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“What are we going to do, Jake?”
“Everything we can,” I answered.
I only hoped it would be enough.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, glancing at the clock.
The night had been unending, the sun rising on the forensics team busy around the barn and in the pasture. I’d left Mack with them in favor of partnering with Miguel to talk through what might be wrong with our stock.
So far, no luck.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Miguel said from behind his computer. “None of my panels turned anything up. I’m waiting on some results—viral, mineral—but everything I can check for is negative. If I knew it was viral, that’d be one thing. I even called a few buddies of mine to see if they had any ideas, but I’ve done it all. Until I lose a heifer. An autopsy might help diagnose.”
That grim thought hung in the air.
Olivia entered with two cups of coffee and an exhausted expression on her face. She set one in front of Miguel and handed the other to me before taking a seat next to me. She said nothing.
Miguel leaned back in his chair, his brows threaded together. “I don’t know anything about how it was contracted, but I don’t think it’s contagious—since quarantine, there are no new sick cattle in the herds, only from the barns. The best I have to go off of is red urine—it’s the only visible symptom other than general lethargy, decreased appetite. Could be their kidneys. It’s not blood. No natural causes like beetroot or clover would last for an extended period. It’s not urethral. I just …until I get more test results, I’m stuck.” He closed his computer. “We’ve got four herds in quarantine and a hundred sick cows within just a few days.”
“So there’s nothing we can do,” Olivia said. She didn’t ask.
“For now, no.”
She sagged. I felt the weight of it all dragging me to the ground, and I stood, defying it.
“Then we need to get some rest,” I said, reaching for her hand. A nod, and she stood, leaning into my side. “Have Kit wake us if you need anything.”
Miguel nodded. “I will.”
And we dragged ourselves back to the house.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever sleep again, Jake.”
“Me neither. But I bet once we clean off and get in bed, it’ll find us.”
“I just don’t understand.” Her voice quivered.
“I understand just fine. Pretty sure we all know who would do it and why.”
Olivia skidded to a stop, her flushed face bent and her eyes shining with tears. “Stop it. Just stop it. You’ve convinced yourself the Pattons are obsessed with you, but I think it’s you who’s obsessed. It doesn’t make any sense, Jake—why would they damage the property they want to acquire? They’re smarter than that, aren’t they?”
“Jesus, Olivia. Don’t be naive—they’ll do anything to take this farm down. They’ll do whatever it takes to ruin us just so they’ve done it. They don’t need any reason more than that.”
“But there’s no proof that they’re sabotaging us. Yes, they want to put us under, but we can’t just run around accusing them of something without tangible evidence, now or ever. Name one thing they’ve done that’s done real damage.”
I didn’t answer. I was too busy trying to figure out how to tell her the Pattons’ greatest sin.
“See? You can’t even tell me one.”
A fire of rage and regret and shame rose in me like a wildfire. I could feel it in my lungs as they sawed the crisp morning air. I could feel that fire in my skin, steaming and flushed.
“They’re the ones who reported me.”
Confusion flitted across her brow.
“To ICE. You want to know who really put Pop in the hole? It’s them.”
Realization struck her, her eyes widening.
I gave her my back, paced a few steps, dragged a hand through my hair. Turned to her. “They figured it out and called immigration. This, after years of stealing our business and generations of fighting. But they stopped when Frank bankrupted himself to save me. Then all they had to do was wait for us to fall apart.”
Her lips parted. “I … how did you find out?”
“Because Chase Patton can’t keep his fucking mouth shut. You know nothing stays secret around here, and the second he told Kendall, the whole school knew. Are you satisfied now? Have I convinced you yet?”
“That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is that you don’t trust me on this,” I shot. “You think I’m just a stubborn fool. But never once have I called it wrong, not until you. Then again, you make it a point to buck expectations, don’t you?” I shook my head and looked off, my teeth grinding hard enough to squeak. “Frank’s gone, and they’ve figured you for our weak spot. They’re going to choke the life out of us and break in, and you’re the only avenue they have. You own half of this, Olivia. And they want it.”
