by Katy Kaylee
Jake had come such a long way over the last four months, working with me to build not only our trust but a foundation that would stay strong when the baby came. Every night he would take me out to another part of the ranch, tell me stories about when he was a kid, playing in the open fields and rolling hills.
It was so easy for me to picture Jake there as a child, feral and more wild than tamed, running around the ranch with a stick as a make believe sword.
It was just as easy for me to imagine our child the same way, so wild and carefree, not a single worry in the whole wide world. Nothing but clear, blue skies, and a home, safe and loving to return to at the end of the day.
It made tears prick the corner of my eyes in longing just at the idea of it. That’s what I wanted for my child, that’s what they deserved. Nothing like my own chaotic childhood, even though I knew I was the person I was today because of it.
I had learned how to listen to my instincts, the same instincts that had told me to run, the same instincts that told me now that I was exactly where I belonged. That I was finally home. That I had finally found the man of my dreams, and even more than that I loved him. And I knew that he loved me back just as fiercely.
I was finally getting my dream come true. My happily ever after. The thought made me shake my head at myself as I finished Beethoven and went straight into Mozart. The music flowed through me, as easy and natural as the breath moving in and out of my lungs or my heart beating a steady rhythm inside me.
My life had been one long nightmare for so long, over a year of running, of living in constant fear. Being so numb that I hardly recognized myself, that I couldn’t feel anything except the terror.
Now, everything was finally falling into place. After so long, I finally felt like myself again, longer than I could even imagine.
The front door crashed open and my eyes shot open. The music came to a jarring halt as I looked over to see Owen and Jake both staring in concern at Westley, who had just shoved open the door.
He was waving frantically, signing so fast that I couldn’t keep up with him and I motioned for him to slow down.
“Westley, I don’t understand,” I spoke the words as I signed, trying to get him to calm down. He shot me a frustrated look, but then moved his hands again, slow enough this time that I could make out what he was trying to say.
“The stables. Something about the stables. Lost? The stable is lost?” I asked, confused, and Westley made a slashing motion with one hand, then made the sign for horses. “Horses? The horses are lost?”
He nodded emphatically and I shot a wide-eyed look at Jake.
“The horses are lost!”
33
Jake
Something dark and greasy settled in the pit of my stomach as the four of us made our way out the stables. Westley was in the lead, still signing frantically with Zoe. Owen trailed after them, with a serious look on his young face. I was in the back, walking behind all of them, trying to figure out exactly what I was feeling.
Dread. That was it. Dread. And it only grew worse the closer that we got. It was only a few minutes’ walk from the farmhouse, but it felt like an eternity to get there. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the doors of the stable thrown open wide, especially after what Westley had said about the horses being lost but still came as a shock to step inside the barn.
There was nothing inside. No animals. No horses. Just silence. A deep, unsettling silence that made the dread inside grow even more intense.
“What the hell happened?” The question shot out of my mouth as I rushed past everyone to get inside. I ran from stall to stall, double and triple checking each one even though I didn’t need to. The truth was as plain as day in front of me. Westley had been right. The horses were lost.
The dread turned to panic as I walked back to Owen’s side.
“Owen, what happened in here? It’s your job to keep everything locked when we’re not in here.”
“It wasn’t me, I swear!”
“Jake, you know it wasn’t Owen.”
“Tell me.” I ignored Zoe’s pleading words as I stared at the teenager. He wilted a bit under the force of my gaze but he didn’t back down. That more than anything else told me that he was telling me the truth.
“I promise you, I made sure everything was locked. All the horses were in their stalls and the barn door was closed and locked before I went up to the farm house.”
I drew in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. I believed him, damn it. With a curse I turned around, sweeping my hands through my hair in frustration.
“Jake, look.” Zoe said, pointed to where Westley was bent, examining something by the door.
I walked over and cursed again when I saw what he was looking at. The lock on the door had been broken. I could see the sheered edges. Someone had broken in and intentionally released all the animals. Who the hell would do that?
My mind had barely formed the question before it was shouting the answer. The Calhoun’s. Who else would it be?
I wanted to throttle them all, starting with Wil Calhoun for breaking his word. But I knew those assholes would just have to wait. I would have time to deal with them later. The main priority was getting the missing horses rounded up before dark set it. It was midafternoon now, but there were a hell of a lot of acres to search and they could have scattered anywhere.
“Come on,” I said roughly, heading back outside. I didn’t slow down as I headed straight for the truck, directing Westley and Owen to hop in the back while Zoe climbed into the passenger seat without a word.
I got in behind the wheel and sat there for a long moment, just trying to get myself under control, to get my hands to stop shaking from the anger that was coursing through me.
“God damn it!” It bubbled up and out of me. The anger nearly impossible to control.
“We’ll find the horses, Jake. It was just a stupid prank.”
“I’m tired of those assholes messing with me and ranch. I don’t know what they hope to get out of it, but they are never going to lay a finger on this land.”
“I know.” Zoe said softly. She reached over and laid a hand on my thigh, her touch instantly calming me and I was finally able to draw in a deep breath.
“We’ll find the horses first. Then I’ll deal with the Calhoun’s.”
She nodded, her expression serious, as I started the engine and drove away from the empty stables.
My knuckles were white they were clenched on the steering wheel so hard as we left the road and starting out across the rest of the acreage. Westley and Owen kept watch from the back and Zoe sat, silent as a ghost as she stared out of her window, her eyes scanning the horizon like a hawk.
We were all tense as the truck made its way over the bumpy hills of the pasture and every mile we crossed, more and more trepidation filled me. It was so thick I swore I could feel it filling my throat, choking me out as we drove.
I couldn’t speak, all I could do was keep my gaze on the grassy hills ahead of me. It wasn’t until I saw the fence that I realized I’d been driving towards the southern end of the ranch without even noticing, just driving on instinct.
“Jake, there…” Zoe’s voice suddenly cut through the thick tension making me jump in the seat. I squinted up ahead towards where she was pointing.
“What? What is it? Did you see something?”
“I thought…I thought I saw movement, but I’m not sure.” She shook her head, and I could see the furrow of her brows, the worry in her forest green eyes. I turned the wheel sharply, heading in the direction that she had pointed. She might not be sure, but I was. I trusted her.
I parked the truck and as soon as I got out of the truck I was struck by a sense of wrongness. It filled the air like a foul smell and I grimaced as I forced my feet to keep moving forward.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
I topped the small rise, walking towards the fence and I nearly turned back when I spotted something odd just up a head.
I was on top of it before I fully realized what I was seeing and when I did I gasped in shock, stumbling back a few feet so I wouldn’t step on the downed animal. The horse was prone on it’s side. And it wasn’t moving. It wasn’t breathing. Blood soaked in the ground beneath her. Flies buzzed in the air above her, the sound so loud that I didn’t hear Zoe walking closer until her scream hit me.
“Josie!”
I turned to her, tried to call to her, to tell her to stay back, to get back to the truck but it was too late. She was already there, standing by my side as she stared in horror at the animal.
“No. No, no no!” Zoe tried to rush towards the horse but I grabbed her and pulled her back. Our shoes left bloody footprints in the dirt as I pulled her back several yards, not stopping until the poor animal was out of sight.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand, Jake.” Her voice was full of sorrow and heartbreak, and my own heart broke right along with hers as I held her tight against me. “Who would do this? Why? Why would they hurt an innocent animal? Why would kill Josie?”
I shook my head. I didn’t have any of the answers for her question. I was just as shocked as she was. Just as confused. The only thing I did know what that I couldn’t wait any longer to deal with the Calhoun’s. I had to do it now. Like I should have done from the very beginning.
Rage didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the emotion that was flooding through my veins as I cradled Zoe as she sobbed against my shoulder, her tears soaking into the fabric of my shirt.
Every sob broke my heart a little bit more, and enraged me just as much. I was shaking by the time I walked her back towards the truck. I couldn’t look behind me at the unmoving horse. I could barely process the shock and sorrow and grief that washed through me. Josie was a mean old thing sometimes but she didn’t deserve this. No one and no thing deserved what had been done to her.
“Westley,” I tapped in on the shoulder, gesturing to Zoe and then the truck, “I need you to take Zoe back to the house, then you and Owen make sure all the other horses are safe and rounded up. If you find…If you find any other horses like this just mark where they’re at and leave them for the sheriff.”
“Wh…what are you going to do?” Zoe asked tearfully, still clinging to my shirt.
“I’m going to call the cops. And then I’m going to go after the Calhoun’s and make sure they get exactly what they deserve for what they’ve done.”
I watched Westley get behind the wheel of the truck, and I helped Zoe, who still had trails of tears running down her cheeks, into the passenger side and shut the door.
I glanced over at Owen, who looked like he was about to cry too, and clapped him on the shoulder.
“This isn’t your fault Owen. You know that right?
I could read the guilt in his young eyes.
“You locked the stables up. You did everything right. Someone else is responsible for this. And I’m going to make sure they pay for it.”
He nodded and I gestured towards Zoe.
“Will you make sure she gets back to the house alright? She loved that damned horse.”
“Yeah. Yes, of course,” Owen said thickly, wiping at his face with the sleeve of his elbow. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Good. No, go ahead. I have someone I need to deal with,” Several someone’s, actually. Three of them. I waited until Westley had started the engine of the truck and drove away to disappear below the small rise, back towards the farmhouse and the stable. I prayed that he would find the rest of the horses unharmed.
The southern pasture ran along the border of the Calhoun’s property and it was a ten minute walk to their home. I hoped that the walk and the time would give my temper a chance to cool but if anything it was burning even hotter by the time I walked up to the old, falling apart bungalow and pounded on the door so loud that window’s rattled.
I couldn’t get the image of Zoe’s tear-stained face out of my mind, it was burned there, branded inside me, fueling the anger inside me until I had to clench my fingers into fists so I wouldn’t bust through the door with my bare hands.
“Wil! Lucas! Ian! I know you’re in there, you sons of bitches!” I shouted the words at the top of my lungs, “Open the god damned door right now!”
I raised my fists, pounding on the door again, over and over and over again until my knuckles felt so raw that I was sure they were bleeding.
“Open the fucking door, you inbred assholes! I swear if you don’t open this door right now, I’ll–.”
“You’ll what?” The door swung open so suddenly that I nearly lost my balance and I found myself staring into Luca’s sneering face.
“Get the fuck off my property, Gallagher. You’re the one trespassing now and I won’t call the cops on you. I’ll just get my shotgun and finish you off right here.”
I saw red at his words, at the threat behind them, and started forward before I even knew what I was about to do. I shoved him inside, so hard that he stumbled, falling back against a raggedy couch that had seen better days, like most of the old furniture in the place.
“Threaten me again,” I snarled the words at Lucas, my fists already rising, ready to let fly, “I dare you. Say it again.”
“Whoa! Whoa, what the hell is going on here, Jake? What the fuck, man?” Wil said, stepping between me and Lucas as he sent me a hard stare, “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing Here? You know exactly what I’m doing here you sick bastards. How could you do that? How could you even? How could you hurt her like that?” I couldn’t get the words out I was so beside myself. With anger. With grief. With horror. I could see the blood. There had been so much blood. And the look on Zoe’s face. After everything she’d been through, when things were just starting to get back to normal, this had to happen and throw everything into chaos again.
There had been fear in her eyes where there hadn’t been any for months now. And that was nearly just as bad as what they had done to Josie in my book.
Wil’s eyes opened wide and he looked as startled as I felt. “Beth? Is this about Beth? Is she okay?”
I shook my head at him in confusion, “Beth? She’s…no this isn’t about Beth. This is about my horse. That you slaughtered and left for the flies like a fucking psychopath!”
Silence greeted my words as Ian stumbled into the room, his eyes big and round in his pale face.
“Someone…someone killed a horse?” Ian muttered. Wil just shook his head, and even Lucas looked a little shell shocked at my words.
The silence stretched on for another long moment, the tension so thick it was hard to breathe but finally Lucas backed down, letting his own balled fists drop as he took a few steps back.
“Look, man, we don’t fuck with animals. Besides, why would we kill your horse?”
“I don’t know?” I shouted at him, not willing to let my guard down, anger still pumping through my veins, the urge to do violence filling me up. They weren’t reacting the way I’d thought they would, which made it all worse, “Why the fuck would you dig holes all over my property? Why do you do anything that you do?”
Wil took a step towards me, his hands raised in a gesture of peace, trying to calm the situation.
“I swear, Jake. We didn’t touch the horse. We would never kill an animal like that. Never. “
I drew in a deep breath, the truth in his voice finally cutting through the rage and I dropped my head into my hands.
“You swear you didn’t kill the horse?”
“I swear, man.” Wil shook his head again, “We’ve been home all day.”
“Why should I believe you? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t call the cops on you all right now.”
The three brothers shared a long look before Lucas shook his head.
“No, Wil.” Lucas growled the words at his brother, but Wil just nudged the bigger man with his elbow.
“Just tell him, Lucas.”
“No! It’s not for outsiders. It’s fami
ly business.”
“Tell him. Now. Or I will.”
I looked from one, to the other, to the other. “Tell me what?”
Lucas finally let out a sigh and walked over to an overstuffed shelf and took out a book. It looked old and well worn, as if it had seen it’s better days, and they were all long gone. He opened it up and took out a stack of papers and a map. Then he took out an old black and white photograph. It was of the same three people from the photo I’d been sent before, the woman still holding the chest.
“Is this supposed to mean something to me?”
Wil grabbed the map and unfolded it and I was shocked to see it was a perfect topographical drawing of the Calhoun’s property, and mine.
“My dad has been searching for this,” Wil tapped a finger against the photo, right over the chest, “for over forty years. He’d dug up all of his land. And then we realized where that photo was originally taken.”
“On my property. In the southern pasture.”
Wil and Lucas both nodded, and my mind whirled with what he was saying.
“So this whole time, that you’re dad’s been trying to get my land, and you three have been digging holes…” I stopped mid-sentence. Digging holes, “Wait a minute, you think there’s, what, some sort of buried treasure on my ranch?”
“And it’s ours, Gallagher,” Lucas growled the words, “So don’t even think that you’re going to get your hands on it before we do. It belongs to the Calhoun’s. This picture proves it.”
“This picture doesn’t prove a god damned things, except that sometime a couple hundred years ago, three people stood out in the middle of nowhere holding a box!” I wanted to rage at them. I wanted to scream. I didn’t do either just drew in a deep breath, trying to regain control.
“You think I give a fuck about this? One of my horses just got slaughtered and now Zoe’s in tears, and…” I trialed off, spearing my fingers through my hair. Finally, I looked from Lucas, to Wil, and Ian and then back again, “So if it wasn’t you three, who was it?”