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“Sounds great.” Brad grabbed a plate.
Silas had wandered to the row of chairs Aiden had set up in front of the television set. He clearly wanted to avoid her, but she cornered him anyway. “Hi. I didn’t know if you were coming.”
“I told you I’d be here.” He gave her a cool look. “The girls are at Brad’s house, huh?”
So he had heard her entire conversation. She knew she didn’t owe him an explanation, but she offered one anyway. “Yes. Because Callie and Morgan are friends. And I didn’t want them overhearing anything upsetting at this meeting, given what happened on our ride.” Morgan was still having a hard time falling asleep at night.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He smiled a little, but his eyes held distance between them.
“How was Jackson?” Tess wasn’t going to give up that easily. She got that he had a default self-protection mode, but he didn’t have to protect himself from her.
“Fine.” He seemed hell-bent on keeping that detached expression on his face. “I had to pick up groceries and supplies for a job.”
And get away from her. Tess didn’t respond. There was so much to say to him but twenty people were waiting for her to get this meeting started. “Can we talk later? After everyone else leaves?”
“Sure.” His jaw went slack. “But you don’t owe me any explanations, Tess. I don’t know why I said all of those things the other night.”
Because he’d been hurting. And for once he’d let someone see his real feelings. “You have nothing to apologize for,” she told him. Glancing around, she realized that most everyone had taken their seats. “We’ll talk later. Promise me you’ll stay after the meeting.”
“I promise.” He took a seat near the corner, and she turned to make her way through the crowd.
Inhaling deeply, Tess moved in front of the window with all eyes on her. “Thank you all for coming tonight. I’m going to get started, but feel free to go help yourselves to snacks and drinks in the kitchen if you haven’t already.”
Her front door opened, causing a brief interruption. Natalie hurried inside. “Sorry I’m late.” She slid into a chair in the back row. “Don’t mind me. Carry on.”
“Thanks for coming.” Tess appreciated the chief’s support. “Okay, as I said in the email, there’s been another incident with the horses.” As quickly and efficiently as possible, Tess detailed what had happened when she and Morgan had been up riding in the high meadow.
“You two could’ve been hit,” Minnie called out in horror.
“It’s time to find these jerks,” Louie added. “We can’t have them terrorizing people like that. Hell, I’ll go up there and find them myself.”
Murmurs of agreement made the rounds.
Tess waited for the noise to settle. “We do have a little more information than we did before. There appeared to be three men riding in a white UTV with a purple stripe. We don’t have much to go on at this point, but we have to assume they’re familiar with the area. Because, from what we’ve observed, they’re not crossing the border onto our property.” And there were no fences up there. If they were hunters or campers from out of town, they wouldn’t know where the public land stopped and hers started.
“It has to be Darrell,” Thatch said. “Or Ford.” The man turned around in his chair to look at Natalie. “Can’t you go question them or something?”
“Yeah. Go see if one o’ them are hidin’ that UTV on their property,” Louie added.
“I can’t do that.” The chief stood to address the whole room. “I know everyone suspects Darrell and Ford, but there’s no evidence. I can’t show up at their properties and start interrogating them. Things don’t work like that.”
“Well, what if we question them?” Silas asked.
“I can’t tell you not to.” The chief sat back down. “But nobody do anything stupid. If you see something—if you find something—you call me right away.”
“Besides, we don’t even know if Ford and Darrell are responsible.” Tess took the floor back. While those two men were exactly where her suspicions rested too, there wasn’t much point in public accusations without evidence. “We can all keep our eyes open. Watch for a vehicle of that description when you’re out on the trails.”
“We’ll watch for it, all right,” Doris Gatlin called. Doris was one of Minnie’s best friends and a part of the Ladies Aid Society that fed and took care of pretty much everyone in town. “We’ll find these dirtbags together.”
“Hear! Hear!” Minnie cheered.
“Yes. We’ll all pitch in to find them together.” Tess grinned at the older ladies in the group. They’d always been fearless, thanks to growing up in the backwoods of Wyoming. “And I do think we’re close. And we’re thankful for Chief Holbrook here who’s doing her best to get someone up there a few times a week. And our citizen patrols can help to fill in the gaps.”
“How often do you want the patrols to run?” Minnie asked.
“Good question.” They couldn’t have eyes on the meadow 24-7. “If we have enough people sign up, we’d like to see someone ride up in the morning and late afternoon.” If everyone sitting in the room signed up, they’d have no problem watching out for the horses for the next few weeks.
“I have a sign-up sheet with the days and times set out by the snacks in the kitchen. Feel free to put yourself down for as many shifts as you’d like to take.” She glanced in Silas’s direction and resisted the temptation to let her gaze linger. “And if you do happen to see the UTV while out on patrol, don’t approach them on your own.” They didn’t need anyone else getting into a wreck or taking a stray bullet.
