I turned. Briar was wearing purple pajamas with blue clouds on them. Her hair was wild and her green eyes were red and a little puffy. “Hey, beautiful.”
She growled. “Shut up.”
I laughed, holding my arms open and she came right to me, plopping her head against my chest. “How you doing?”
She lifted a shoulder and sighed, hugging my waist. “My head hurts a little.”
I smiled, and leaned back against the counter. “That’s something I haven’t heard in a while.”
“What?” she glanced up at me, confused.
“Nothing, never mind.” We stood like that for a few minutes, and I wondered if she had fallen asleep when she commandeered my coffee cup and took a sip.
“Needs milk,” she wrinkled her nose and gave it back to me. “How much sugar did you put in it?”
“Not enough for you.” I added a little more sugar and some milk and gave it back to her.
My cell phone rang. I pulled it off my belt and glanced at the screen before answering. “Hey, Grant. What’s up?”
“Chase, I need you to come to the family memorial, now.”
I went on full alert at the tone of his voice. There was a place hidden in the trees on the other side of the lake where every McCree was buried, including my father. “What happened?”
“We lost four heifers.”
“How?”
“Gun shot wounds.” He cussed, spitting. “They were left on the memorial site. I’m sorry, man.”
“I’m on my way.” I shut the phone and Briar eyed me over the rim of the mug. “What happened?”
“Someone shot our cattle.” I took the mug from her and set it in the sink, barley holding onto my anger. It was one thing to shoot someone’s livestock, another entirely to leave them in a sacred place. “Go get dressed. We have to meet Grant. And Briar?”
“What?” she glanced back.
“This isn’t going to be pretty.”
She nodded solemnly and raced upstairs. I went into the storeroom off the kitchen and took one of Jerry’s shotguns. On my way out, just for good measure, I grabbed extra bullets and a revolver. I put the revolver in my pocket and made sure the shotgun was loaded and ready.
I opened the kitchen door and called out into the yard. A older man named, Mac, who fed and groomed the horses heard me and got Ash ready to ride. I’d have done it myself, but I wasn’t going to leave Briar. Truth was, we didn’t know who shot the heifers, who started the fire, or who had been in the house last night. It could very well be someone we employed and trusted.
So when Mac brought Ash around I checked him over, made sure the saddle was secure, and went back into the kitchen. Briar was in jeans and a t-shirt, hopping into her boots.
“Ready?” I asked.
She nodded, “I think so.”
I smiled, telling her not to be scared, and locked up the house behind us as we went onto the porch. Once Briar was settled on Ash I swung up behind her and we took off.
The wind was really blasting us. Briar covered her face. Storm clouds swirled on the horizon and thundered rumbled. The low, beastly growl was distant, but still enough of a warning. We were in for a bad one. We rode past the lake to a small clearing dotted with wild flowers, where there was a white fence circling headstones.
I shaded my eyes against the sun and felt my blood run cold as we neared. “Shit.”
“Chase…” Briar grabbed my arm and her fingers dug into my skin. “Why would someone do that?”
“Don’t look,” My insides went numb when I laid eyes on the carnage. The cattle were in the grass between the headstones. The smell was enough to make my stomach roll.
“Oh, god.” Briar gagged and pulled her shirt up to cover her face.
“Just don’t look, princess.” I handed her down to Grant. He turned her so her back was to the heifers.
“This wasn’t just some asshole shooting at cattle, Chase. Those shots are clean. Right to the head.” Grant lowered his voice and tugged on his beard. “Whoever did this knew it would be an insult to our family. We should round up the hands.”
“Yeah, I want them to see this.” I agreed. “Bastard’s gonna pay.”
“Amen to that,” Grant pulled out his radio and started calling the men.
I walked closer, examining the cattle. Sick. Just sick.
“Chase?” Briar called.
I turned back and found she’d opened her eyes, and was looking on in horror. “Hey, I told you not to look.”
“I’m okay,” she drew a breath and came toward me, reaching for my hand. “I’m okay.”
Yeah, right. She was repeating herself and white as a sheet. I stepped in her line of sight and held her gaze. “Don’t look at that, look at me.”
“I’m okay,” she said, more firm and instant.
“Sure,” I kissed her soundly on the lips, not caring Grant was a few feet away.
Twenty minutes later every man on my property had been pulled off whatever job they were doing and lined up against the fence next to the cattle.
“This is sick,” I glared at all of them. Briar stood beside me. I held her hand tight, needing her support as much as she needed mine. “None of you saw or heard anything? Not even a faint gunshot?”
Two of the men only spoke Spanish, and Grant translated for them. They didn’t hear anything. No one heard anything. But then a skinny blond man named Tom raised his hand and stepped forward.
I frowned. “You saw something?”
“No, but, I was thinking…what if they used a silencer?”
I glanced at Grant and he nodded. “Yeah, that’s possible. If any of you are lying, not only will you be fired, you’ll be facing charges.”
All throughout the interrogation, I kept an eye on Rick. He didn’t look at me.
Briar nudged my side with her elbow and I nodded. “Yeah, I’m watching him.”
Grant dismissed the men, and asked Rick to hold back a second.
“Awful quiet,” I said.
Rick shrugged. “It’s disgusting.”
“Upsetting too,” Grant added. “Something you’re not telling us?”
His eyes flashed when he looked at me. I got an intense feeling that he didn’t care at all. “No.”
“Let him go,” Briar put her hand on my arm and we watched as Rick walked away.
I kicked the fence and took one last look at the cattle before heading for Ash. Such disrespect. That was my family. My history. Some asshole desecrated a special place.
“What are we going to do?” Briar asked, sliding her hands though Ash’s mane.
I shook my head, giving her a leg up. “Wait for Sam.”
Grant nodded. “This is beyond our area of expertise. I’ll have the men patrol the property. Make sure the rest of the animals are safe.”
“I don’t think we should tell Jerry or Millie.” I said before Briar and I rode back to the house. Grant agreed. He didn’t want to worry his parents. We’d get this under control with Sam’s help.
It was personal now.
No one attacked any McCree, alive or dead, without consequences.
And I knew that Rick was involved. I felt in my gut.
On my way back to the house my cell phone rang. Sam told me he was on his way. I told him about the cattle and the cemetery and he said a few choice words I’d never repeat to Briar. He was coming as fast as he could.
I handed Ash off to Mac at the backdoor and headed up the porch steps. Briar stayed silent beside me.
I felt like I was barely treading water and wished my father were here. He’d know what to do. He’d always known what to do. With a steady smile he’d ruffle my hair and tell me things were never as bad as they seemed, that it could always be worse. Even if it seemed like hope was gone, there would always be a glimmer of light. You just had to look for it.
I didn’t know where to start looking.
“Hey, you want to talk about it?”
That’s when I saw the light. My dad hadn’t me
ant it literally. Anything could give you hope. I looked up.
Briar.
My throat went tight and I nodded, sitting on the porch swing with her.
She leaned back against the arm of the swing and watched me, her gaze warm. “It’s okay to cry you know. I do all the time.”
I cleared my throat. “I miss my dad.”
She rubbed my arm, sighing. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m just feeling out of my depth.” I leaned back and she threw her feet up in my lap. Her white boots made me smile. “Those are getting really dirty.”
She shrugged. “I bought them to wear them, not to display in my closet.”
I used my feet to set the swing moving, watching the mountains and the thick white clouds swirling at their peaks. “I’m sorry, Briar. I didn’t know this was going to happen, if I had, I never would have brought you here.”
“Ha, you can’t know, and you have no reason to be sorry.” She poked my arm to get me to look at her.
“I have a feeling it’s because I’ve inherited.”
“The other morning, before you came to breakfast, Millie told me about the men out there wanting to buy this place. It’s only natural someone would try to scare you off. Show them who is boss and that you don’t scare.”
A smile split my face. “I take it back…I’m lucky you’re here.”
“You bet your sweet boots you’re lucky, cowboy.” She sat up and kissed me.
“I’d ask you if you want to go make out in the hayloft, but we’ve got trouble.” I pulled her up with me and we went into the house to wait for Sam.
She grinned. “We can do that later.”
Sam was graying and balding. His nose bright red from a cold, and his face weary from working a bad traffic accident. He looked like hell, but he was ready to give hell to whoever killed my cattle and snuck into the house last night.
“What can we do?”
Sam grimaced, taking the iced tea Briar and I made while waiting for him. We were sitting around the dining room table. Grant stayed out with the hands to keep an eye on them. I’d relay the conversation later. “That’s the problem. We don’t know if it was the same person.”
“So we just sit tight and wait?” I asked.
“The only people here I can look at as suspects are your workers.” Sam said. “In fact, I’m willing to guarantee it’s one of them. Too hard to find your way here otherwise, and they know how you operate. Best thing you could do is send them packing, or at the very least the ones you suspect.”
I drummed my fingers on the table, knowing he was right. “If we tell them to leave that means we’ve got to take care of fifty thousand acres and a large herd of cattle with only two capable men. Me and Grant. Jerry can’t work like us anymore. Briar can do a little bit, but she’s not familiar enough.”
“We’re sunk,” Briar slouched in her chair.
“At least until we can hire new workers, and that takes time. We just don’t let anyone come onto our land.”
Sam nodded. “Then we’ll have to wait for him to strike again and try to catch him.”
I hated the sound of that, but I didn’t see any other way. “Just tell us what to do.”
“I’m going to leave. You’ll tell your men that I told you a group of local teens were out making trouble and shooting cattle and that you are sorry for suspecting them.” Sam said. “No one else knows about the man that got into the house?”
“No,” I said.
“Good. I’ll ditch my marked car and ride in on horseback once it gets dark. No one will see me. From there on we’ll have an old fashioned stakeout and hopefully the bastard shows himself.”
Feeling this was the best we could do with the circumstances, I showed Sam to the door and locked it behind him. The click seemed to echo in my ears and I took a steadying breath. All I cared about at this moment was my family and Briar. As long as nothing happened to her or them, I’d be fine. I’d be fine if the house burnt to the ground. I’d be fine if I lost the ranch.
I was not going to lose anyone else.
“Hey, I was thinking we could make something to eat.” Briar came up behind me, and she was smiling.
I started to smile to. “What are you so happy about?”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. “Well, I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe under a magnate on the fridge, and then, I realized that we were all alone in this big house with nothing to do.”
I laughed. “So we’re going to bake cookies?”
She grabbed one of Millie’s ruffled aprons off a hook in the pantry and stuck it over my head, quickly tying it off before I could protest. “Yep…you look good in yellow.”
“Ah, hell.” I stared down at myself. “I guess I do.”
“Great, you do the dry ingredients, I’ll do the wet.”
I headed across the kitchen, thinking it would be a good distraction. We were in the house, alone, with nothing to do. There was someone on our property killing cattle, starting fires and breaking into the house. The obvious thing to do was bake cookies.
My eyebrows went up. “We’re in the house alone.”
She paused in front of the open fridge, “Uh, yeah. That’s what I said.”
I pulled off the apron.
“Chase, what are you doing?” she frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
And then I pulled Briar into the pantry with me.
Chapter 24
Briar
“How will we explain this to Millie?” I dusted flour off my clothes and eyed the chaos around us. Things had gotten a little more than heated between Chase and I, and we accidently knocked into a shelf, and tipped half of the contents on the floor.
Chase righted his shirt, grinning. “Blame it on the dog.”
I frowned, peering out the kitchen door at our audience. There were four happy herders sitting patiently for treats. “Which one?”
“We’ll tell her we don’t know which one.” He grabbed a broom. “Open the backdoor, I’ll sweep the flour outside into the yard.
While Chase started clean up, I put a batch of cookies in the oven. I helped him finish cleaning the pantry, blushing every time I looked at him. It was probably a good thing we almost busted the shelf, or our make out session might have escalated into something more.
Once the first batch of cookies was done, I put in a second. A sweet, buttery smell filled the kitchen. My mouth watered. I needed some chocolate. Stat.
“How do they look?” Chase asked.
I glanced back at him. He was still a little white from the flour, but didn’t care I guess. He’d settled himself at the island counter, not reading a book or a magazine, or playing on a computer like most people I knew would do.
He was cleaning his shotgun.
“Almost done.” I blushed again and glanced back at the cookies.
“You can’t stop smiling.” He teased.
“I wonder why?”
“I think the pantry is my new favorite place.”
When the cookies were done, I took them out of the oven and put the last batch in. “Want one?”
Chase shrugged.
“You just said you wanted a cookie.”
“I want one later,” he smirked. “How long is the timer set for?”
I rolled my eyes. “Fifteen minutes…why?”
“Sam will be here in about an hour.”
I did not see what his point was. “And?”
He set the gun down with a sheepish grin, walked to a door across from the pantry, and opened it. “Have you seen the storage room yet?”
I threw the oven mitts on the counter and followed him inside. “If it’s as exciting as the pantry, I’m sure I’ll love it.”
Chapter 25
“Someone burnt the cookies.” Sam frowned, picking through them. “Might need to get the oven checked.”
Chase grinned, popping a crispy piece in his mouth. “The oven works just fine.”
“Yep,” I smiled and
picked up a pair of binoculars and surveyed the yard from the back of the house. It was dark out now, mostly because of the storm.
“So when was the last time you had a real stakeout Sam?” Chase asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“Uh, I can’t remember.” He found a cookie he liked and bit into it.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing…but at least we had someone who would know what to do should an intruder show up.
I also didn’t want my boyfriend to shoot anyone.
The house phone rang and Chase excused himself to answer it. I continued to survey the backyard, thinking no one would do well in that weather. Not even Frances. He wasn’t at his usual spot on the barn roof.
Chase’s boots hit the hardwood floors. They sounded right behind me. His hand appeared at my side and he held out the phone with a grimace. “It’s for you.”
This was it. I drew a steadying breath and took the phone from him. “Hello?”
“A cattle ranch in Montana?” my father roared in my ear. “How in the hell did you end up on a cattle ranch in Montana?”
“Dad, hi.” It had taken a month, but the call had finally come. I headed for the hallway bathroom and shut the door, not wanting Sam to overhear the conversation.
“Don’t hi me, Briar.” God, this was bad. I sat on the side of the tub, shocked at how angry he was. I’d never heard him so mad before. “When you get home you are never seeing the light of day again. Hear me? You’re going to school and that’s it. No cheerleading. No friends. Not even a fucking haircut.”
I heard my mom shouting in the background and held the phone away from my ear. There was a soft knock on the door. Chase let himself in and shut it, sitting beside me on the tub.
Jerry was right.
We stepped in the shit.
“Dad,” I said, keeping my voice calm and even. “How did you find out?”
“Alex came by looking for you. He told me some hick from the middle of nowhere was taking advantage of you and dragged you across the country.” He said. “So I went to the school and used my connections to have the principle himself get me Chase McCree’s file.”
Chasing McCree Page 17