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“This is my daughter, Cat,” Chase began.
“We’ve met,” Logan acknowledged her with a curt nod, his expression falsely passive.
“Yes,” Cat confirmed with an aura of confidence and smooth self-assurance. “Sheriff Echohawk was at the Shamrock the other night when I went to visit Uncle Culley. It turns out that he’s our new neighbor. He bought the Circle Six.”
Chase raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. “I’d heard Henson had sold out. Welcome to the area.”
“Thanks.”
“Cat had a good point,” Ty interposed, bringing the conversation back to their previous topic. “By they, are you saying you believe there was more than one person involved?”
“If a cow was butchered and the carcass removed, as I suspect, it’s logical that—even with the aid of a winch—it would take at least two people to handle it.”
Chase idly rocked in his chair, studying Logan with thoughtful eyes. “You sound convinced that’s the way it happened.”
“Like I said before, the signs seem to point that way,” he replied. “And it would be easy enough for a truck to block the entrance to the gully and trap the cattle inside. We’ll have a better idea about whether I’m right when you finish your gather.”
“But to kill all those cattle and butcher only one, that makes no sense,” Ty said with a troubled shake of his head.
“Maybe they did it for the joy of killing, maybe to cover up the fact they had butchered a beef. Or maybe, they wanted to make certain you found out what they did. If you came up a cow short in your gather, you might not think much about it. But no one can ignore nearly a dozen dead animals.”
“You’re saying it was a calling card of sorts.” Chase studied him with narrowed eyes.
“I’m saying they wanted to throw it in your face,” Logan replied smoothly. “Any ideas on who might hate you that much? A former employee, maybe?”
“I can’t think of anyone. Ty?” Chase deferred the question to his son.
“Offhand, no.”
“Check your records. Make me a list of anyone you have fired in the last year.” He was conscious of Cat filling his side vision, but he kept his attention centered on the two men. The stiff control he placed on himself made him abrupt.
“The list will be a short one,” Ty replied. “We don’t have much turnover on the Triple C. Most of our hands were born and raised right here on the ranch.”
“Then that will make my job an easy one.” Logan paused, and that pause accented the rest of his words, giving them weight. “This wasn’t a random act. They weren’t just driving around, saw the cattle, and decided to shoot a few. This had to have been planned by someone familiar with the area. If it’s someone with a grudge against you—as I suspect—maybe slaughtering some of your cattle will satisfy them. But I wouldn’t count on it. This kind of thing can feed on itself and escalate. I’d have your men keep a lookout for anything unusual and anyone with no business being around.”
“We’ll get the word out tonight.” Chase looked to his son, silently passing the chore to him.
Satisfied, Logan said, “Get that employee list to me as soon as you can. And if you think of anyone whose toes you might have stepped on, inadvertently or otherwise, add their names to it.”
“Of course,” Ty said.
“If there’s nothing else you can add, I’ll be going,” Logan said and proceeded to take his leave of the two men.
In silence, Cat looked on, aware of Logan Echohawk as she had been of few men in her life. He stood with a balanced straightness, as though ready to whip into action at the first hint of danger. For the first time, she realized that he had a capacity for violence, sharply controlled, but present just the same. In profile, his bronzed and angular features were chiseled in unsentimental lines, vaguely tinged by a distant bitterness. She briefly wondered at that, then pushed that curiosity aside. She had other, more important matters on her mind.
During those initial moments after he first arrived, the old fear had rushed back that he had learned the truth about Quint. It had driven her to the den where Cat discovered again that her fear was groundless. He didn’t know, and there was no reason to believe he ever would. She had overreacted before. She was determined to correct that now.
When he turned to leave, Cat said calmly, “I’ll see you out.”
His eyes briefly locked with hers, setting off a small tingle along her nerve ends. It was, Cat thought, the dangerous gray color that made his glance feel like a jolt of electricity.
“That isn’t necessary,” he told her, his voice cool in its rejection.
Cat didn’t answer, instead simply turned and headed for the door, asserting her will through action. The accompanying sound of his footsteps was an echo to her own. She continued through the door and onto the porch, then paused near a white column and gazed into the night. Moonlight sprayed its frost-glow over the ranch buildings and silvered the vast sweep of prairie beyond them. Familiar as it was to her, the scene pulled at her, stirring up again the deep attachment she had to this land that was her home.
Drawing level with her, Logan halted and faced the front, for a moment looking into the night as she did. Then he angled his head toward her, and she felt the force of his gaze tunneling into her.
“There is obviously something you wanted to say before I leave.” The challenging dryness of his voice held a faintly sardonic note.
