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“I did, indeed.” He set the hamper on the ground and began to unload it, passing the dishes to Jessy. “This time I decided to bring a sampling of traditional British fare, including shepherd’s pie and some bangers.”
“Bangers? What on earth is that?”
“I imagine the American equivalent would be a frankfurter.”
“They should be a hit with the children,” Jessy murmured absently, momentarily distracted by the sight of Chase and Hattie drifting toward the grill area.
“The man with Jessy, the one in shorts”—Hattie stole a glance at the pair, being careful not to stare—“is that Markham?”
“That’s him,” Chase confirmed without bothering to look.
“Laredo definitely won’t have any trouble keeping track of him in that outfit. He stands out like a stalk of corn in a cotton patch,” Hattie observed.
Chase laughed low in his throat. “He does that.” She sighed heavily. “I’ll be glad when this is over.”
He saw the worry in her eyes. He started to tell her that everything would work out fine, but Hattie wasn’t a woman to be taken in by empty assurances. She knew as well as he did that life came with no guarantees.
Instead Chase took her arm and steered her toward the grill, keeping upwind of the smoke. “The steaks smell good, don’t they?”
Catching his remark, Stumpy Niles turned. “Better pick yourself one, boss. We haven’t got ear tags to mark it, but we can burn your brand on it with a running iron.”
Chase froze, not hearing anything after “ear tags.” There was an almost audible click in his head, unlocking the door to a whole roomful of memories.
“Are you all right, boss?” Stumpy asked, worried by Chase’s sightless stare.
Chase blinked, and waited, but all of it was still there. “I’m fine, Stumpy.” His smile was as cool as the determined gleam in his eyes.
“Did you want to pick out a steak?”
“No need. It’s Calder beef. There isn’t a bad one in the bunch.” The remark drew grins of pride from the cowboys manning the grill, but Chase didn’t stick around to chat with them. Instead he moved away, his gaze scanning the throng until he located Laredo.
“You remembered something, didn’t you?” Hattie guessed.
“The one damned thing that has eluded me all this time.” Raising a hand, he motioned for Laredo to join him.
“Do you see Logan?”
“No.” But Hattie started looking for him.
“What did you need, Chase?” Laredo halted beside him and kept his eye on Markham, who was still by the food tables talking to Jessy.
“I think I just remembered what this is all about,” Chase told him. “When I was checking on Markham for George Seymour, I had two different people tell me they owned the same pen of cattle. Markham had brokered the deal for both of them. There was a folder in the rental car that had a list of ear tags. The banker in Texas had made the loan on one of the deals. I wanted to check my list against the one he had been given as proof of collateral to see if th
ey matched. I wanted to be certain of my facts before I confronted Markham.”
“And he caught wind of it somehow,” Laredo surmised. “Sounds like a helluva scam—selling the same cattle to two different parties.”
“My guess is this wasn’t the first time,” Chase said. “More than likely it’s some sort of pyramid deal. A Ponzi scheme, I think they call it.”
“Ponzi.” A laugh gurgled from Hattie’s throat. “That’s the word you were trying to remember. Not Carlo Ponti.”
Laredo frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Still smiling, Hattie shook her head, dismissing the subject. “Nothing important, just a private conversation between Duke and me.”
He took her word for it. “Better track down Logan and tell him what you remember,” he said to Chase, his attention once again directed at Markham. “There he goes,” he observed, already shifting into action. “Looks like he’s headed back to his Range Rover. I’ll tag along to be sure. Go find Logan,” he said again and moved off.
Careful to stay well behind Markham, Laredo set a course that angled in a slightly different direction yet kept Markham in his range of vision. He made a quick scan of the vehicles, trying to spot where Markham had parked. As late as Markham had arrived, Laredo doubted he had found a place close to the barbecue site. More than likely it was somewhere in the ranch yard.
