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“I have samples in my RV under refrigeration. I can bring those to you.” Reba started to get up.
“When we’re done here,” Shelby said. “Why did Sverre’s original tests come back clean?”
“I don’t know if they did,” Reba said. “I wasn’t allowed to complete any of them.”
“You weren’t?” Nash exchanged a look with his sister. “What would you have done if you found evidence that Sverre had been injected with a foreign substance?”
“The same thing that happened yesterday,” Reba said, trying to keep a grip on her temper. “I would have reported it.” Of course, she would have told Dolly first and freaked out about the decision.
“And Diane knew that?” Shelby asked.
Reba scoffed. “Actually, she thought I’d cover for Shane. That’s why she pulled me off the testing. Dr. Victor Lance did the tests.”
“Are you sure?” Nash asked.
“He was working on them when I left,” Reba said. “Whether he concluded them, I don’t know.”
“Who else could have analyzed the samples?” Nash asked.
Reba was beginning to feel cross-examined. “Me, Victor, or Diane.”
“So, either Diane or Victor are in on this,” Shelby said. “Otherwise, we would have received the positive test back before now. I’m calling in an independent lab to do the tests for this weekend.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Reba said. “And I think that you need to call off the exhibition with LeAnn on Sverre.”
“I can’t completely do that,” Shelby said. “We sold tickets based on Sverre and we need to give the audience a show that they’ll appreciate.”
“Not at the risk of my baby sister,” Reba said.
“Who is another top athlete that you can’t afford to risk on a bull that you know has been shot up with a substance,” Dolly said.
“Although,” Reba said reluctantly, “it will be out of his system by the time the rodeo starts.”
“Whose side are you on?” Dolly said, exasperated.
“Look,” Shelby said, “I’m going to modify Jackson’s ad campaign that he wanted you to do. Instead of Killer on a killer, I want you to do a comeback story with a twist.”
“What type of twist?” Dolly asked.
“I spoke to Shane Calland this morning. He’s agreed to ride Sverre.”
“Shane can’t ride a bull,” Reba said, feeling like she heard wrong. “His leg is messed up.”
“He was actually eager to do it. I think he plans on beating his own bull’s undefeatable streak.”
Reba shook her head. “It’s not safe.”
“This will work out for us in several ways,” Shelby said. “It will satisfy Jackson’s need to cash in on Sverre’s notoriety. It will satisfy our fans’ need for drama. They get to see a rodeo hero come back from retirement and the stakes are either he will beat his own bull’s record or Sverre will continue to be undefeated. Shane gets to assuage any rumors about tampering by agreeing to ride Sverre. If he didn’t think he was safe, he wouldn’t risk his life. And it gives us time to protect our athletes, both human and animal, while we investigate if any others have been drugged.”
“But we know Sverre was tampered with,” Reba said. “And we don’t know how many others have been. The only safe thing to do is skip the bull-riding event for Odessa until we can get your independent lab results back.”
But Shelby was already shaking her head. “I can’t do that. The fans bought their tickets based on the bull-riding events. We can’t disappoint them.”
“She’s right,” Dolly said.
Reba glared at her sister. She hadn’t wanted to trade LeAnn’s safety for Shane’s.
“Besides,” Nash said, “I’ll be more focused on your boss Diane and Dr. Victor for this rodeo. If they are covering up for the doping, we can nail them if their findings don’t match what the independent lab come up with. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find out who is injecting the bulls,” Nash said. “And then see if they know how Jackson is involved.”
