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Thatch closed up his rifle case. “You’re thinking Darrell, Ford, and Paul are in on it together?”
“It would make sense, right?” Silas stashed his headphones and goggles into his bag and disassembled his rifle. “When Tess and I confronted Darrell, he didn’t deny anything.” In fact, the man had displayed a kind of weird pride about the whole thing. “And if Ford and Paul are palling around together, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re in agreement about the horses being a nuisance.”
Thatch gave the men to their left another surreptitious look. “We can’t go over there and accuse them of anything. You said yourself Darrell wouldn’t give you any information.”
“No. We can’t accuse them.” Silas packed up his rifle case and they walked out of the station. “But now would be the perfect time to take a drive over to Ford’s property and take a look around.” The man had lived alone since his wife had passed away two years ago. “We could at least try to look in the windows of his garage or something, see if he has a white UTV.”
“I guess.” Thatch followed him past the trailer at the entrance. “I mean, I was going to spend my afternoon getting thrown off a bronc. But whatever.”
“Come on.” Silas unlocked his truck. “I need to figure out who’s behind these shootings before I head out of town. So Tess and the girls don’t have to worry when they want to go out for a ride on their property.”
“Fine.” His friend opened the driver’s side door of his truck. “But you know you won’t be going out of town to work for Fletch if you get us arrested, right?”
“We’re not gonna get arrested.” Silas secured the gun case into the back seat. “We’ll be quick. Those two will probably be here for at least an hour. Trust me. They need the practice. They’re terrible shots.” Legacy was living proof of their inabilities. He climbed in behind the wheel. “I’ll meet you at Ford’s place.”
“Yep.” His friend pulled himself into the driver’s seat. “But if Natalie finds us snooping around up there, I’m blaming you.”
“I’m good with that,” Silas told him through the window. “With any luck, we’ll find that UTV and she’ll be able to bust them instead.” He peeled out with his friend close on his tail, both sets of wheels skidding on the gravel road. Silas slowed down through town—it wouldn’t do for Natalie to catch them speeding before they even got to Ford’s place.
Silas pulled over to the side of the road before he reached the man’s driveway and eased his truck into a stand of trees out of sight.
Thatch parked behind him. “You do realize that Ford will be coming back with his gun from the shooting range, right?”
“He’s not going to shoot at us.” And if he did, it wouldn’t be their first time dodging bullets together. “We’ll make this quick.” Silas led the way across the street, and they moved swiftly down Ford’s dirt driveway. There was one barn and two smaller shed-type outbuildings behind the log house. “You take the north; I’ll take the south.”
“Ten-four.” Thatch gave him a smart-ass salute before trotting to the smaller of the two buildings.
Silas walked the perimeter of the larger shed before finding a high window in the back. He dragged over a trash can and climbed on top to see in. A John Deere tractor was parked in the middle of a mess of lawn equipment—leaf blowers and rakes and shovels. Most of the stuff looked like it hadn’t been touched in a few years.
“See anything?” Thatch called from the other shed.
“Nah.” Silas climbed back down. “What about you?”
His friend crossed the grass. “There are two UTVs in there, but neither one of them is white. So maybe the white UTV belongs to the Klines.”
“I can’t imagine.” Silas scanned the driveway to make sure they were clear before they walked out into the open. “Brad was at Tess’s house for the meeting. She asked if anyone had seen a white UTV. Surely he would’ve said something if he owned one.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want to get in trouble with the law.” Thatch turned his gaze to the road. “Shit, isn’t that Ford’s truck coming?”
“It would appear so.” Silas shared a pained look with Thatch and then they both took off running through the field, ducking down in the tall grasses so they wouldn’t be seen.
“You might be a better shot but I’m a faster runner,” his friend yelled.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Silas let him win the race back to their trucks. They leaned against Thatch’s tailgate, both out of breath. “You think he saw us?” his friend asked.
“Let’s hope not.” Or they’d be asking for trouble.
Silas climbed out of the truck and took Willow’s gift from the back seat, inspecting his wrapping job yet again.
The technique was a little rough around the edges but after four attempts, nearly a whole roll of tape, and two YouTube videos, he’d managed to at least get most of the wrinkles out of the brightly colored butterfly wrapping paper. At least he wouldn’t be embarrassed to give it to her now. He couldn’t wait to see her face when she opened it.
He’d bought the best art set he could find—with all of the supplies stored in a nice wooden case. Hopefully she’d love it.
Before he started up the porch steps, the front door swung open. “Silas!” Willow bounded to him. “You’re the first one here for my party!”
“I am?” He pretended to be surprised, but his early arrival had been by design. He wanted to make sure he was around to help Tess with any setup or prep she needed to do.
“Ohhhh.” The girl inspected the gift he was carrying. “Is this for me?”
