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his release from prison, he d taken great pains to stay far away from children.
Finding out Maggie had a child, and the flashback to the night he d lost his own baby girl, was a blow he still
hadn t recovered from.
 She surprised me, is all, he said.
 Yeah, I figured. Willie removed his hat and wiped at his face with a faded bandanna.  Mind if we stop by
Hank s place first? We flew out of there like our tail feathers were burning. Wanna make sure things are locked
up tight.
 More problems with your neighbor, Greeley?
Willie s head snapped around, his gaze sharp.  What makes you ask?
Landon quickly filled Willie in on the man s visit to the ranch earlier.  It doesn t take a rocket scientist to figure
out he sees this place as easy pickings.
When they arrived at Hank s cabin, he stopped his horse next to Willie s. Both men dismounted.
 Other than stealing her cowboys, what else is Greeley doing? Landon asked.
 You struck me as a person who minded his own business.
 Look, old man, I work here now. Landon admired Willie s loyalty, but he refused to be kept in the dark.  Part
of my job is looking out for our boss and this ranch. Like you said, I didn t get jumped last night for nothing.
Willie nodded, but remained quiet as he went inside the cabin. Moments later, he closed the door behind him,
double-checking to make sure it was secure. He returned to Landon and the horses.  Let s check out the barn.
Landon followed.
 Maggie s daddy died five years ago. A bastard to the end, he left half interest of the Moon to that sorry excuse
for a husband of hers. Willie s gravelly voice filled the interior as he checked each stall on one side of the barn.
 When Alan Stevens walked a few years back, Maggie bought him out.
 You mind telling me what we re looking for? Landon asked, grateful the old man was talking, but not sure how
Maggie s father and ex-husband played into what was going on with her neighbor.
 Anything that looks like it doesn t belong.
 I guess that makes sense. Landon mirrored Willie s actions, but neither of them found anything out of place.
 Gonna check the loft. Willie headed for the front end of the barn.
Landon walked to the center and stood next to the wagon on the hay bales.  What else is going on?
 Well, ranching is a dying art. Nowadays, it s about dollars and cents instead of cattle, cowboys and common
sense. Willie s voice echoed from the loft.  The ways that blowhard ex of Maggie s handled the books barely
left us breathing. Now, she s trying to keep all our heads above the rising waters. Thanks to equipment failing or
disappearing, cowboys walking and damage to the fence line no one s got a good explanation for, we re busier
than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin contest.
Landon shook his head at Willie s analogy.  And you think Greeley s responsible?
 Well, like you said, the slimy weasel s got his eye on this place.
 Isn t his ranch, the Triple G, the biggest in the county?
 Sure is. In fact, it butts up against our land on the east. That s a section of fence line that never has any
problems.
Landon nudged at the broken pieces of a shattered wagon wheel with the toe of his boot, his gaze falling on the
smooth edges of what he figured were the spokes. Dropping to a crouch, he studied them.  Hey, Willie?
 Yeah?
 How did Hank get stuck under the wagon?
 He said he was attaching the wheels, but something must ve gone wrong. Willie left the loft and joined him in
the center of the barn.  Why?
 Look at these pieces. When wood breaks, it splinters. The edges on these pieces are smooth, as if they were
cut.
 Well, I ll be a suck-egg mule. Willie rose and scurried toward the barn doors.
 Where are you going? Landon said.
 To call the sheriff. This is gonna stop right here and now.
Chapter Seven
Landon eased himself into the claw-footed tub. A moan of appreciation for the hot water on his aching muscles
rushed past his lips.
Working two weeks straight on the fence line had meant camping out nightly beneath the stars with Willie. It
also meant washing up in an ice-cold stream. Despite daily temperatures in the nineties, those encounters had
grown old quickly. He d dealt with downed barbed wire plenty of times in the past, and he and Willie fell into an
easy teamwork pattern of repositioning the posts and restringing the wire. The last pole this morning had [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]