[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"That's still not very old," Tippy added. "She's at the age where she can get over things easily," she
said, more for her own benefit than his. "Come on. Feed me."
He was watching Christabel ride away, and he felt empty. She hadn't met his eyes. She hadn't smiled at
him.
And why would she need a rifle? In fact, why was she riding fence alone?
He wanted answers. The minute he got Tippy back to the location set in town he was going to get them
out of Christabel.
Crissy found their foreman Nick, and Brad, one of their three part-time men, kneeling beside a bull in
the pasture where the new fence had been cut.
Fearing the worst, she swung out of the saddle and knelt be-side the bull. It was a Hereford bull, but
the best one she had. It was dead.
"Damn it!" she cursed.
"I'm sorry," Nick told her. "I thought these bulls would be safe. I should have known better."
"It's not your fault, Nick. But this time, I'm getting answers. I want a vet out here, right now, and a
blood sample taken. If this bull was poisoned like the others, I want proof. I'll quit school and get a
job to pay him if I have to."
"I'll phone the vet right now," Nick assured her.
She patted the young bull's head and could have cried. She'd had such hopes for him in their new
crossbreed program. He looked so helpless, so vulnerable, like that. Involuntarily, she remembered
what Judd had told her about the human murder victim.
She got up and went to the fence, checking where it was cut. The method was the same on the two
previous cut fences. The same person. She sighed with helpless fury. Someone was try-ing to put them
out of business. It had to be Jack Clark. But how in the world was she going to prove it?
Nick got off the phone and came back to her. The vet said he'll be over about five. He'll phone me
when he's on the way. We should get photos of the cut fence," he added. "I saved the other wire, just
like you asked. That should be photographed, too. And you should tell Judd, or at least the sheriff's
department," he said firmly. "It isn't safe for you to be riding out here alone, now, even with a rifle."
She knew he was right, but it hurt to admit it. Not that she was going to do what he said. "I'll get one of
the men to ride fence with me from now on," she lied convincingly.
"Good." Nick walked with her to her horse. "I'll get some film and use the bunkhouse camera to get
photos of the carcass."
"Judd has enough on his plate right now with the investigation he's got going up in Victoria. I don't
want him worried about us as well."
"He owns part of the ranch," she was reminded firmly. "He has every right to know what's going on."
"I told him what was going on weeks ago, and he wouldn't listen," she replied shortly. "He thinks I'm
making it up, that it's a bid for attention. Besides, he's so wrapped up with that redheaded model that he
doesn't even hear me..." She swallowed. "Sorry. He's got a lot on his mind. So have I."
Nick studied her with compassion, but he was worried, and it showed. "If he asks me, Crissy, I've got
to tell him."
She shrugged. "Do what you have to, Nick. But not unless he asks. Deal?"
He smiled. "Deal."
"And I want to know what the vet finds."
"Sure thing."
She turned the horse and rode back toward the ranch. But halfway there, she dismounted under a
spreading pecan tree and sat down under it. No way was she going back home until Judd and his
girlfriend finished lunch and went away. It had started out to be a bad day, and it just kept getting
worse, she thought miserably.
CHAPTER SEVEN
By the time Crissy got home, unsaddled her mount and gave the rifle back to the cowboy she'd
borrowed it from, Judd and Tippy were gone.
Maude was in the kitchen, muttering about the clutter of equipment she was having to work around.
She turned around from the sink when Crissy walked in. "Hiding out, were you? I wish you'd had the
kindness to take me with you, instead of leaving me here."
"Was it bad?"
"Bad!" The older woman put a dirty pan in the dishwasher. "She ran you down like a runaway tanker.
She's got Judd convinced that you're pouting because he's paying her a lot of attention. She thinks
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]