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“But what is it?” I asked, blinking hard to fight back the tears that were welling up. Rebel had been around nearly my whole life, for as long as I could remember, anyway. I had so many happy memories with her—memories that were also tied to my parents. Losing her now would just be another link to the past that I didn’t have anymore. “Why can’t she get up?”
“It looks like poison,” Logan said, frowning. “And it seems to have traveled very quickly through her bloodstream. I’ve given her some medication that will hopefully neutralize the poison, but there isn’t much we can do for her right now besides wait here and watch her carefully.”
“Poison?” Uncle Justin asked. “But wouldn’t the other horses be sick, too, if it was something in their food?”
I looked around the stables at the other horses. Most of them were staring right back at me, perfectly alert and curious about all the commotion we’d caused this morning. None of them seemed to have any of the same scary symptoms as my poor Rebel.
“They would almost definitely be showing signs of the poison if that was the case,” Logan said, nodding. “But I don’t think this was a case of something accidentally getting mixed in with their grain.”
I could tell from the expression on my uncle’s face that he was just as confused as I was. I didn’t doubt that Logan knew what he was talking about—he’d been a perfectly good veterinarian up to this point, at least. But he wasn’t making any sense.
“You’re saying someone poisoned this horse intentionally?” Boone asked, making my stomach automatically clench at the thought. “That it wasn’t an accident at all?”
Logan nodded as he stood back up from tending to Rebel. “I don’t see how it could have been anything but an intentional act. And you said you saw someone here earlier, right?”
“We didn’t actually see the person—” Cade started to answer.
“But we saw enough to know someone was here,” Boone finished. “Headlights out the window and tire tracks in the mud. Whoever it was didn’t put much thought into covering their tracks.”
Logan only nodded as he looked back and forth from Cade to Boone. “Well, it’s pretty obvious someone was here. Seems like they might have wanted you to know.”
“Why would someone want to get caught poisoning our horses?” Uncle Justin asked. “That doesn’t make any damn sense.”
None of it made sense to me, but I was glad he was at least giving a voice to the anger I could feel bubbling up inside me. It was bad enough to know that someone had come here to trespass on our property in the middle of the night, but to intentionally hurt our animals? It was too much. What kind of horrible person went after an animal like that?
“I’m not saying the person was trying to get caught…” Logan shrugged. “I honestly don’t know why someone would do any of this, except maybe to send a message. Or to get back at you for something you’ve done, maybe? Can you think of anyone around here who would have a reason to be upset with you?”
Uncle Justin shot me a quick glance, and I wondered if we both happened to be thinking of the same person. But that didn’t make sense, either. Nora Statler might be a mean, ruthless woman, but to come out here and break into our stables? To poison our horses? It wasn’t that I’d totally put it past her, it was just… that wasn’t her style.
“Nobody who would do something like this,” Uncle Justin said, gesturing toward Rebel. So he felt the same way about Nora. Good. At least that meant I could probably trust my instincts on that one. “But you’re right that it seems very deliberate. Whoever it was, they had a purpose in doing this.”
“And you didn’t find anything else?” Logan asked. “No other animals on the ranch that are acting sick or injured?”
The four of us looked at each other, then back to the vet. “We haven’t really had time to do a thorough check,” Boone confessed.
“We came out here to the stables first,” Cade added. “Then we called you immediately once we realized something was wrong with the mare.”
My uncle gave a curt nod, then stepped back out of the stall as he spoke to Logan. “I’m going to go check on the cattle. If that bastard did anything else, we’re better off knowing about it while you’re still here to help.”
“We’ll go with you,” Boone said, already moving along with Cade.
The three of them paused, then turned to face me as if the same thought had struck them all at once.
“I’m staying here with Rebel,” I said, guessing they would have probably rather seen me go back up to the house where it was supposedly safe.
It hadn’t been that safe last night, though. Not when some kind of horrible animal poisoner had been right there under our noses.
“I’ll stay as well,” Logan said. “At least until I can say for sure whether Rebel will be okay.”
The other guys nodded and headed for the door. I smiled at Logan. “Thank you so much for staying,” I said. “And for coming out here so soon. I know how busy you must be, so I really appreciate it.”
He reached out to squeeze my shoulder. “I’m just glad I got here in time. I hate to think of what could have happened.” His hand lingered a few more moments before he took it away and his expression hardened a little. “I’m sure you were in good hands with Cade and Boone, though. I didn’t realize they were friends of your uncle’s. Do they come here often?”
I blinked as I tried to take in everything he’d just said. First, I felt a little weird that his hand had lingered on my shoulder for just a little longer than what felt normal for a veterinarian and a client. Which was probably just me being jittery, right? It had been a super stressful morning, after all. And then the weird look when he’d asked about Cade and Boone…
“I didn’t realize you knew them that well,” I said, deliberately avoiding his question. I was sure he didn’t mean anything by it, but I didn’t care to invite even more questions by telling him that Cade and Boone were here because I’d invited them. It really didn’t have anything to do with my uncle.
And I sure didn’t think it was any of his business to know how often they may or may not have visited. Not that they ever did visit, but still. That was between me and the two of them.
