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Janessa’s ranch.
More poison.
More sick cattle.
Please just let that be all it is. Please, God, keep those girls safe until we get there.
Prescott grabbed the keys, and we both rushed toward the door. Neither of us said anything. We didn’t have to. Every single second counted in an emergency like this. Our years of working together like a well-oiled machine overrode any lingering hard feelings we might have had between us.
We had to make sure Daisy Lynn and everyone else at the Triple J Ranch was safe.
Nothing else mattered.
* * *
I was surprised to see Logan already at the ranch when we pulled up in front of the barn. Janessa and Justin were standing to one side with the veterinarian while Daisy Lynn and Becca stood back a little.
I wanted to pull Daisy Lynn close and reassure her as soon as we stepped out of the patrol car, but my first priority was making sure this crime scene wasn’t still active.
“Any sign of the intruder?” I asked, scanning the area around the barn.
Janessa shook her head. “Nothing. Whoever it is doesn’t seem to be interested in us, thankfully. But damn, I wish he’d leave my poor animals alone.”
“Well, one thing is certain,” Logan spoke up, making us all turn in his direction. “Our criminal knows what he—or she—is doing. All of the other samples I’ve taken have shown large amounts of hemlock in the water. I’d be willing to bet any amount of money that’s what we’re looking at here. Hemlock.” He turned to Janessa and Justin. “Do you know of any that might be on your land? Maybe down by the water where the cows were grazing?”
They both shook their heads at the same time. “There’s no hemlock on this land,” Justin said. “We’ve only ever seen it here a few times over the years, but we always do a thorough sweep for it in the beginning of spring to make sure there isn’t any taking hold.”
“I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen hemlock anywhere around here,” Janessa added. “Certainly not recently. If someone really is putting hemlock in the water, they must be bringing it in from somewhere else.”
“But where?” Prescott asked. “And who? I feel like we’re always a step behind this asshole. He’s probably out there watching and laughing right now.”
“Probably,” Logan agreed. “Using hemlock was clever, though. There might not be a lot on this land, but it’s plentiful enough in the hills around here. And since it’s natural, it’s not like we have a way of tracing it back to anyone in particular.”
I thought back to Derek Winslow’s farm. His attacker must have been in the process of poisoning the animals there when Derek had surprised him in the stables.
“Would hemlock have the same effect on horses, Logan?” Prescott asked, our minds clearly on the same track.
“Oh, no.” Logan shook his head. “It’s even worse for horses. The doses we’re dealing with aren’t typically fatal for cattle. Horses, though… it can be rough.”
I was mentally retracing my steps at the Winslow ranch when I remembered another detail. “What about Monensin?” I asked. “Do you know anything about that?”
Logan’s eyes went wide and his pale skin seemed to go gray for a second in the moonlight. “Monensin is an antibiotic meant for cattle.Onlycattle. Even in small doses, it can lead to heart failure and death in horses.”
“We found some of that stuff in Derek’s stables,” Prescott said. “His sister, Kate, said she didn’t know how it got there.”
Logan sighed. “I’m not surprised. Someone broke into my clinic a couple of nights ago. The narcotics were locked up, but it didn’t seem like they even tried to get to those. It took me a full day of checking my inventory to find out what they actually took.”
Prescott quirked a brow. “And?”
“Little stuff. Low-grade tranquilizers. Antibiotics. Monensin was one of them.”
“And you didn’t think that was something damn worth reporting to the police?” I cursed, feeling an unreasonable surge of anger. I didn’t like that look that I’d seen on his face a few moments ago, and Ireallydidn’t like the feeling that he might be hiding something from us.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,deputy,” he spat the last word as he glared at me. “But I’ve been a little busy the past few days. Like I said, when I saw that the narcotics hadn’t been touched, I chalked it up to some ignorant kids with more guts than brains. I had no way of imagining someone would try to give Derek Winslow’s horses a dose of Monensin.”
I returned his glare, but I didn’t press the issue further. He was right—the burglary became a lot less important as long as the narcotics were all accounted for. At this point, it would just be more tedious paperwork for all of us.
“Okay,” Prescott muttered, breaking the silence that had started to stretch out between Logan and me. “Let’s take a look at those cows. Maybe we can find something else, some other clue that we’re missing.”
