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“Jenna’s not a witch,” Colt chimed in. “At least not in the sense you’re thinking. I can attest to Lucy’s abilities and assure you they are hers and hers alone.”
Eli chuckled, aware now that this was a common—albeit good-natured—argument between Colt and Sam.
“Yeah, but even if you believe she’s psychic, Lucy can’t unlock a coop with those powers or abilities or whatever, can she?” Eli was only half kidding.
“No,” Colt continued. “Last I checked, she wasn’t letting herself in and out of the coop.”
“Okay, but there’s something else.”
Eli sighed and set his needles on the table. The rest of the men did the same—even Sam—and gave him their full attention.
“Later the same morning, I got a call about a potential permanent placement for Midnight, someone who happened to be in town and wanted to see if we could meet.”
Boone shrugged. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
Eli nodded absently. “It was… I mean it is. We met at that diner by the interstate.”
“The one with the burnt out N in the sign?” Colt asked.
“That’s the one,” Eli replied. “He was a young guy—”
“So not your age,” Boone interrupted with a grin. When Eli didn’t smile back, his brother at least had the decency to look chagrined.
“Last name was Doyle. He was in this nice suit, had the papers all drawn up, and I don’t know… It felt too quick. I hadn’t even put my feelers out yet about placing her, so how’d the guy know I had her?”
“You’re the only veterinarian for miles,” Sam reminded him. “Any one of your clients could have passed on the news about Midnight.”
Eli crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair. “He said his buyer didn’t care about her lost passport or her injury as long as she was riding like she used to again.” He paused. “That like she used to set off a warning bell. So I took the papers home and asked for time to look them over. And this morning, when I left to come here and Beth headed out to ride, the sensor on Midnight’s door was loose.”
His pulse raced. The other men stared at him.
It was Fury all over again. She’d been smart enough to outrun her would-be captors, but the storm coupled with her fear had proven to be a lethal combination, for the mare and for Tess.
“Eli…” Boone began gently, and Eli abruptly pushed back from the table and stood.
“Don’t, Boone,” he warned.
“Don’t what?” his brother asked, holding up his hands.
“Give me a little credit, will you?” Eli told him. “I don’t need you to tell me that I’m looking at the situation through an already warped lens. I’m not just basing this on a gut feeling. I know what I saw, and I don’t think Midnight or Cirrus or Beth are safe.”
“So you left them all on the property and came here?” Sam asked, though Eli could tell he was starting to put it all together. And when Sam sighed, Eli knew he already had. “They’re all at my place, aren’t they?”
Eli gave his friend a crooked grin.
“Cirrus is at your ranch, but Beth wouldn’t leave Midnight. She’s tied up in your backyard. The mare…not Beth.”
Boone slid his own chair from the table and stood, clapping his hands together. “I guess that settles it,” he announced.
“Settles what?” Eli wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this was going because obviously his brother thought this was all in his head, and Sam now had a random horse on his property, and Eli realized he was spewing his worry about the horse in question, and holy shit… What if Boone was right? What if he was regressing back into that loop of Fury and Tess and not being able to save either one of them?
“We’re cutting this session early so we can up the security on the barn,” Boone told him.
And without one word of protest, the rest of them started packing up their knitting gear and assigning one another tasks.
“We got an extra baby monitor as a gift when Nolan was born,” Sam said. “It’s not even open. It might say Hello Baby on it or something like that, but it’s one hell of a security camera. Even has night vision. We can set it up right inside the barn.”
“Carter’s on call at the station,” Colt said. “But I bet he’s got a ladder we can borrow to install that puppy high enough that no one would notice it.”
