Next morning Jamie woke to rain pattering on the windows. Dressed, she found her father in the kitchen muttering to himself.
“If I’d wanted wet feet I would have moved to Canada,” he moaned.
“We need the rain, dad,” she said.
“We need the sun too,” he said.
Jesse arrived just after breakfast and they set about making plans for the day. The cattle had all made it through the night, but they needed the feed taken up to them. Jamie and Jesse were just pulling their ponchos on to go and take care of that when there was a knock on the front door.
Her father went to open it.
“Okay, well hopefully we won’t get too wet,” Jamie smiled up at Jesse who planted a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
“You know I am an adult,” she said, “You won’t be the first man my father has had to watch me kiss.”
Jesse pretended to be shocked, “I’m not the first?”
She looked at him.
“No really, I’m just a little old fashioned about that sort of thing,” Jesse said. “I feel I should write a letter stating my intensions or something.”
“And those are?” she asked coyly.
“Well,” Jesse said pulling her towards him.
Just then Ander came storming into the kitchen.
“Jamie!” he yelled.
Jesse and Jamie jumped apart like two teens caught making out under the bleachers.
Recovering slightly Jamie turned to her father. “Dad?” she asked.
He was angry, his face flushed, his nostrils flaring. “What is the meaning of this?”
He shoved a sheaf of paper in front of her face.
Jamie took it looking blank. She had no idea what he was handing her. She looked down at the paper in her hands. It was the accounts.
“Dad?” she said. “These are the accounts aren’t they?”
“How could you do this?”
“Do what?”
“I knew you blamed me for what happened…but sabotage?”
Jamie felt her knees go weak. She stumbled to the table and sat down. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s just too much!” her father roared. “Joe, please. You deal with her. I’m not sure I can control myself. My own flesh and blood!” he stormed out of the room revealing a small man, grey haired and bespectacled who stood clutching a brief case to his chest.
“Hello, Jamie,” he said sitting opposite her.
Jamie stared at him. “Joe,” she said tears building in the back of her throat. “What is going on?”
Jesse was next to her taking her hand. “You want me to stay?”
She shook her head. “The cattle need to be fed,” she said, “take my dad’s truck, it’s all loaded.”
She gave Jesse the keys. He looked at her, his concern etched on his face. She tried to smile but couldn’t.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised and left.
“Right,” Jamie said taking a deep breath and letting it out. Her hands were shaking. “Now tell me what’s going on here.”
Joe was a very conscientious man. He laid out the facts in front of Jamie in a methodical manner. He walked her through each transaction, through everything step by step. He showed her where the figures almost added up, but didn’t. It was amazing. Jamie could see that. Someone, had gone to great pains to make mistakes, deliberate mistakes, adding things up incorrectly. They had placed orders for all sorts of supplies, adding in things here and there that then never got delivered. Jamie knew she’d been working hard lately, but she would never have gotten things this wrong. Could it all be just some misunderstanding? But as Joe kept on and on, showing her were things were disappearing and coming up short, where a dollar here and a dollar there were missing, Jamie couldn’t think it was a mistake. There were misfiled items, things in the wrong column and Joe had followed the track all the way. As it dawned on Jamie she went cold.
“I didn’t do this,” she said, hardly able to say the words. “You can’t be serious?”
Her father had joined them halfway through Joe’s explanation and he sat silent and sullen across from her.
“Dad I would never steal from you! You raised me better than that!” Jamie said hotly. “You have to believe me. I love you and the farm. I want to see it back like it was, when mom and Andrew were alive, and things were great. Dad please you have to believe me. There is no way I could do anything like this.”
“All the evidence points to you, dear,” Joe said sadly. “Deposits made to online accounts opened in your name.”
Jamie sat sadly, feeling the tears run down her cheeks.
“Just be honest,” her father said. “I can handle the theft, but the lying? That I won’t tolerate.”
“I am being honest!” Jamie said suddenly angry. “I have always been honest with you, dad!”
She stood up. “We’re done here!”
The boom shook the windows.
Jamie was shocked. They all looked from one to the other, none knowing what to say or where the deafening sound had come from.
Oliver came running into the room. “Uncle Ander!” He stopped short when he saw Jamie, his mouth open. He stammered looking like a fish on land gasping for breath.
“What is it Oliver?” Ander asked on his feet too.
“I think, umm…” he trailed off.
“Oh no!” Jamie said and ran for the back door, throwing it open. She ran out into the rain. It couldn’t be. Not again, not someone she cared about.
The rain was pouring down and Jamie ran around the side of the house. She pelted up the rise towards the field where the cattle were standing in the downpour. She ran and ran, the mud sticking to her boots. She slipped and slid along, drenched and dirty, but she had to get to him. She had to make sure that Jesse was okay. She got up to the field but she couldn’t see him. Her father’s truck wasn’t there. She checked the feed trough. It was full, the cattle happily munching.
She looked around.
Another boom, this time closer and she ran in that direction. This path took her downhill. She slid through the mud on her way down a steep embankment, and she saw the taillights of the truck gleaming red in the rain. The truck had overturned and somehow it was on fire.
“Jesse!” she yelled, running and sliding down the muddy track towards the stricken vehicle. He couldn’t be dead, oh please not dead! She reached the truck and peered inside. He was still belted into the driver’s seat. She didn’t know what to do. The whole under carriage of the truck was a flame.
Jamie, on her hands and knees, crawled into the cabin of the truck through the broken passenger side window. She grabbed the seatbelt mechanism and pushed the button. She pushed it again, but the belt was jammed, pulled tight around Jesse. It was stuck. She began to cry in frustration, trying to free him.
“Here take this.”
Jamie turned and saw her father there in the mud on his hands and knees with her. He was holding out his pocket knife. She took it and began to cut the strap. The truck gave a shudder.
“Hurry girl!” her father said, fear in his eyes.
Jamie’s fingers were numb and wet, the knife kept slipping, but she kept on.
“It’s going to blow!” her father cried and with one heave, pulled her out by her legs.
“No! Dad! He’ll die!” she screamed but her father dragged her out and away from the truck. Then he went around to the driver’s side and reached in to the cabin. He pulled and the truck exploded.