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It had been lonely without her. Perhaps that was why he’d bought the ranch. He loved animals. He had a few head of cattle, in a growing herd, and chickens that laid him fresh eggs. There was a full-time cowboy, a brother to Abby’s foreman Don Blalock, and a couple of part-timers who helped tag and brand new additions to his herd. Of course, if he ever had a lot of cattle, nearby ranchers would all turn out to help with branding and vaccinations and the other odds and ends that cattle ranching required. It was a nice little community, Catelow, and full of kindhearted people. Cody couldn’t really imagine living anywhere else.
He’d wondered once why Debby never asked him down to Denver to her apartment. She always had some excuse about being on call or having to go to meetings or see private patients. Funny that he hadn’t noticed it while they were married. Probably though it was just as she’d said, she worked so hard that she didn’t have time for visits, even from the husband who loved her.
He pulled up in front of the vet’s office and took Anyu in. The receptionist asked him to have a seat and almost at once, a vet tech came out to lead them into a room.
“The doctor will be right in,” she said with a grin.
“Thanks.”
The tech stopped to pet Anyu and admire her pretty blue eyes before she went out, leaving Cody and Anyu in the neat treatment room with pictures of dog and cat breeds in colorful posters on the walls.
He was halfway through the sporting dog group when Dr. Shriver came in. He was a tall man, taciturn with people but loving with animals.
He nodded at Cody and looked at the chart. “She’s limping, you said.”
“Yes. I didn’t notice until...well, someone else said she was favoring her right leg.” He made a face. “I should have seen it.”
“Often we don’t see things that outsiders do,” Shriver said. “Let’s have a look.” He bent and lifted Anyu onto the examination table. When he manipulated her paw, she whined and drew it back.
“Could be a broken toe,” Dr. Shriver murmured to himself. He looked up. “We’ll need to do X-rays and some lab work. Can you leave her with us?”
“Sure. I’ve got a full day ahead,” Cody said, shaking his head. “We have whole days when there’s nothing more urgent than a traffic stop or a fight to break up. And then we have others when there needs to be about twenty more men than I’ve got. We had a bank robbery yesterday, for God’s sake!”
“I heard about that on the radio.” Shriver shook his head. “And people think we never have such problems in small towns.”
“Crime doesn’t have a permanent address,” Cody said dryly. “You’ll call me, when you know something?”
“Of course. But it may be a couple of days before we have the results of the other tests. We’ll take good care of her, if you can leave her.”
“I guess I can do that.” He hugged the laughing dog. “You be a good girl,” he added. She just looked at him with her sparkling beautiful blue eyes, as if to assure him that she would.
HEWENTBACKto work. There was an odd case on the books that he was working on. A man from back East had befriended Charlie Butler, who’d left his ranch to Abigail Brennan. The man, Horace Whatley by name, had signed on as a foreman, citing impressive and extensive references from some of the biggest ranches in Texas. Charlie had been diagnosed with cancer by then and he was in a lot of pain. He took Horace on as an employee mostly on faith. The young man was easygoing and mixed well with the other cowboys. He was especially kind to Charlie, eager to help out in any way he could, in gratitude for his job.
But odd things started happening after a few weeks. Horace was given work as the assistant to the cattle foreman, a position of some responsibility. The cattle foreman himself, Dick Blakely, had a heart attack and had to resign his job. It was offered to Horace as the assistant, and he jumped at the chance of promotion. Charlie gave him the job and explained its responsibilities. Horace was certain that he could cope.
Cowboys as a rule didn’t like to rat out their comrades. They worked in close proximity, and pretty much knew each others’ business. They didn’t carry tales. But it became apparent to Don Blalock, who was the overall ranch foreman, that the cattle foreman wasn’t doing his job at all. His rigid feeding schedule for the livestock was ignored while Horace went to a separate vendor and ordered new equipment and new feed for the cattle he was maintaining. The vendor was known to Don, who refused to do business with him. He was unscrupulous and sold inferior product. On a ranch such as this one, with specialized livestock, that could spell disaster with the breeding program. So Don went to Charlie and laid it out for him.
Subsequently, Charlie called Horace into his office and read him the riot act. He had no authority to do what he’d done, and he’d far overstepped his authority. Horace argued that he had some really good ideas to try out and that he knew Mr. Butler would be pleased with the results. Charlie read him chapter and verse about the vendor he was dealing with, and questioned just how much experience Horace had as a cattle foreman.
Horace produced his references again and restated his desire to experiment with the feeding program. Charlie told him that if he persisted, he’d be looking for another job. Horace subsided, but not without complaint.
Sick and frankly upset by his new employee, Charlie called in Don Blalock and had him phone all the people Horace listed as references.
It was enlightening. None of the people who recommended him had ever met him, and a couple of them were hot under the collar that someone had so badly referenced them in what sounded like an illegal and liable business. Don Blalock had assured them that nobody on the ranch would ever talk about it to anyone except the people actually involved.
Armed with the information, he went back to Charlie, who was shocked at the new man’s impertinence and his ability to lie.
He had Horace come back into the office, where he told Don Blalock to tell the man what his investigation had uncovered.
Horace had been momentarily speechless, and his face had gone sad and resigned when Don added that a couple of the ranchers he’d alluded to as references were talking about legal action. Horace admitted then that he’d exaggerated his abilities, but he was willing to learn, if Mr. Butler would just give him a chance to make amends. He loved animals. He’d try very hard to do what he was told.
At which point, Don asked him if he’d ever been on a ranch before in his life. The answer had both men blinking. No, Horace said, but he’d watched lots of old TV Westerns and live ranch shows on YouTube, and he’d even played video games that had cattle to manage, so he was sure he knew how to manage cattle.
Charlie gathered his scattered wits and told the man he needed a lot more background than that for the job he was assuming. He offered him work as a regular cowhand, but Horace was reluctant. He didn’t think he was strong enough for physical labor. Actually, it was the truth. The young man was a bit overweight and not in excellent physical condition.
He seemed shocked when Charlie told him that managers on his ranch worked their way up from cowboys. There was no on-the-job training for it, except being a cowboy and learning the job from the ground up. He advised Horace to go back to his video games and gave him a week’s severance pay.
Horace told him he was missing a chance to make his ranch truly great. He gave the men a sad shake of his head as he left.
