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Kelly
“So, I’ve been compiling my notes and I wanted to share with you both what I’ve concluded thus far,” I state as we get into the office, closing the door behind us. “In speaking with everyone on the ranch, and maybe some info I got from the horse’s mouth, a few things pop out.”
Trent sits behind his desk, smiling. That’s odd. Why would he be smiling if his tractor just broke down? Oh! Maybe he’s just happy to see me. Stop being arrogant, Kelly. Not everything is about you, girl.
Owen takes his normal position, standing against the wall to the left of me. “Okay, what’ve you got?”
I remove my notebook from my pocket and begin to rifle through the pages, stopping at the page that I wanted to share. “In talking with Elizabeth, I sensed something strange about her and her story. Not bad, just a gut feeling.”
“Alright, not a good feeling about Elizabeth,” Trent says as he leans back in his chair, propping his boots up on his desk. “Anything else?”
I look over and up at Owen, then back to my notepad. “The other night when Owen and I were out by the back fence, something made the bushes move around.”
“Yeah, like I told you earlier this morning,” Owen says, looking at Trent as I nod my head.
Trent says to me, “I told him it was more than likely a coyote or a bear. Both have been known to roam around back there, rummaging for scraps.”
I’m surprised by the fact that Owen had already discussed last night’s occurrence with Trent. In another way, it did add to both Trent and Owen’s stories of telling each other everything. It’s good to know that some people are good on their word.
It’s not always true in my line of work.
It would honestly break my heart if I discover that one of these two in this room was sabotaging the other.
Owen moves and sits on the corner of Trent’s desk, grabbing the overhang in both hands, while Trent removes his boots from the desk and sits up in his chair, leaning over the front of his desk. “Any more that you need from us?” Trent asks, twiddling his thumbs around in circles.
“With regard to Elizabeth, just keep a watchful eye on her and what she does. Does she live here, on the ranch?” I ask.
Owen looks at Trent, then back to me. “She lives here some of the time and others she goes to her place to see her husband.”
I jot that little tidbit down in my notes, checking on that some time later. “That’s really interesting. You wouldn’t happen to know where her husband is or what their address is, would you?”
Trent looks at me like he’s studying me. Gauging my questions carefully. “It would take a moment to find her address on file, but we have a duty to uphold the privacy of our employees.”
“We’ve never met her husband though,” Owen says.
“All right, if you have time to search for her address, I’d like to check it out,” I say, writing about the address in my file.
“McNally,” Trent says. “You’ve seen how many people we have employed out there, right? We’re mostly on a first name basis around here.”
Owen chuckles and agrees with Trent. “You got that right. It’s hard enough to remember everything that we have to accomplish in one day, let alone memorizing employees names for incidents that we couldn’t foresee.”
Trent chuckles at Owen’s comment. “Now, if we have that off of our plate for now, let’s turn this conversation to a lighter note. Can we?”
I laugh at his request asking, “Is the little boy in you bored?”
Owen joins in the laughter and then eventually Trent does too. “I guess I am. But I do realize the issues that are important.”
“What did you want to light-heartedly discuss?” I ask putting my note pas away. “What’s on your mind, Mr. Hawk?”
“I want to circle back to each of our dates and maybe you’re uncomfortable with that, but I’m certain the subject has been on Owen’s mind as well,” I look up at Owen who is nodding his head.
“Indeed, I am,” he says, going back to his post on the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “Let’s hear it. Your take on the dates.”
My heart begins to pound inside my chest, bewildered that they would want to discuss the details of both dates in front of each other. They both stare at me, waiting for me to answer their question.
“Um, I’m a little uncomfortable talking about each of the dates with you both being present,” I hesitantly begin the unpacking of my own thoughts. I felt guilty earlier this morning, but wouldn’t want to discuss that now. “But seeing that the two of you are basically joined at the hip, I can’t see away around it.”
“Just start with one of us,” Trent says. “And we both promise to be good sports about your answers.”
