Page 36 of The Cowboy’s Reckoning

Jordan hung up. Message sent. He felt kind of bad if Connery was as innocent as he claimed, but the guy had tried to strong-arm him, so he didn’t feel that bad.

“You’re building a house in the pasture?”

Lil had come around the barn from the back while he’d been talking, startling him. He’d literally jumped when she spoke and he wondered if she could see the color rising from his collar.

“Figure of speech.”

“Good. Because I checked the lease and that’s against the rules.”

By the time he’d processed the fact that she’d made a dry joke, she was on her way to the haystack, moving with the efficiency of long practice. She loaded a wheelbarrow with hay for the goats and wheeled it out the door. Lil was doing a decent impression of business as usual, but it was just that. An impression. If it wasn’t, then she was tougher than he was, because he was jumpy as hell.

*

Lil finally gave in and allowed Jordan to help with the morning chores. She wanted to go about her chores in the usual way but found it impossible with her body on high alert while half expecting a gunshot. Hell of a way to live, and whoever shot her cow probably intended her to feel this way.

The horses and goats were fed in the barn, and instead of releasing the cattle back onto pasture, she’d decided to feed them in the big corral where they’d been herded the night before to keep them from trampling the crime scene. The cattle milled around the corral and called out their protests at not being turned loose while Lil warmed up the tractor, then Jordan manned the gate after she expertly retrieved a big square from the top of the haystack. He followed the tractor into the corral, cut the strings then stood back while she loaded the feeders.

“They’re cramped in here,” she said after parking the tractor, “but I feel better keeping them contained until we know more.”

“Which we might.” Jordan pointed to where flashes of white showed in the aspens. A few seconds later the official sheriff’s office SUV drove into view.

Jordan set the little gray and white kitten he’d scooped up a few minutes before on the fence rails, smiling as the little guy sharpened his claws before strutting off past the milling cattle, tail high in the air. The little guy had an attitude that Jordan couldn’t help but admire.

Lil started toward the driveway and Jordan fell in step. Meg came out of the house, still pushing her arms into the sleeves of her jacket. She joined them as the vehicle came to a stop.

The deputy introduced himself as Deputy Phil Wilson. He was going to check the area where the brand inspector thought the shot might have come from, and once back in the office, they were putting out bulletins asking for public input.

Jordan noted Lil and Meg exchanging glances.

Deputy Phil seemed like a decent officer, but after his inspection, he didn’t have much to offer in the way of reassurance. Jordan was aware that the guy was doing his job, working with what he had, but the lack of, well, anything, frustrated the hell out of him.

“So we just hope it doesn’t happen again.” He folded his arms over his chest as he spoke.

Phil let out a breath. “Sorry I don’t have more. You never know,” he said before getting into the SUV. “Sometimes people do come forward with information. If you notice anything else, give us a call immediately.”

“Like, say, bullet holes,” Lil muttered as the vehicle headed for the cattle guard. She turned to Jordan. “Are you coming in for coffee?”

It was more of a statement than a question, and Jordan nodded, figuring coffee meant they would start putting together a plan. He needed a plan. Needed to know that they were in agreement on what steps they might take in the future, even if it was just having him live there until it felt like things were safe again.

*

“As I see it,” Lil said once the coffee was poured and they’d taken their seats at the oak table, “our options are to stay, and risk losing more animals and property damage, or leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” Meg said.

“Neither am I.” They’d made their position clear before the cow was shot, and it hadn’t changed. “Not yet anyway.”

None of them had touched their coffee, but now Lil reached for cup, creating a domino effect of caffeine intake.

“I’d like to know more before Maya gets here.”

Jordan lifted his eyebrows in a silent question and Lil explained.

“Our sister is stopping by next week on her way to Seattle.”

“The sister who wrote the property lease?”

She noted that he didn’t say, worked for my father.