, Pierce’s body and the dead cow had been found, making the situation clearly a violent crime. Pierce’s horse had shown up soon afterward near the stable. Everett and his colleagues stayed in town to work with the sheriff—and the selectman—in sorting out any evidence. That was why they were there to investigate after Melody called the sheriff’s department on Casey’s phone for help.

  “And it worked,” Clarence affirmed as the conversation drew to a close. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m generally happy with the job our local sheriff’s department does.” He leveled a grin at Casey, who nodded back.

  Melody noted the word generally, but didn’t comment. She figured Casey had focused on it, too, since he quickly shared a glance with Everett.

  “But, hey, you. Agent Everett Colton.” This time Clarence focused directly on Everett. “You’re F-B-I like you guys!”

  Melody shook her head slightly in amusement. Her boss was clearly back to being himself, now that this nasty interlude was drawing to a close.