Page 36 of The Breakdown

“But why?”

“Probably because I threatened to fire them if they didn’t take a drug test.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Gram said. “If they was doing drugs. Serves ’em right.”

“Yeah, but those two.” Vaughn shook her head. “They’re bad news. My threats pissed them off. And now they’re acting out.”

“I should call the police.”

“You do what you feel is necessary,” Vaughn said, hurrying away. But Gram lightly gripped her arm.

“Take Natalie.”

“Gram—”

“She can help. And she needs to know what’s going on. She’s already asking.” She motioned toward the corral where Natalie was standing beside Oliver, lightly petting him.

“She’ll slow me down,” Vaughn whispered.

“She can help.”

Vaughn gritted her teeth and stalked into the corral. She controlled her feelings however, and spoke to Natalie with a calm voice. “You want to come help me repair the east fence?”

Her face lit up and Vaughn was glad she’d asked her politely. What was happening wasn’t Natalie’s fault and Vaughn knew she had to remember that. “Sure.”

“Go ahead and wait in the Gator then.”

Vaughn left her to retrieve her supplies. She grabbed an extra set of gloves along with some wire and the stretcher and cutter, and climbed back into the Gator. She slammed on the gas and they took off, tearing through the ranch. Natalie held onto the side rail and ran her hands through her hair as the wind toyed with it. She didn’t ask questions and Vaughn was grateful, just wanting to get the job done.

When they reached the hole in the fence, Vaughn killed the engine and hopped out. She tossed Natalie the extra pair of gloves and grabbed her spool of wire and cutters. She walked to the fence with Natalie on her heels.

“Oh my God,” she said. “Someone did this on purpose, didn’t they?”

“Looks that way,” Vaughn said. The surrounding desert was quiet, save for the whisper of the breeze. None of the horses remained out to pasture, so she tried to relax a little and just do the job at hand, when what she really wanted to do was kick those idiots’ asses.

“You have to call the police,” Natalie said, somewhat worked up herself.

“Gram’s going to take care of it.”

“Well, don’t you think you should wait for them to come out, before you fix the fence?”

Vaughn paused briefly. “I don’t want to wait.” She was concerned about getting the fence fixed before the predicted storm came through. She didn’t have time to wait.

Natalie held out her hand. “Hand me your phone then.”

“What for?”

“So I can take pictures for the police.”

Vaughn slid out her phone and handed it over, thinking it wasn’t such a bad idea for her to take some photos after all. Natalie took the phone and began taking photos of the cut fence, zooming in on the cut wires and then taking broader shots. She walked through the gaping hole and took photos of the ground, kneeling to get closer to the tracks in the dirt.

“You a forensic specialist too?” Vaughn asked.

“I know a thing or two,” Natalie said, without breaking her focus. “Like the fact that these tracks won’t be here for much longer if the wind picks up or if we get that storm that’s expected to roll through later.”

“Is there anything you don’t know?” Vaughn meant it as a compliment, but Natalie straightened and walked back to her, looking at her like she was offended.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She returned her phone.

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