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“Shane’s agreed to give Nash access to his area and not to add any additional security,” Shelby said.
“What makes you so sure Jackson Blevins is behind all this?” Reba asked.
“He’s been making some decisions around here that are not in the best interest of the rodeo,” Shelby said. “If I had known some of the things he had been planning, I wouldn’t have merged the two organizations. If we can’t make up some of the money that we’ve lost and if I can’t stop the egregious spending and bad policies, the UPRC could go under.”
“You may want to reconsider only having three exclusive breeders providing the stock supply then,” Reba muttered.
“Wait,” Shelby said. “What are you talking about?”
Reba stared at her. How could she not know about this? “Shane was offered one of three exclusive contracts to be the UPRC’s sole stock supplier for bulls for the next five years.”
Shelby was already shaking her head. “That’s not something we’ve discussed or agreed on.”
“I’m not lying.” Reba stood up in anger.
Shelby looked puzzled. “I believe you.”
Shock replaced anger and Reba sat down. “You do?”
“Yes.”
“About everything?”
“Yes.”
Reba took in a shaky breath. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Shelby said and the kindness in her voice had tears pricking at the corners of Reba’s eyes.
“As far as I know, Shane’s already signed the contract though,” Reba said.
Nash and Shelby exchanged another one of their grim looks. “Who are the other two breeders?” Nash asked.
“I don’t know,” Reba said. “Shane was asked to keep it quiet until they announced it.”
“Thank you,” Shelby said. “I’ll look into it. And thank you for being so open and honest. It couldn’t have been easy to report your boyfriend’s bull.”
It hadn’t been, but not because Reba didn’t want to be open and honest.
“We need you to keep quiet about the false reports so you don’t tip our hand and spook the bad guys,” Nash said.
It was working out just how Shane wanted it. The doping report would be kept under wraps, and the UPRC would be actively searching out who did this.
“I can help with the testing.”
Shelby shook her head. “Not this time. We don’t want them to know about the independent lab either until it’s too late for them to do anything about it. Just do whatever Diane tells you to do. You can keep an eye out on Victor if you’re discreet.”
“I can do that.” What she really wanted to do was keep Shane off that bull, off any bull really.
“Because of the nature of Nash’s involvement, we’re not going to be able to keep you informed. Please keep this meeting and Nash’s purpose a secret. If Jackson is involved in something more serious than trying to make the rodeo more exciting—” Shelby used finger quotes to offset the last word. “I want to make sure we can obtain solid evidence before going to the authorities.”
“We can keep our mouths shut,” Dolly said.
Nash snorted, which earned him a death glare from Dolly.
“When Jackson has a shit-fit about it being Shane instead of LeAnn on that bull, I’ll make sure he knows it was me who overrode his decision. You shouldn’t see any fallout from it, but if you do, let me know immediately, and I’ll put a stop to it,” Shelby said to Dolly.
“Thanks,” Dolly said.
