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The MRI showed major damage to Shane’s lower back. Surgery tomorrow will brace the spine, but the spinal nerve is beyond repair. He’s still struggling to accept that he won’t have the use of his legs. I’ll be here as long as he needs me, or until he goes to rehab.
Tess sighed. Lexie’s absence left the ranch seriously shorthanded. But Lexie was in love, and as sorely as her sister was needed here, Tess knew better than to demand that she make a choice.
“So who’s going to take the bull to the PBR?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know.” Tess knew he was offering, but she remembered Lexie saying how he’d gone off on his own as soon as Whirlwind was unloaded. She needed someone who’d be there full-time for the bull. Ruben was busy with their PRCA contracts, and the boys were too young and inexperienced to go alone.
“Our next PBR event is almost two weeks away,” she said. “It’s in Window Rock. If Lexie isn’t back by then, I’ll take Whirlwind myself.”
Aaron leaned back and propped his feet on an empty chair. His gaze wandered over the bulls in the pasture. “I can’t believe that ornery old bull is just a heap of dirt,” he said. “How did it happen? Did you just find him dead?”
“It happened while you and Lexie were gone. Didn’t I tell you? Somebody poisoned his food.”
“What?” Aaron’s feet swung to the ground as he sat up. “How’d you figure that?”
“From the way he looked. And from the smell. It was rat poison, in a bag of Total Bull that was almost empty. I kept the bag for the police. The inside smells of zinc phosphide—that’s heavy-duty rat poison. The other bulls got food from a fresh bag.”
“Have you called the police?”
“Not yet. I’m hoping to figure out who did it before I call them. Otherwise, they’ll just file a report and forget it.”
“Who the hell would do a thing like that?” Aaron exploded. “Maybe you ought to take a closer look at those boys. Aren’t they the ones who put the food out?”
“Yes, but I can’t imagine it was them. They brought me the bag when I asked, and then they had to dig the grave. It was a miserable job. It took them all day. Why would they bring that on themselves? And why would they poison the feed if they knew they could be the first ones blamed?”
“And it was only the old bull? The others were all right?”
“There was only enough in the bag for one serving of feed. Any one of the bulls could’ve gotten it.”
“Wait a minute,” Callie spoke up. “If there was only one serving left in the bag, the rest of the food had already been eaten. And it was fine. So the poison couldn’t have been there more than a day or so.”
“That’s the explanation that makes the most sense,” Tess said. “There could be others—like the bag came from somewhere else. But the thing that matters most is not letting anything like this happen again. That means stopping the person who’s responsible.”
“Well, if it isn’t the boys, it’s got to be somebody sneaking in from the res—somebody with a grudge against the ranch, or maybe against your dad. There’s nothing to gain by what they’re doing. It’s just plain old meanness.”
Tess sighed. “I’ll have Ruben check again. But he insists that it’s not any of his people.”
“Well, it’s not any of us—and it sure as hell isn’t me. I wasn’t even here.” Aaron handed Callie his empty glass and reached down to scratch one of the dogs.
“What do you think of this, Aaron?” Changing the subject, Tess handed him the letter from the investment company. He gave it a quick scan, holding it at arm’s length to focus his eyes on the small print before handing it back to her.
“It jibes with the letter I got,” he said. “The new outfit wants to buy my property. They offered a fair price and a guarantee that would let me stay in the house and keep my job for at least five years—but only if I want to.”
Tess forced her face to freeze in a calm expression. She could just imagine Brock Tolman’s mind working. Buy the hayfields, buy Aaron’s property, and the next domino to topple would be the Alamo Canyon Ranch.
“So, are you going to accept the offer?” she asked Aaron.
“I’m thinking on it. The money would keep me in style for the rest of my life. And it’s not like I have any kids to leave the place to, like my old man left it to me.” He shrugged. “Why not?”
Yes, why not? Tess asked herself. Aaron had grown up in this mountain valley. His parents had been neighbors to her own, much wealthier grandparents. Aaron and her mother, Isabel, had been childhood playmates. He’d never known a life anywhere else. With money from the sale of his property, he could travel, move away, do whatever he wanted. All he had to do was sell out to the evil empire of Brock Tolman.
“Is that what you came to tell us, Aaron?” she asked.
“You’ve been good neighbors, the closest thing I’ve got to family. I didn’t want to spring this on you after it was a done deal.”
“It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind,” Tess said.
“Pretty much.” He rose from his chair. “So I guess I’ll be headed home. I’ve got dry hayfields to water.”
