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“What open house?” Jessy stiffened. “No one said anything to me about having one at The Homestead.”
“I don’t mean it literally. But a lot of the buyers will want to come the day before the auction to look over the sale stock and decide which they want to bid on. People will probably be coming and going most of the day. In that sense, it will be a bit less informal, but we still need to dress appropriately.”
There was that word again, Jessy thought with an inward sign, but she managed to joke, “I guess jeans and a shirt wouldn’t be appropriate.”
Cat laughed, as Jessy knew she would. “Don’t you wish.”
“Don’t I, though,” Jessy agreed with a rueful smile and automatically glanced out the plane’s window again. This bird’s-eye view of the land on which she was born was one she never tired of seeing. And she had cow-boyed for too many years not to instinctively watch for the unusual.
Intent on the ground, she almost missed the aircraft sweeping across the eastern sky. But its movement caught her eye. Leaning closer to the porthole, she took a second look then hurriedly unbuckled her belt and scrambled out of her seat.
“What’s wrong?” Cat frowned.
Jessy didn’t bother to answer as she made her way up the aisle to the cockpit. “Jack.” She tapped the pilot on the shoulder and pointed to his left. “Do you see that helicopter off your wing?”
He turned his head in that direction and nodded. “Got it.”
“Try to raise somebody at the ranch and tell them a helicopter is flying on a course toward the Wolf Meadow range.”
“Will do,” he promised and glanced at his copilot. “Get on the horn, Andy. Frank still might be in the hangar area.” Over his shoulder, he said to Jessy, “If we can’t get Frank, we’ll patch a call into headquarters.”
“Thanks,” she said and turned away.
The minute she stepped into the cabin, Cat’s eyes were on her, a mixture of curiosity and concern in her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“I spotted a helicopter that might be headed for Wolf Meadow,” Jessy explained, returning to her seat. “Jack’s going to make sure Ty knows about it.”
A grimly determined look stole over Cat’s features at the news. “Maybe at last we’ll find out who bought the land.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” She hadn’t from the moment they learned the government was not renewing their lease.
“We’ll get it back,” Cat stated. “Whatever it takes, we’ll get it back. After all, what good is it to anybody? We have it completely landlocked. Their only access to it is by air.”
“Maybe whoever bought it wants to turn it into a nature preserve.” That seemed to be the general consensus of the attorneys.
“Do you believe that?” Cat eyed her closely.
Jessy shook her head. “No.” But she couldn’t put her finger on why she felt so certain about that.
“Neither do I.” Cat replied then sighed rather grimly. “With any luck, we’ll learn the identity of the new owner before the day’s out.”
But something told Jessy that any satisfaction to be gained from solving the mystery of the new owner’s identity wouldn’t last long.
Up front, the copilot climbed out of the right seat and stepped into the cabin doorway while the plane continued to climb to its assigned altitude. “Thought you would want to know we passed on the word about the helicopter. Ty is going to check it out.”
“Thanks,” Cat said and glanced at Jessy. “It won’t be long now.”
“We received word that there might be some clear-air turbulence up ahead. Better make sure you keep your seat belts fastened,” the copilot added in warning.
As far as Jessy was concerned, she didn’t need to be warned of impending trouble. She sensed it.
There were few curves in the dirt ranch road as it followed the undulations of the rolling plains. With his foot pressed hard on the pickup’s accelerator, Ty drove as fast as he dared.
He ducked his head low to scan the sky ahead of him, making sure the chopper was still in sight. Fighting through the glare of the rising sun, he caught a glimpse of it still some distance ahead of him but lower than before. It was descending. A quick check of its angle confirmed Ty’s suspicions—its landing point would be well north of the road on the Wolf Meadow range.
But exactly where, he couldn’t tell. The helicopter was too far away yet. Which made it all the more important for him to keep it in sight as long as possible.
As the helicopter swooped lower, the land’s natural rise and fall soon made it difficult for Ty to keep the craft in view. Then it disappeared completely. Cursing his luck, Ty tried to gauge how far north of the road it had been at his
