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“This is a common occurrence?”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “It didn’t used to be.”
Well, there went her suggestion that the person of interest could be a rival member of another ranch. It also destroyed the possibility of a bunch of hoodlum teenagers wreaking havoc on a dare. “You really think the person doing this is one of the people who work for you?”
“It has to be, right?” Eli shook his head again. “Nothing else makes sense.”
“Have you recently hired others—more than just Grant?”
The cowboy nodded. “Sure, but most of my new hires were before my niece got married. We’ve been slowly adding to the staff around here.”
“And you don’t think one of them has finally gotten comfortable enough with the routine to be capable of vandalizing your property? Have you fired anyone recently? Maybe someone is sour over losing their job and they still know their way around here.”
He shook his head as they made it to the pasture. “No one has been fired. I don’t know on that other thought. I suppose it’s possible.”
He yanked open the gate and before he could shut it, she held up a hand.
“Let me help. I’m good with animals.”
Eli scrutinized her for a moment. “I didn’t realize that your promise to protect and serve extended to cattle.”
Her lips quirked upward into a smile. “I like to think of it as going above and beyond in the line of duty.” Bella shoved her notebook into her pocket and hurried into the pasture.
It didn’t take much effort. When Eli whistled, most of the more well-behaved dogs came running. After that, there was only one smaller pup who continued yapping and bouncing around. Eli ended up needing to scoop the dog up and stick him under his arm.
When his eyes met Bella’s, he muttered, “We just got this one. Haven’t had the chance to train it like we prefer.”
“Are all of your dogs trained?”
He nodded. “That’s the weird part. Most of these animals wouldn’t do this. It would take something special to get them this worked up.”
Bella retrieved her notebook again as they headed toward the front of the property. “I’ll do some research and try to figure out what could cause something like that.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“Mr. Reese, part of figuring out who has been doing all of this is nailing down the how and the why. If I can find out why the dogs are going nuts, then I might be able to narrow down who has the ability to make it happen.”
Eli appraised her with what could only be admiration. “I was only referring to the fact that we don’t exactly have any detectives around here. I thought your job description precluded you from?—”
She waved at him dismissively and shoved the notebook away once more. “I don’t mind. Rocky Ridge is a sleepy town, and this is the most interesting thing that has happened since I’ve gotten here.”
“You should have moved here sooner. You would have been intrigued with what went down at Twisted Rivers Ranch.” He tilted his head slightly. “Come to think of it, they had some vandalism out there during that time, too. But it’s definitely not connected.”
The sound of a truck pulling up drew their attention and Bella glanced toward the intrusion. Grant’s truck, complete with the Tennessee plates, was sparkling clean. There wasn’t a speck of dust or mud on the entire thing.
Tempted to tell him he’d broken the rules by not following her straight here, she ultimately had to let it drop. At least the vehicle was clean and safer to drive at night.
Eli touched her arm. “I’m going to head back to work.” He glanced toward Grant and back to her. “Thanks for your help.”
Bella swung her eyes over to the truck just as Grant got out. If he’d been busy washing his truck, then he wouldn’t have been able to let the dogs out. It didn’t give him an alibi for the other vandalism, but hopefully the more digging she did, the less guilty he’d look.
CHAPTER FIVE
Grant’s eyes homed in on the officer right away. Their eyes locked, and for a moment, he thought there was a spark. That was ridiculous. She’d already rubbed him the wrong way with all her bossy demands. And she could barely stand him. This strange feeling that he should ask her out was so far in left field that he needed to bury it before it caused any problems.
Lately, he’d been a little too impulsive—and that needed to stop.
“Where were you?” Bo Reese materialized beside him, looking agitated.
