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I did my best to school my features as we walked across the yard to where the guys were standing. My uncle seemed to be doing most of the talking, which was fine with me. I was more than happy to stay back by Cade and Boone while Sheriff Prescott took my uncle’s statement.
Daisy Lynn and Becca hadn’t wasted any time introducing themselves to Cole, the deputy. I was trying to listen to both conversations at once, but I was also more than a little distracted by the way Cade and Boone kept looking at me. The heat in their eyes was unmistakable, and it was just making me wish that the three of us could be alone instead of dealing with all of this police drama.
“Have you all met the guys who bought the old Foster ranch yet?” Sheriff Prescott turned his attention to me and the guys.
I shook my head. “I didn’t realize the sale had gone through.”
“Me, neither,” Cade said. “Last I heard, some people were looking at it or had made an offer. But no, we haven’t met the buyers. Do you think they could have had something to do with the poisonings?”
“I don’t think so,” the sheriff said. “We can’t entirely rule anyone out at this point, of course, but they seem like good guys to me. Ex-military. And anyway, the evidence so far does seem to point in… other directions.”
As he spoke, a pickup truck came up the driveway and parked behind the patrol car. I had to smile. Logan, the vet, had come at the perfect time. Now he would be able to give his confirmation of exactly which direction the evidence was pointing.
“Morning, Sheriff,” Logan said, waving as he got out of his truck. “Justin, Janessa… everyone.”
He’d barely even glanced over at Cade and Boone, and I immediately felt my blood pressure start to rise. I still didn’t exactly understand what his issue was with my guys, but I was getting tired of the sideways glances and the tense comments.
That conversation would have to wait until another time, though.
“You’ll have to forgive me for being a little late,” Logan continued. “I came straight here from Nora Statler’s ranch.”
All of us perked up at the mention of Nora’s name, and Imighthave made a noise that sounded a lot likebitch, but just loud enough to earn me a smirk from Cade and a frown from my uncle.
Whatever.
I was more and more convinced that she had something to do with these poisonings, and it’s not like she and I had been anything close to friends even before all of this craziness had started.
“What can you tell us about Nora?” the sheriff asked. “Did she mention whether or not she’s noticed anything out of the ordinary happening on her property lately?”
“Only if you count the fact that one of her stallions was poisoned last night,” Logan said, then nodded in my direction. “Same sort of thing we’ve seen happen here.”
I gasped, then quickly covered my mouth. Either I’d been wrong about Nora or she had gone completely crazy and poisoned her own horse. I honestly wasn’t sure which scenario was more likely.
Cade and Boone looked confused as well. “Just one horse?” Cade asked.
“Is the horse going to be okay?” Boone added.
Logan nodded. “Yep, same as here. The poison was strong enough to put the horse out of commission for a while but not strong enough to kill it. And, of course, it helped that Nora realized something was wrong and called me right away—just like you did, Janessa.”
Great.
So now it looked like Nora and I were in the same boat. And I couldn’t bring up the fact that it was awfully convenient for Nora to have caught the poison so quickly without making myself sound suspicious for the same reason.
“Thank goodness the horse is going to be okay,” I said, choosing the nicest thing I could say under the circumstances. No matter what else might have been going on, none of these innocent animals deserved to suffer like this.
“Did she happen to see anyone suspicious coming or going from her property?” the deputy asked, still taking notes. “Or did she mention what time, exactly, she found the poisoned horse?”
Logan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t recall her giving me a specific time, but she did say it was early in the morning. She had luckily gone out for a walk and found the horse when she came back. If it had been much later when she’d found him, though…” He grimaced. “Well, let’s just say it probably would have been bad.”
I shuddered. I hated to think of what would have happened to that poor horse—and for what? We still had no actual proof that Nora was behind this or what her true motive might be. And now? I wasn’t even so sure it was her anymore.
“If you’ll all excuse me,” I said, swallowing hard. “I’d like to go back to the house for a while. Sheriff, do you need me for anything?”
“No, thank you, Janessa.” Sheriff Prescott gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know this whole business must be unpleasant for you. We’ll come and get you if we need anything else.”
“Do you need anything?” Boone asked, giving me a concerned look.
“Do you want us to walk you to the house?” Cade asked, mirroring Boone’s concern.
