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“He’ll stay here and help Mercy and PeeWee,” I said, knowing I was right, even though I hated it. “I’ll let him know.”
Jed started for the barns to fill the others in while I went looking for Richard. I knew he’d planned on mowing when he’d finished mucking the stalls, but the mower was still parked in its usual spot.
I popped my head into the kitchen, where Norma was already packing up a couple of coolers for us to take with us. “You seen Richard?”
She shook her head. “Not for a while. I saw him on the path down to the pasture creek earlier. Looked like he was on the phone.”
I knew the spot she was talking about. It was the same general direction as Mob Creek, which meant I could find him on our way out.
“Thanks,” I told her, grabbing one of the coolers and heading over to where Tyler waited by Victory and Branson, who were already saddled.
Except when we reached the bench by the pasture creek, Richard wasn’t there. I bit back a curse and turned in my saddle to look back toward the ranch buildings. I tented a hand over my eyes, trying to catch sight of Richard mowing the lawn or turning the compost pile, but I was too far away, and I knew it was more likely that PeeWee or Mercy had pulled him off his regular duties to help them out.
For a moment, I considered leaving Tyler and riding back just to find Richard and say goodbye. I had to remind myself I was only going to be gone a day, hopefully overnight at the longest. I could handle being away from Richard that long.
Besides, being gone would just make coming home to him all that much sweeter.
Unfortunately, once we finally found the fence break, we discovered it was worse than expected. A huge swath of wire lay cut and mangled on the ground, leaving a gap about ten feet across. The ground around it was churned from all the cattle that had made their way free.
Tyler stared at the mess with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen a break that bad.”
I dismounted, taking a closer look at where the wire had been split. It was obvious from the crimping at the ends that it had been cut. “No shit. That’s because it was intentional.”
His jaw dropped. “Someone did this on purpose?”
I nodded.
“But who would…” His voice trailed off when he caught sight of the expression on my face. I only knew of one man who hated me enough to do something like this. Walt Hosser.
“You think it was my dad,” he said simply.
I didn’t answer him. Walt Hosser was an asshole and a bully, but he was still the boy’s father. My silence, however, was answer enough. Tyler frowned as he dismounted to help me work on the fence.
“You think it has anything to do with me coming to work for you?” It was obvious by the set of his shoulders how terrible he felt about what his father might have done.
“Even if it was your father, you’re not responsible for his actions,” I told him.
“But if this is because of me—”
I cut him off. “This has nothing to do with you. Walt took issue with me long before I hired you on. He can hire all the hands he wants, and cut my fence to ribbons, and throw a lawsuit at me for poisoning his herd, but if he thinks that’s somehow going to intimidate me or run me off, he’s more wrongheaded than I thought.”
Tyler’s lips twitched into a smile. “He can be pretty wrongheaded sometimes.”
“Had to be to run you off.”
Tyler frowned. “Wait, did you say something about a lawsuit?”
I shrugged. “It’s all the same bullshit as before when he came out here claiming I poisoned one of his ponds and killed his best breeding stock.”
His jaw dropped. “He’s actually suing you? Why? There’s no way he can win. You’d never do anything like that and everyone knows it.”
“I appreciate you saying that, and it’s true. But it’s nothing you need to worry about. The lawyers will sort it all out.”
Tyler still looked concerned. “Did his lawsuit mention the name of the pond he’s claiming you poisoned?”
I waved a hand. “Somewhere nearby,” I told him. “I was out this way a couple weeks back with Richard, looking for a few heifers. He’s claiming I did it then.” I swung myself back up onto Victory’s back. “Now, let’s get a count on what’s left of the herd so we know how many head we’re looking for.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about my dad,” Tyler said as we started toward a group of cows grazing in the distance.
“Don’t let him take up too much real estate in your head,” I told him. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
