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As I went to reply, Carlos burst into the office. “Bossman, you need to come to the calving barn. It's urgent.”
Instantly, my thoughts snapped from the dozen ways I would lure Rayna into my bed and the incident with the shed the other day. Was this another sabotage attempt? “Why? What’s going on?”
I was up and around my table, hurrying after Carlos with Rayna on my heels. “Some of the calves just started collapsing. Jake spotted it, called Ben, who then discovered the communal water trough reeked of insecticide. We pulled the calves away, but five passed, sir.”
“Insecticide?” I snapped, jumping down the stairs two at a time. “How the hell did that get in there?”
“No idea, sir,” Carlos replied as we busted through the back door and ran to the calving shed.
When we ran through the door, Ben was resting a tarp over a calf and shaking his head while coming up from his crouch. “Ben,” I called out, striding to him. “What happened?”
“Hell, if I know,” he said grimly. “As far as I know, the pump was on last night, and nothing was awry this morning.”
“You’re telling me someone came in the middle of the night to spike the trough?” I asked, almost seething.
“Possibly,” he replied.
I turned to Dusty. “Call the cops. Get them here, pronto. I need someone to dust this trough and the pump for prints. I need them to check whatever was in the water and determine what poison it came from. Listen to me, no one touches anything until the cops get here, and then, we call the disposal crews.”
Turning back to the door, I looked. “Did we find any sign or tampering on the door?”
“Nope,” Micah replied while striding closer. “I checked them all, boss. The front, side door, and the back. Not a sign of any jimmying.”
“Then let the cops check the windows, the vents, and the damned drains,” I replied firmly. “I do not want one inch of this place unchecked, and I hope they find any clue that hints to Brandon West. I know that smarmy bastard is behind this. I just need to prove it.”
My bold statement had four heads snapping at me, and I admitted my suspicion outright. I saw Dusty on the phone from the corner of my eye, so I kept my tone even.
“I know this might sound ludicrous, but since I won the Twines contract, I feel deep in my gut that Brandon will do something to screw me up. We all know he is a petty man with a holier-than-thou attitude. I know he wants me gone from the industry and will do whatever he can.”
“And he’s got the money and resources to do it, too,” Ben chimed in. “But it will be a damned hard job to trace these incidents back to him. You know no one of his men will squeal like a stuck pig.”
“And his girlfriend slash secretary slash seasoned conniving manipulator is a human Fort Knox,” Jack added. When heads turned to him, he added, “I made the mistake of dating her sister, Anna. Trust me when I say the whole family is a bunch of money-hungry, conniving, male-manipulating sorts. I ran and never looked back.”
“My point is that Brandon is very close and has access to any criminals he can get,” I said. “I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”
“The cops are on their way,” Dusty said. “And I asked them to bring a forensic team with them.”
“Good,” I replied, crossing the room to crouch and lift the tarp.
The calf’s vacant eyes hurt me down to the depth of my soul. Such an innocent life snuffed out by jealousy. We never ate our stock; they went to pasture until they passed from old age. The beef we ate came from sustainable beef farms.
I put the tarp back and stood. “Where are the rest of the calves now?”
“Getting fresh water from buckets,” Carlos replied. “Washedbuckets, sir.”
“Keep an eye on ‘em,” I ordered. “I don’t trust anything when it comes tohim.”
A few of the guy’s eyes flickered to Rayna, some with interest that had the caveman in me ready to rear up and roar, but I had more problems than going Neanderthal and protecting what was mine. Besides, I knew she wouldn’t give them a second look anyway.
The air was tense as we waited for the cops to come over, and when they did, there was a marked cruiser and a darker, unmarked detective car where three people emerged. I immediately spotted the detective, male or female. They all had the same look: dark clothes, flat shoes, and the one-sweeping look.
The lady strode closer and held out her hands. “Mister Maxwell? I’m Detective Juliann Bowser. The Captain reviewed your report and extended all resources to you and your case. Can you tell me what I should be looking at?”
“A case of suspicious poisoning,” I replied, shaking her hand. “A few weeks ago, an equipment shed was broken, and the roof was pulled apart.”
Detective Bowser turned to the other two people and introduced them as the forensic team. I had Ben show them where the trough was, and while they went to work, Juliann asked me to show her where the shed was.
I stood to the side as she looked around, her dark blue eyes as sharp as razors. She dipped her hand into her jacket and pulled out a nitrite glove before prodding at the elbow bracket. “Did you report this incident?”
