Page 16 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Mostly.

My thumb taps against the side of my camera while I work, a small unconscious rhythm that usually means one of two things: I’m thinking, or I’m close to finding something.

Today it’s both.

I open the vendor ledger again, then cross reference it with the monthly expense summaries.

One line item catches my eye because it’s the exact kind of thing that likes hiding in plain sight.

Consulting Services – Dorsey Ridge Agricultural Solutions

The amount isn’t huge. Mid-range. Repeatable. Forgettable enough to skate by if no one’s looking too closely.

I click into the invoices.

Same vendor name appears again two weeks later.

And again the month before that.

Not on the same date, not in the exact same amount, but close enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck sit up.

I pull the corresponding approvals, and the descriptions are vague to the point of comedy.

Operational review support.

Ranch systems evaluation.

Administrative consultation.

Administrative consultation for what? Breathing near a filing cabinet?

I pull another spreadsheet over and start building a side list.

Date, amount, category, approver, related event.

The pattern doesn’t fully show itself yet, but there’s enough shape there to irritate me, which usually means I’m right.

“Sherry?” I call, swiveling.

She looks up. “Yep?”

I hold up one of the printed invoices. “Do we use Dorsey Ridge Agricultural Solutions often?”

She frowns, standing to come closer. “Dorsey Ridge… hmm.” I pass her the page and she scans it, lips pursing. “I don’t know, actually.”

“You don’t know the vendor or you don’t know the charges?”

“Either?” She glances at me apologetically. “That’s not my side of things most days. Jake handles operations, Cody handles the books, I mostly deal with payroll, scheduling, admin support, making sure no one accidentally sets fire to a printer.”

“That happened once, didn’t it?”

“Twice,” she admits. “Neither time was Duke.”

“Comforting.”

She smiles, then looks back down at the paper. “Could be legit, though. We have consultants in sometimes for expansion stuff, tax structuring, event planning, all kinds of weird boring grown-up nonsense.”

“Sure.” I take the invoice back. “It’s just vague.”