My Ranch My Way

by Misty Malone

"Okay, I'll just call you then and let you know, Cece. Are you going to be able to move on, like Chase, knowing someone's out there trying to destroy his ranch?"

  Her question caught Cece off guard. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, I don't know that they're trying to destroy it. I think whoever it is, he's trying to be a thorn in Chase's side, but I don't know that he's out to ruin him. Besides, we're tired of putting our lives on hold."

  "I can understand that, but aren't you worried about it at all? I mean, it's a fantastic ranch. Aren't you worried someone is trying to make him sell out?"

  "Not really. I don't know, maybe I should be more concerned, but I'm tired of worrying about it."

  "Good for you. I'll talk to Ben tonight and call you tomorrow."

  "Okay, good. I'll be waiting to hear from you. I'm always eager to try a new restaurant."

  Chase chuckled. "You're always eager to try any restaurant, period. It doesn't have to be new."

  "Hey, whatever keeps me out of the kitchen!"

  They all laughed, and visited another couple minutes before Chase said, "Cece, we've got to get going. It was nice seeing you again, Cindy. Say hello to Ben for me."

  "I will," Cindy promised.

  After they left the bank they were both quiet until they got to Chase's pickup. "So, what did you think?" Chase asked, as he helped her up.

  "Wow."

  He chuckled. "Yeah, that pretty well sums it up."

  "So what now?"

  "I think now we wait and see what she does next. See if she calls you tomorrow. I don't know what else we can do."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right. I hate waiting, though."

  He gave her a stern look of warning. "Yeah, I know you do. But you need to wait in this case and let her make the next move. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, I understand. Don't blow a head gasket."

  He tried to keep his stern look in place, but it was hard. In the middle of a warning look, he broke out laughing. "Don't blow a head gasket?! What does that mean?"

  She'd been frowning at him, but the frown immediately turned to a laugh. "You've never heard that expression?"

  "Not once."

  "I had a teacher in high school that used to say that all the time. Anytime someone would get upset about something he'd tell them, 'don't blow a head gasket.' I always figured it had something to do with mechanics, and a head gasket was a pretty important part, or an expensive part or something. I don't know. He just said it all the time in situations like this."

  "I've never heard it before, but it was cute as could be coming from you." He cleared his throat and tried hard to look stern again, without much luck. "But I was serious, Cece. I don't want you doing anything until we see if she calls you tomorrow."

  Cece was giggling at his not too successful attempt at looking stern, but assured him, "I know, Chase, and I understand."

  "Good." He kissed her forehead.

  Chase dropped Cece off at home. She was working on rewrites for her book. She was anxious to get them done and sent in to her editor to read. She knew the sooner that happened the sooner her book could be published.

  Chase took out his phone to call Ben and relay everything that had happened, but decided to stop by and talk to him in person instead. He called to see if Ben had a minute. Ten minutes later they were discussing Cindy's reaction at the bank.

  Chase repeated everything he could remember of the conversation. "So, do you think she'll call you tonight, Ben?"

  "I don't know, but I'm glad you told me this. It gives me time to prepare what to say if she does."

  "She seemed a little surprised that I said I was going to get on with my life. She asked Cece if it bothered her that someone was trying to destroy my ranch. Why would she think someone was trying to destroy it?"

  Ben shook his head slowly. "There's a lot I don't know about her, Chase. She's really not what she seems. I know she really likes your ranch, though. She mentioned that once."

  Chase's eyebrows rose at that comment. "She said that today, too. Why would she like my ranch? I didn't think she grew up on a ranch, or had any ties to ranching."

  "She doesn't. Not that I know of anyway."

  Both men were running things through their mind, when Chase had a wild thought. "Ben, you said she's very possessive?"

  "Very. When she decides she wants something she stops at nothing to get it."

  "What if she wants you?"

  Ben's head whirled around to look at Chase. "What do you mean?"

  "What if she's upset that you quit calling, and figured if she could somehow get my ranch on the market, you two could buy it and live happily ever after?"

  "Surely she wouldn't think that."

  "Wouldn't she? You're sure?"

  "Well, no, I admit I can't be sure of anything with her. I'm not sure she could come up with that plan, though. That would be a pretty involved plan."

  Chase's lips went into a tight, straight line. "Ralph."

  Ben looked at Chase, his eyebrows furrowed together. "Ralph?"

  "My Uncle Ralph. He approached Cece shortly after we met. Our initial meeting didn't exactly go real well and she wasn't happy with me. He knew that and talked her into doing a couple things around the ranch to teach me a lesson. She did a couple things, but then felt guilty and refused to do any more. She told me what she'd done and apologized."

  Ben had a little smile on his face. "Cece did that?"

  "Oh, yeah. She's a feisty little thing when you're not looking. But Ralph stands to gain if I don't make a success of this ranch, and that's why he put her up to those things. The sheriff thinks he's behind these things, but he has an alibi for everything that's happened. He's been trying to find someone that may be helping him, but hasn't come up with a thing. Do you suppose his accomplice is Cindy?"

  Ben turned his head to the side and thought about that. "I certainly can't say she wouldn't do it," he finally said. "I think we should call Sheriff Green and tell him about all this. Let him sort it out."

  "Good idea. Have you got time this afternoon if he wants to talk to both of us?"

  "I'll make the time, sure. Chase, if it's Cindy, he needs to get right on it. Now that you talked to her today, she'll be doing something soon. I don't know what, but I don't trust her."

  Chase nodded and called the sheriff. He explained the situation and said Ben felt it was urgent, as Cindy would do something soon. "He's coming right out here to talk to both of us. He said he's already out this way, so he can be here in ten minutes or so," Chase reported.

  "Good. We'll just wait for him. Let's go to the house and get some iced tea."

  When Sheriff Green arrived the men were on the front porch drinking tea, with an empty glass and pitcher of tea waiting for him. Chase and Ben explained everything they knew, and their wild idea to the sheriff.

  The sheriff looked skeptical, but said, "I'll check it out, but it's all conjecture. You really don't have proof."

  "I know that, Sheriff," Ben said, "but you don't know Cindy. She seems sweet and innocent, but she came up with a few ideas that floored me. When she wants something she goes after it. We're no longer dating because quite frankly, she scares me. I'll admit she didn't act on any of her ideas, but the fact that she had them in the first place worried me. If I wouldn't have told her no, don't do that, I have no idea if she would have or not."

  "Okay, I'll look into it," he promised.

  Two hours later Chase got a call from the sheriff. He about fell over when Sheriff Green said, "I've arrested Cindy Kline, Chase. You and Ben were right. One of my sheriffs just picked up your uncle, as well. I thought you'd want to know about this right away. I need you and Ben and Cece to come down and give statements if you would, please."

  Chase's head was spinning. He took a moment to digest everything he'd just heard. "So my Uncle Ralph was behind it, just like we all thought?"

  "Well, I'm not sure yet. She said he was behind it, but my deputy says he denies it. We'll try and sort it out when we get them both down th
ere and question them more, but I thought you'd want to know about it."

  "Thank you. How were you able to get enough to arrest Cindy already?"

  "The first thing I did was check the tire tread on her car. It matched the pictures you took and sent me. All of the things that were done I thought could have been done in the evening, so she would have had the opportunity. Our lab determined the footprints you took photos of could be a woman's eight and a half."

  "I didn't even think of it being a woman. I thought it was a little on the small side for a man."

  "It was a seven and a half in men's or eight and a half in women's."

  "Kind of big for a woman, isn't it?"

  "On the bigger side, yes. I went into the bank to talk to Cindy, and I looked at her feet first thing. Sure enough, they looked to be a little larger than my wife's, and she wears a seven and a half, so I was starting to believe you and Ben were on to something."

  Chase chuckled. "I didn't think you believed us."

  "It's not so much that I didn't believe you. It was more that we didn't have much evidence to go on. But when her tire treads matched and her feet looked to be about the right size, I had the evidence I needed to officially question her. I was shocked when I did. She didn't deny a thing! I asked her if she was responsible for the dam in the creek in the valley, and she said yes. I asked if she was the one that opened the gate to let the cattle out and she said yes. She then offered that she also arranged to have the dam installed to flood the cornfield, and had the bull and the salt delivered."

  "She offered that?"

  "Yes. I was shocked. I think she has a mental problem, to be honest with you, Chase."

  "Really? She seems okay when you talk to her."

  "I know, but remember, she told you and Cece she and Ben were still dating, too."

  "That's true," Chase conceded. "So she says Uncle Ralph was behind all this?"

  "That's what she says. Deputy Wilkinson claims Ralph was appalled at being taken in for questioning, though. He says he claims to have had nothing to do with anything other than the first two things that Cece did. We'll talk to both of them this afternoon and see what happens."

  "Okay. Thanks for calling me right away," Chase said. "I'll call Dad and tell him. I'm sure he'll want to know about his brother. Will you please keep me informed?"

  "Absolutely. I'll let you know how the interviews go this afternoon."

  "I'll call Ben and Cece and let them know. We'll come in later on today to give our statements."

  "Thanks, Chase. I appreciate your help."

  Chase called Ben right away and they made plans to go into the sheriff's office together. He called Cece next to tell her.

  They all went to the sheriff's office later that afternoon, talking about Cindy and Ralph on the way in. Cece was pretty quiet, and Chase asked, "What's wrong, Cece? You're not saying much."

  "I guess it's a lot to take in. I can't believe Cindy did any of this, but then again, Ralph convinced me to do the same type of thing, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. But she doesn't seem the type to do that."

  "Neither do you, Sugar," Chase reminded her.

  She felt her face heat. "Yeah, I guess. She did say she and Ben were still dating, too, I guess. But what do you think about Ralph? Do you think he played a part in it?"

  "Everyone knew he had the best reason to do this from the start," Chase said casually. "Are you saying now you don't think he had anything to do with it?"

  "No, I'm just asking. If he did, why do you think he's denying it?"

  Chase looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the idea of prison isn't sounding real inviting."

  They all chuckled, but she admitted, "Yeah, it makes sense."

  "Besides, I really don't know if Cindy could have come up with these ideas all on her own," Ben added. "She didn't grow up on or near a ranch, so I'm not sure she would have been able to come up with these ideas, knowing they'd be very harmful for a ranch."

  Cece nodded. "That's a good point. How would she know how much damage salt would do, or that flooding a field that was recently planted would need to be replanted, which would cost a great deal of money?"

  "Or that breeding my heifers with an inferior bull would hurt the quality of my stock for many years," Chase added.

  They got to the sheriff's office and wrote out statements. As they were getting ready to go Sheriff Green stopped them. "Ben, do you have a few minutes?"

  "Sure. What do you need?"

  "Well, Cindy and Ralph are both standing by their statements. She insists he's the brains behind it, but he's denying anything beyond what Cece did. The thing is, she readily tells us she did these things and that Ralph put her up to them, but she won't tell us why she did it. Could I get you to go in and talk to her? Not officially, but could you just go talk to her? Maybe she'll tell you why she did this, and that might give us something to go on."

  "So you still don't actually have anything tying Ralph to these things," Chase asked.

  "Just Cindy's word," Sheriff Green said.

  The others all turned and looked at Ben. "Okay, I'll talk to her. What should I do, because I don't think you want me to ask the first thing that popped into my head."

  They all chuckled. "I can imagine," Sheriff Green said. "Start by asking her how she is. If she thinks you still care about her she'll be more amenable. Then ask her what's going on, if what we told you is true, and ask her why. She may tell you why she did it."

  They all waited patiently while Ben went into the interrogation room where they were holding Cindy. He didn't come out for over half an hour, and was shaking his head. He had lots to tell the others, though.

  Sheriff Green was the first to ask him a question. "She readily told me she did it, but wouldn't tell me why. Did she tell you why?"

  "She did, yes. She said it was so we could be together. My dad and I were talking one evening about you, Chase, and what your grandfather put in his will concerning Ralph. I said I hope you make a go of the ranch because it would be awful to see it sold. We were saying a land developer might buy it and lot it off or something.

  "Cindy said if it had to be sold maybe Dad and I should buy it and we could run the two ranches together. Dad and I just laughed and said we hope you do well, and that we don't need two ranches. I said I like the house on your ranch, but we don't need another ranch."

  Cece looked confused. "But if you said you don't want the ranch, I don't understand what she was trying to do."

  "I didn't understand it, either, Cece," Ben said. "So I told her that. She said she's thinking – and she's speaking in the present now, like nothing happened, which makes me think you're right, Sheriff Green, she's having some mental problems. But anyway, she said she's thinking that when Ralph sells us, my dad and me, the ranch, she and I can get married and move into the house that I said I like. She thought I might decide I want to run a ranch of my own. If I still don't want the ranch I can sell the land to adjoining land owners to keep it from being developed, and we'll have a house to live in."

  Chase glanced over at Cece, who had tears in her eyes. He put his arm around her and pulled her tighter to him. "What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

  "Chase, if she's talking like that's still going to happen, she and Ben will get married and live in your house because of the vandalism she's causing, she's got to be sick. I feel sorry for her. What's going to happen to her?"

  Chase looked at Sheriff Green. "What will happen to her, Sheriff?"

  The sheriff took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I can't say for sure. We'll have to do some more checking into this, but we'll probably have to have her examined by a psychiatrist to see if she is mentally stable." He turned to Ben to ask, "Ben, did you say she still thinks this will happen, that Chase will lose the ranch and Ralph will sell it to you, and you and she will live there together?"

  "As man and wife, yes. And honest, Sheriff, we only dated a few times and we certainly never talked about anything permanent betwe
en us."

  "I believe you. Did she say Ralph told her what to do?"

  "Yes, she did. She said he came to her with the idea, pointing out that this would give the two of us a nice house to start a family."

  "The ideas were Ralph's, and she just carried them out?"

  Ben nodded. "That's what she said, Sheriff."

  "Okay. Thank you for talking to her, Ben."

  "Happy to help."

  Chase had been listening carefully, and now asked, "So, Sheriff, is Ralph going to be charged, is her word enough evidence to bring charges against him?"

  "I'm not sure. I'll have to talk to the prosecutor, Chase. My guess is we'll let him go tonight. I'll talk to the prosecutor and we'll go over the case, and I'll see what he has to say. Do you have a preference, Chace? It's your ranch that's been vandalized and he's your uncle. What are you feeling about now?"

  "I feel kind of numb, actually. I'll call my dad and talk to him, but frankly, I'd rather he not be charged until you have solid evidence against him, or the prosecutor wants to bring charges. I'd rather he not be charged unless you feel pretty sure. It could cause all kinds of family problems."

  "I understand, and I'll keep that in mind, Chase."

  It was a rather quiet ride home for the three of them. They were all having a hard time believing Cindy would do that, and none of them quite knew what to think of Ralph. Chase dropped Ben off and took Cece to his house with him, where he called his dad. He put him on speaker so they could all three talk about it. After a few minutes Joe made plans to travel to Wyoming the next day. He wanted to talk to his brother face to face.

  Chapter 17

  Sheriff Green did as he'd planned, and questioned Ralph McDermott that evening, but let him go home. The sheriff talked to the prosecutor the next day and they decided to take a few days to review the evidence.

  Joe McDermott arrived at The Circle M the next evening and spent the evening discussing the matter with Chase. The next day Joe and Chase went to confront Ralph again. And once again his brother denied having anything to do with anything other than the two things Cece had done. Joe and Chase went back to the ranch, discussing Ralph's responses to their questions. Again, it was frustrating, but they didn't have any answers, and didn't know what to think.