Chapter 18
Colt
I couldn’t stop pacing around the kitchen while I waited anxiously for Rick to call back with good news. Cheyenne sat at the breakfast bar with her head in her hands. Her shoulders trembled in silent sobs. A part of me wanted to reach out to console her, but I couldn’t contain the anger brewing inside of me.
The minutes stretched on into hours. Thunder boomed in the distance again. The storm was refusing to let up no matter how hard I prayed that it would. Rain poured down from the gray clouds. The evening hours were approaching fast, and I couldn’t afford to wait any longer.
“I’m going to go look for the horses,” I said.
Cheyenne looked up from the mug of tea she had made herself while waiting next to phone on the kitchen counter. “If you’re going, then I’m going to go look too. They are my rescues after all.”
“Someone needs to stay here in case Rick calls.”
“He hasn’t called for the past two hours, Colt. I think that’s a sign that he hasn’t found them.”
Headlights filled the living room window. I glanced out to find that it was Tiffany hobbling towards the front door on her crutches as fast as possible. She was drenched, even with a raincoat, and looked utterly miserable when she made her way slowly into the mudroom.
“This storm isn’t letting up,” Tiffany grumbled, balancing on one foot as she shrugged out of her rain jacket. “It’s been raining all morning. Can you all tell me why Rick is driving around town—”
She stopped talking when she took in Cheyenne’s tear-streaked face. She glanced over at me sharply.
“What’s going on?”
“Someone lit a firework in the barn,” I said. “They left the back door open, so some of Cheyenne’s horses are out in the storm.”
Tiffany’s eyes widened in horror. She clasped a hand over her mouth, turning to look at Cheyenne, who nodded.
“How do you know it was a firework?” she asked.
“We found the evidence on the ground. Rick is out looking for the horses now.”
“I’m going to go look,” Cheyenne announced, turning away from the living room window with a determined glint in her eye. “I can’t sit around and wait any longer. Those horses are my responsibility.”
“I’m not comfortable with you going out there alone,” I said firmly. “I’ll go look for the horse with the trailer.”
Cheyenne shook her head at me. “She won’t come to you. Not in this storm.”
“Cheyenne—”
I couldn’t bear the thought of Cheyenne out there in the storm with a spooked horse, but I had no idea if the person who had lit the firework was a harmless prankster or something different. I didn’t want to risk it either way.
“Whoever lit the firework might be out there,” I said. “I don’t know if it was a harmless prank, or if they had other intentions, but I don’t want you going out there alone.”
“I have to agree with Colt on this,” Tiffany added, frowning. “Whoever put the firework in there probably put the black widows in there too. Even the exterminator was confused by the amount of spiders you all found.”
“Which is why I need to find the horse,” Cheyenne argued hotly. Her cheeks were red with distress as she looked up at me pleadingly. “Please, Colt. Whoever is doing this is trying to hurt my horses because they know it’ll hurt me.”
I opened my mouth to reply but felt my cell phone buzz from inside the pocket of my flannel shirt. I pulled it out to look down, expecting Rick’s number, but it was Michael’s landline.
“Is it Rick?” Cheyenne asked anxiously. “Please tell me it’s him, and that he found the horse.”
“It’s Michael,” I said. “He might be calling for something important, so let me grab this real quick.”
I stepped outside to face the chilly and wet afternoon. I huddled underneath the lip of the roof for protection against the cold rain as I answered.
“There’s a horse in my pasture,” Michael said. “The storm must’ve spooked it over here to my property. It doesn’t look like one of your horses though, Colt. That’s why I am calling.”
Relief surged through me.
“It’s Cheyenne’s rescue,” I said, leaning up against the side of the house with a sigh. “She has been keeping the horses here while her barn is being rebuilt. I’m glad it wandered onto your property—not Bill’s.”
“Bill would’ve shot it in a heartbeat,” Michael said grimly. “I never liked how he treated his horses, so tell Cheyenne that I have the horse in my barn for safekeeping. I managed to get it in the barn. It’s a bit spooked and anxious.”
I rubbed my face in aggravation. I didn’t want to get into the details of what was happening around my ranch, but if there was a prankster running around with fireworks, then Michael had a right to know. He treated all his horses and livestock with compassion and tender care.
“I’m not sure if there is a prankster running about,” I started, “but someone opened the barn doors here. They also lit a firework in the barn with the horses.”
“A firework in the barn?” Michael repeated skeptically. “Are you sure it was a firework, Colt?”
“I found the leftovers of the firework on the ground.”
“Well, shit. No wonder the poor horse is spooked out of his mind. The damn kids around Green Point these days keep getting into trouble.”
“What sort of trouble?” I asked.
“Anything you can imagine. They were on my property a few weeks ago shooting at my chickens for fun. An unruly group of spoiled little brats.”
“Let me guess,” I said darkly. “The sheriff hasn’t been able to find this group of pranksters.”
Michael laughed humorlessly into the phone. “Oh, your friend Peter has found them. I forgot to mention that one of the teenagers is Bill Coates’s nephew.”
“Peter’s hands are tied because Robert is his boss,” I remarked, staring across the wet pasture. Anger brewed inside of me. “This town has gone crooked, Michael. First Cheyenne’s barn, and now I’m dealing with kids spooking the horses with pranks. What else will happen?”
“I don’t know,” Michael said. “This town has been crooked for a while. I’d have that ranch hand of yours keep an eye out over your barn. Who knows what else could happen.”
“Thanks, Michael. We will be down there with a horse trailer.”
“I’ll keep the gate unlocked.”
Cheyenne rushed up to me the second that I stepped into the kitchen. She grasped the sleeve of my shirt tightly. Her eyes were wet with tears.
“Please tell me that you know where my horse is,” she said, voice quivering with emotion.
“He wandered over to Michael’s property,” I said.
A relieved breath escaped Cheyenne’s lips as she turned to look at Tiffany sitting on the edge of the couch. “He went to Michael’s property. Is he okay? Was Michael able to get close enough to look at him?”
“He managed to get him into the barn safely. That’s where he is right now. Michael’s leaving the gate open for us to bring the trailer.”
Cheyenne moved past me to grab her coat from the mudroom. I turned to look at Tiffany as she hobbled up onto her right leg. I started to shake my head in protest, but she cut me off quickly. “I’m going with you. We need to get to the bottom of what keeps happening around here.”
It was useless to try and convince Tiffany she couldn’t come. My sister was as strong and sharp as the barbed wire fence surrounding our property.
“Fine. Let me help you get in the truck while I call Rick.”
With Cheyenne’s help, we managed to get Tiffany into the front seat of my truck as quickly as possible right as Rick pulled up to the barn. I left them in the truck to jog across the muddy and gravel road as Rick hopped out. Rain pelted both our hats as he waited for me inside the barn.
“We found the horse on Michael’s property,” I told him. “I’m taking the trailer right now to get the horse. Keep an eye on everything around here. There’s a group of kids who have been causing hell for some of the ranchers.”
Rick shook his cowboy hat free of rain before placing it back on his head. “Maybe it would be a good idea, boss, if I took the apartment above the barn here. Until the sheriff figures out who is behind everything.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath on that, but that would be a good idea.” I turned to look at Tiffany and Cheyenne as they talked in the truck. “We will be back in a little bit. Help yourself to some fresh blankets and sheets in the house.”
“Did Rick see anything?” Tiffany asked when I hopped back into the truck. She took my hat when I handed it to her, grimacing at the rain that dripped off of it.
I looked up in the rearview mirror to find Cheyenne’s eyes focused on mine intently. She looked away after a few seconds. I put the truck in drive and eased down the driveway slowly with the horse trailer behind me.
“Nothing,” I said. “I have an idea of what is going on though with the spiders and the fireworks.”
“It’s Bill,” Cheyenne said quietly. “I’m telling you, Colt. It has to be him. I’ve done everything to damage his reputation around Green Point, so he’s trying to damage me in return.”
It was a valid point because Bill Coates had an ego larger than Oregon. A respectful reputation was key to successful ranching because it attracted wealthier contracts from corporations. My father had been the best at it. Yet Michael had experienced problems with teenagers on his own ranch. I couldn’t look past that possibility that the firework and spiders were pranks gone too far.
Rain continued to pour down. I drove down the road slowly, mindful of the muddy road and the trailer behind me.
“I’m not sure if it was Bill this time,” I said slowly. “Michael told me he has been having troubles with teenagers messing with his livestock. He caught a group of kids shooting at his chickens.”
“Are the kids around here honestly that bored?” Tiffany asked in disbelief. “I have a hard time believing that, Colt. Maybe we should talk with the other ranchers to see if they are having the same issues?”
I shrugged my shoulders as we came up to the turnoff for Michael’s ranch. True to his word, the gate was pushed open for us to drive down the muddy road. I glanced up in the rearview mirror to see Cheyenne staring out the window with a cold look in her eye.
“Cheyenne?” She looked over at me in response. “I know you want to believe that this is Bill, but—”
“I know,” she said flatly. “There’s no evidence it’s him. I just don’t think this was a prank. It was deliberate. The two of you know it too.”
“Pranks can go too far,” Tiffany said, turning to look at Cheyenne with a frown. “There’s no need to be testy, Cheyenne. The both of us are on your side here.”
The anger in Cheyenne’s eyes vanished. She deflated visibly in the back seat with a tired sigh as she undid her seatbelt.
“I know,” she murmured. “I’m just worried that these pranks are going a bit too far now. Maybe we should call the sheriff?”
I parked in front of the barn. Michael appeared from inside the barn, waving to the three of us in the truck. While Tiffany scooted out with her crutches, I twisted around in the seat to look at Cheyenne.
“The sheriff knows about it,” I said, and she paused in getting out while Michael rushed up to help Tiffany out of the truck. “I’ll talk to a few other ranchers around here to see if they are having the same issue with these types of pranks.”
“My barn was not a prank that got out of control,” Cheyenne said flatly. “I bet there is one rancher here in Green Point that hasn’t had any problems.”
She pushed the door open to hop out into the downpour of rain. I turned the engine off with a sigh. There was no doubt in my head either that Bill Coates had no problems on his ranch like the rest of us.