We remained in our circle, sitting on top of our mounts, watching her.
“What do you think she sees?” Jace asked.
With the new game cams installed, everyone had been much more relaxed about shift changes. Jace was supposed to relieve Marshall, but at some point, Marshall had already started heading back when the alarms went off. By the time Marshall had turned back around, the herd and the riders were already gone.
I eyed them both. How would someone know to come out here in between shifts?
Both of them watched Hazel, like everyone else. But I was watching them. Something wasn’t sitting right with me.
She turned her horse around, trotting back toward us.
“Looks like they headed toward the river,” Hazel hollered as she approached. “I’m not sure these riders knew how to drive them out. May have just wanted to spook them enough to make our lives harder, not steal cattle. They just wanted to cause a stampede. They’ll be heading downhill.”
Chuck nodded, considering what she said. “Running to a water source,” he added, finishing her thought.
Hazel bobbed her head. “Precisely.”
“All right, then. Let’s see if we can track them before they get too far. From now on, no break in the patrol, and everyone is carrying. Jace and Marshall, you’re both going to need to take double shifts while we’re at the rodeo this weekend,” Chuck instructed.
“Sure, boss,” Marshall said.
“Done,” Jace agreed.
My gaze narrowed on them. I wasn’t sure they were the best ones to take double patrols while we were all away from the ranch, but I wasn’t sure it was my place to say it, either.
“I’ll take a shift with them,” I volunteered.
Chuck turned in his saddle. “You’re needed with Lina.”
“You don’t think there might be a connection here?” I blurted out.
Everyone swung to look at me then.
“What do you mean?” Hazel asked, her face like a stoic mask, like she was hiding her own thoughts and suspicions.
My brows pinched. I wondered if she and I were drawing the same conclusions. She seemed like a smart cookie.
“It just seems like a coincidence to me that while Lina is dealing with a stalker, the ranch is dealing with vandalism and maybe a cattle thief.” I rested my arms against the saddle horn, waiting for them to pick up what I was putting down.
Hazel seemed to jump on my train of thought. “Lina has a stalker?”
“She does. He’s gotten pretty bold, too,” I told her.
“When did this all start?” Even in the moonlight, her face had gone pale.
“Beginning of May,” Chuck and I answered together.
She exhaled a deep breath as if trying to keep the fury from rising. At least, that’s how I was feeling. “There are very few people who are familiar with the ranch at night, and his brother would have shared itallwith him,” she said.
I could almost hear Chuck’s molars grind. “Junior?”
I sucked in my own deep breath at his name.
“I don’t think I was able to stop him in time,” Hazel said, her words like a ghost in the warm night breeze.
Despite the temp, a chill ran down my spine.
Whether she was talking about Jesse or Junior, I wasn’t certain, but Chuck seemed to know. His fingers gripped the reins, causing his horse, Gus, to toss his head in annoyance.
