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“I will. Thank you, Justin.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dylan didn’t know what was going on, but if Travis had something to do with this, she would see his ass go back to prison. She knew it was none of her workers. They’d been here for years. Justin was almost fifty years old, and she knew he would never do something like that. He and CeCe had been working here since day one. Sure, it happened where some employees stole but not hers. She’d bet the ranch on it.
After saddling a horse for Alex, she sat on a stack of hay bales to wait for him. She was going with him whether he wanted her to or not.
****
Alex stopped the truck beside the barn, stepped out, and entered it. He let his eyes adjust, then strolled down the aisle. He saw two horses saddled and knew she didn’t plan on letting him go alone. Damn hardhead.
“Agent Reeves.”
He turned to see her walking toward him. She was a very beautiful woman, but he was here to do a job.
“Ms. Walters. Which horse can I ride?”
“The black one.Canyou ride? He’s a little spirited, but the others are out.”
Alex stared at her. “I’ve been on a horse a time or two.”
“Good. Let’s go.” She walked to the other horse, mounted, and raised her eyebrow at him.
He bit his lip to keep from grinning. He’d been on horses since he wore diapers. His father always had him on a horse. It seemed that Dylan Walters thought since he worked out of an office, he couldn’t ride. He was about to show her differently. He strode to the horse, grabbed the saddle horn, and vaulted into the saddle without touching the stirrups, then looked at her and raised his eyebrow.
She lifted her chin, rode past him, and out of the barn. He chuckled. He was right about her being stubborn, he just didn’t realizehowstubborn. As he followed behind her, the snow picked up, and soon he had trouble seeing, but the horse walked behind hers. When she reined her horse to a stop and dismounted, he did the same. Then he walked along the fence, pulling the horse behind him.
When he saw the section down, he knew it had been cut, not broken.
“Someone cut this,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“Because if it had broken, it wouldn’t be next to the post, and the post would probably be down. When a wire like this is broken, it can snap back and cut you. I believe someone cut it and made sure it stayed stretched out. Possibly so no one would notice. When was the last time it was checked?”
“Yesterday. I talked to my manager a while ago.”
“How many workers do you have?”
“Five, plus the manager. I don’t need a lot of employees to take care of four bulls. Well, three now.”
Alex nodded. He was sure her ex-husband had something to do with this. He could be wrong, he had been before, but it was too much of a coincidence for him to be close to Clifton and all of this was going on.
He removed his phone from his pocket and snapped photos, then put the phone inside his coat pocket, and mounted the horse.
“I’ll investigate other cases that could be similar to this one. Could you have a couple of your workers check here overnight? I believe the fence was cut so they could get the bulls quickly and get going.”
“So they wouldn’t have to waste time cutting the fence when they got here. Makes sense.”
“The faster they can be, the better it is for them. Don’t repair this. If they’re around, they could check to see if you fix it. If you don’t, they might have the false hope that no one noticed, and they can get in and out quickly.”
“I hate this.”
“This colder weather probably won’t stop them.”
“I wouldn’t want to sit out in the cold, just waiting for an opportunity.”
“Most of us wouldn’t, but they have a different agenda.” He mounted the horse and looked at her. “I’ll head back to the office and see what I can find. Is it all right if I call you later if I find something?”
