Desert Rose

by Victoria Hardesty

  “Good news,” Ron said when he came back in the interrogation room a few minutes later. “I talked to the watch commander at the Apple Valley station. They were at the ranch not long ago. They got a call a few hours ago because someone went to your ranch to check on the horses there and found the stallion missing and the door to the caretaker’s cottage open. It looked suspicious to them. They permitted a Mike Hartley to remove the horses to his ranch in Pinon Hills. Five horses were taken there for medical evaluation and care.”

  Rhonda teared up. “Thank goodness. Mike and Ginny will take good care of them until we can get there.”

  “You know this Mike Hartley?” Ron asked.

  John smiled broadly. “We sure do! We both worked for him. He was the one that recommended us to the owner of the ranch we work for now. It was a great job for us. Which brings up another situation. We need to reach the owner right away. He’s in Spain with his family. He doesn’t have any idea that his precious stallion is missing. That horse is his most prized possession, after his family of course.”

  “Well, I got more good news for you. There is a San Bernardino County Deputy on his way here to pick you up. He was already close to the county line. The watch commander redirected him here. He’s to take you directly to the Apple Valley station. They may have more information before you get back there. I gave him the short version of what you told me here so they can start putting the puzzle pieces back together.”

  “Is there any way I could get a taco?” Rhonda asked. “I got this sudden craving for one. Would that be possible?”

  “There’s a little café across the street. They have a great Mexican cook in the back. He makes great breakfasts, but he makes wonderful lunches too. He serves the best little street tacos you’ve ever eaten. I’ll have some brought over for you. John, you want some too or would you like a terrific wet burrito that weighs about a pound and a half?”

  “That sounds wonderful!” John said and noticed his stomach was growling all of a sudden. What little they ate while captive never suited their tastes. Everything seemed soaked in grease. It was all they could do to get it down. They were looking forward to something decent to eat. Breakfast had been hours ago with Red, the trucker.

  CHAPTER | NINETEEN

  Once Doc Martin left the ranch and Ginny posted the feeding chart for the five rescued horses in the barn, she, Uncle Mike and Charles Carnegie left the barn and sat on the patio having iced tea and talking about the situation. That left Maryann and Brody in the barn. Clyde, Brody’s black Labrador retriever, came and joined them laying in the middle of the barn aisle between them.

  “I had no idea she would really remember you,” Maryann told Brody. “Guess horses have long memories after all.” Clyde sat up and whined for emphasis.

  “You have no idea how nice it is to see her again,” Brody admitted. “I’ve missed her every day since she left. Guess I didn’t realize how big a hole that left in my heart either. Isn’t she special?”

  “Yes, she’s beautiful. You really should have talked to your aunt and uncle and told them how you felt about her. Don’t you see how much they love you? They would have tried their best to keep you two together.”

  “I told you how I felt about that. Aunt Ginny and Uncle Mike have been very good to me. I could have ended up an orphan in foster care. They took me in and became my guardians. Then they even adopted me. I have real parents legally. That’s a lot for them to do. They’ve been so good to me it’s hard to ask for more of them.” Brody told her.

  “It’s okay to ask when it is something really special, you big dummy,” she informed him. “Aunt Ginny and Uncle Mike really could afford to get you your horse. I’d even talk to my grandpa about helping. Becky is willing to ask her parents for help too. You are our friend and you’ve always been. You do so much to help us. I don’t know if you realize it. Take me for example. When I first came here to work off riding lessons, I didn’t know anything. I was scared to ask questions and scared I’d do the wrong things. You stepped up and helped me and taught me and made the work fun for me. You have no idea what that meant to me. I’d wanted to be with real horses since I could remember. You helped make that possible. I can’t thank you enough! You’re my best friend! You’ve stepped up and helped me when no one else our age would. And look at all the work you did at the national championship show. You were everywhere helping all of us with our horses, our tack, bathing and grooming, making sure the numbers were correct and a hundred different things. You should have been there showing with us, but you are too stupid to ask your parents for your own horse because you think they’ve done too much for you already! Get real! I want to go to the national show next year, and I want to be showing with you. Then there was all the help you did while we were stuck because of the fire. Who was the one who got the satellite phone working so we could let our parents know we were okay? That would be you again! Who was the one who organized the stuff that came out of the dropped supplies? That would be you again! Who was the one in that canyon who helped Hilda organize our circle chats so we’d stop being scared? That would be you! You gotta give yourself some credit, you know.”

  “Okay! Okay!” he looked her in the eyes. “You might be right on some of that. What I’d like to do is learn enough so I can take over the ranch when Aunt Ginny and Uncle Mike want to retire. I have a few years before that happens but I’d love to know what Uncle Mike does, why he does it, and how he does it so I can keep the ranch running the same way. Maybe I’ll get lucky and marry me some girl who loves Arabian horses so she can take over Aunt Ginny’s side of the ranch. I’ve already found a spot on the property where I can see building a home for my family someday.”

  “You taking applications for that girl who loves Arabians already?” Maryann laughed out loud.

  “What’s so funny about thinking ahead?” he asked as if his feelings were hurt.

  “You! You’re what’s so funny. You don’t even have whiskers yet and you’re taking applications for a wife – Must Love Arabian Horses – so you can run this ranch,” she laughed until her sides ached. “Come on, let’s go groom your sweetheart of the day. I bet she’d love a good brushing. Maybe we can bathe her and her mom tomorrow.”

  “Please do me one favor, Maryann. Please don’t say anything about what I just told you. I think I should talk to Uncle Mike and Aunt Ginny about it myself first. Who knows, maybe they planned to sell the ranch and move into some condo by the beach somewhere. We’ve never talked about it. But if it’s possible, I’d like to take over for them someday and raise my own family here. I wouldn’t want them to hear that from anyone but me when the time is right.”

  “I’m your friend,” she replied. “I can keep secrets. I will never tell anyone about this – pinky promise!”

  Brody and Maryann spent nearly an hour brushing Rosie down, picking the wind twists out of her mane and tail, and using the salve Uncle Mike liked on her rub spots. She was so bony that everywhere she came in contact with the desert soil rubbed the hair off and caused abrasions to her skin. They were shallow abrasions, not nearly as bad as the wounds Prince Ali came in with after the cougar attack in the mountains. They would heal in a few days. Once they finished up and picked out her feet with a hoof pick, they left her stall and gave her a couple more horse cookies to keep her busy while they did the same thing for her mother.

  Once they finished grooming Desert Fire, Brody and Maryann left the barn to get a glass of iced tea and take a break on the back patio. Clyde was sleeping in the center of the aisle but woke when they left the barn.

  “Hey, Rosie! Remember me?” Clyde asked her.

  “Of course, Clyde. You and I used to chase each other around the arena when I was a little one,” she answered. “How could I forget you?”

  “Well, to be precise, I let you chase me around the arena, remember? If I had chased you I would have been booted off the place for tormenting the horses,” he laughed. “And you would never catch me now! What the devil happened
to you? I saw you when you left here, but you look like you had a rough time wherever you went.”

  Rosie told him all about the last ten days. Clyde whined in the sad spots, grinned his toothy grin with the tongue hanging out in the good ones, and wagged his tail at the end. “Glad you are here again. Just don’t try chasing me. I’m too old to run and you’re probably going to catch me now. It’s good to see you here again. Have to admit I missed you almost as much as Brody did.”

  CHAPTER | TWENTY

  The four men in the two trucks found the freeway interchange and switched direction from south to east on Interstate 10. They crossed the Arizona border at Blythe and continued toward the cutoff for Wickenburg, Arizona. There, they would change direction again heading north to Prescott, Arizona. After stopping for gas and food across the border, they found a rest stop and stayed the night in the travel trailer before pushing onward. The trucks rolled into Prescott the following day. It was a weekday just three days before the rodeo was scheduled to start. They found work on the grounds helping with the final set up of grandstand seating, animal pens, feeding animals, and whatever they could do for a few dollars an hour. By the time the rodeo opened for business on Friday night, they’d picked their spots and entered the events they hoped would make them even more money so they could push on to Texas at the close of the rodeo. They had prime parking in the lot because they were early to arrive. They parked the two trucks side by side and detached the horse trailer so they could use that truck for going into town when they needed supplies. Merle, of course, never made that phone call to anyone telling them where to find Cutter. He hoped the others would forget about it. He wanted to forget the whole episode.

  ****

  Deputy Robert Johnston showed up at the Kern County Sheriff’s Office an hour after Detective Ron Evers promised John and Rhonda he was coming to get them. They’d had a wonderful meal in the meantime and rested in the air-conditioned comfort of the station in Ridgecrest. Since they’d heard the five horses left at the Hacienda Rancho went to Mike Hartley’s ranch in Pinon Hills for medical care, they weren’t so worried about them. They did, however, wonder if Cutter was in that horse trailer they saw early that morning and worried he might have been left behind at the mobile home they’d just escaped from. It was a nagging little worry for the moment since they couldn’t be sure.

  Deputy Bob was a great guy. He chatted with them all the way back to Apple Valley to the Sheriff’s Substation there. His wife had an Arabian horse she called Apollo. He said she liked that horse more than him sometimes. The three chatted amiably during the drive. Rhonda was most interested in the Arabians. John loved the Reining and Cutting horses which were generally American Quarter Horses or Paints. But, as John said, they all had four legs and a tail, so there were similarities to enjoy, no matter what breed someone preferred.

  Two hours after they left Ridgecrest, Deputy Bob’s patrol car turned into the parking lot of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s station in Apple Valley. He walked them into an interview room, gave them both a cup of coffee and left to find the sergeant and the detective who were waiting for the Powells. He gave them his impressions of the couple before they met with them in the interview room.

  The two officers joined John and Rhonda in the interview room, introduced themselves and asked their permission to record the conversation. The Powells had no objections. They pressed the record button on the recorder, pulled out their notepads and began the interview. John told them everything from the minute he and Rhonda heard a slight commotion in the barn area the night Cutter was stolen to the minute they arrived at the sheriff’s office in Ridgecrest. Rhonda added in a few comments along the way. Both of the San Bernardino County officers had spoken with the Kern County officers while John and Rhonda were being driven back to Apple Valley. The stories were the same, and the couple seemed earnest and sincere. The officers interviewing them had no reason to disbelieve them.

  “So you saw the two trucks with the travel trailer and the horse trailer heading south along the highway before you reached it?” the detective asked.

  “Sure did,” John said. “We were maybe two miles from the highway at the time. We were hoping they didn’t see us. We weren’t close enough to tell if the horse was in the trailer though. We’re very concerned about him. He is our boss’s prized stallion. He loves that horse. I’ve been working with him myself. I am fond of him too. I don’t want anything to happen to him. He’s an innocent victim here.”

  A bit agitated, Rhonda interjected, “We overheard one conversation the four guys had where they talked about leaving us handcuffed to the bed and leaving the horse in the corral and driving off. They actually talked about leaving us there to die of thirst or hunger while they got away, the heartless jerks!”

  “Tell me what you know about Mike Hartley,” the detective asked.

  John looked at him questioningly, “He was our boss for about a year. He owns and runs a very nice spread in Pinon Hills. He’s the one who trained Cutter. I understand he is now taking care of the five other horses who were left on the ranch. What do you want to know about him? He’s a good guy! He will not have any part in this if that’s what you’re asking me.”

  “Are you sure he wouldn’t be involved in this? We understand the missing horse is worth a lot of money. You don’t think he would work with the other men to take him for some reason?”

  Rhonda’s eyes flew open at the suggestion, and her face began to turn red in anger. “Are you asking us what I think you are? Are you suggesting Mike or his wife would have anything to do with this? They are some of the most decent, hard-working people you will ever meet! I can’t believe you’d even ask a question like that,” she spat.

  John, equally upset over the line of questioning, put his hand over Rhonda’s balled fist on the table. “Sweetheart, I’m sure they have to ask these questions. Try not to get so upset and answer them honestly. Everything is going to be okay.”

  The detective softened his tone. “I’m sorry, but we do have to ask. We have a crime to solve here, and you two are our only witnesses. We’ve already checked the Hartleys out. They have a clean record and a high degree of credibility in the community. Thank you for your honesty with us. We have a few more questions for you; then we can wrap this up. Deputy Johnston will take you back home when we finish here.”

  John visibly relaxed. Rhonda flattened her hand out and rested it palm side down on the table top. She was still upset, but no longer furious with the tone and the line of questioning. “We do need to get home so we can call Mr. Garcia, the owner. He’s in Spain with a family emergency. His wife’s mother is very ill. They flew to Spain about a month and a half ago to help care for her. He has no idea what’s been going on here. I would call him right now, but we left our cell phones at home. I’ve got to charge one up so we can get the phone number and call him. This is not a call I want to make,” John admitted.

  “I’ll need that number for our files as well,” the detective told him. “We need to talk to him too.”

  The interview finished up fairly soon after that exchange. Deputy Johnston drove John and Rhonda back to the ranch in Apple Valley and dropped them off before heading for home.

  John walked into the caretaker’s cottage first, leaving Rhonda on the porch outside while he checked it over to be sure there weren’t any uninvited visitors inside. When he told her it was safe to enter, she headed straight to the shower, dropping her clothing on the floor as she went. She turned the water to as hot as she could stand it, stepped into the shower and stood there for a half hour before washing her face, hair, and body. Her skin was pink from the heat when she stepped out and wrapped her hair, then herself in towels and walked into the kitchen for a cold drink from the refrigerator.

  John put the cell phones on the chargers while his wife showered. He sat on the patio with a cold drink and reflected on the past few days. He was filthy dirty, smelled, and was more tired than he’d ever been in his life. He nearly nodded o
ff until his wife came outside still wrapped in towels to let him know, “It’s your turn. You stink! You’ll feel much better after a shower.”

  He returned to the patio 20 minutes later, clean and refreshed. “What do we do first?” she asked him.

  “I think we should talk to Mike Hartley first. He was here earlier today and took the five horses back to his place. I’d like to get all the facts before I talk to Esteban.”

  “Good idea,” she said as she handed him his cell phone. “Talk to Mike and see how the horses are.”

  CHAPTER | TWENTY-ONE

  The Kern County Sheriff’s Office placed an all points bulletin out for the partial Texas plate they’d gotten from Rhonda. They included the description of the truck and indicated it might be hauling a horse trailer with it.

  The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office placed an additional all points bulletin out for the same partial Texas plate with the description of the truck and trailer and expanded the search to cover the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the hope of catching them before they got too far away. All state highway patrol divisions got a copy of the bulletin. The sheriff’s office thought about this bulletin about an hour later and expanded it to include Nevada, Utah, and Colorado as well. In the supplemental bulletin they issued, they included a description of the missing stallion they’d gotten from John Powell.

  A call came in the following morning from a highway patrolman in Arizona who saw the bulletin when he got back from his shift. He cruised through a rest area and thought he saw the truck and horse trailer there. The horse trailer had a Texas plate on it, but he had no reason to run the plate until he saw the bulletin. He never looked at the truck plate which was hidden behind the trailer. The California deputy who took his call asked him if the trailer had a horse inside. The Arizona officer was pretty sure the trailer was empty. The deputy reported the call to the detective assigned to the case. If the horse trailer was empty in Arizona, it probably left California that way. That meant Cutter had been left behind at the mobile home where the four men squatted waiting for their ransom money. He was in dire jeopardy.