Page 38 of The Cowboy's Wild Side

“Yes, please, and I need to have a look in his cabin.”

“Of course, it’s cabin #3,” she exclaimed, handing him the key, “and here’s a print out of his car’s plate number and his driver’s license.”

“Thanks, Rebecca,” he said as he accepted the piece of paper, then hurried to his car.

As he continued into the campgrounds, he sent the information to his office with an order to alert his deputies to stop the vehicle if it was seen, and to hold the driver until he arrived. But as he stopped at the cabin he abruptly remembered passing a BMW SUV on the road.

“Dammit,” he grunted, and hastily sent out a second message that the SUV in question had been traveling north on Old Lake Road five minutes earlier.

Even though he’d missed Gino by a hair’s breath he remained optimistic. The vehicle would be easy to spot. But fifteen minutes later, after searching the room and finding nothing of interest, he still hadn’t heard anything. Returning to his car he checked in and the bad news was confirmed. There had been no sightings of a black BMW SUV anywhere.

“He couldn’t just vanish,” the sheriff grunted as he left the campground. “He has to be somewhere, and I’ll damn well find him.”

* **

Parked directly in front of the forest above the road, Gino’s vehicle was shrouded in the shadows of the towering trees. As he walked away and looked back, even though he knew it was there it was difficult to see.

Satisfied, he buttoned up his oilskin coat and continued on, but as he approached the edge of the bank he stopped short. A deputy was parked on the side of the road. Assuming the officer had business with the cowboy, Gino decided to stay back and wait it out. But after a few minutes passed and the deputy still hadn’t left his car, it occurred to Gino the man was probably waiting for speeders coming around the sharp bend.

Though he wanted to move closer Gino couldn’t risk being seen. Stretching out where he was, he raised his small but powerful binoculars just in time to see Cade and Karen lead two horses from the barn and mount up. Two dogs were with them running alongside, and he noticed the cowboy was ponying Karen heading towards Smoky Hill.

It was a gift!

The forest was shrouded in mist, and there would be no-one around.

With his handgun tucked in his shoulder holster, and a knife given to him by Paddy safely sheathed in one of the pockets, he rose to his feet.

All he needed was to enter the property unseen by the deputy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

With Jack and Diane racing through the trees and happily sniffing the ground, Cade rode Moon slowly up the gentle slope with Karen beside him on Lilly. Though the mare was bombproof, he always erred on the side of caution and had attached a lead rope.

“We’re goin’ to make a slight turn and go through there,” he declared, nodding towards a narrower trail a short distance ahead. “There’s a small patch of flat, grassy ground. The horses can relax and you can stretch your legs.”

“Cade, this is fantastic. Thank you so much for bringing me up here. I’ve never done anything like this. And I’m not nervous in the saddle at all anymore.”

“That’s great, and you don’t have to be, especially not with Lily.”

“I’d like to spend more time with Astro if I can. Every time I look at him he lifts his head and looks right back at me as if he already knows me.”

“All three horses have settled in so I’ll start workin’ with him in the next couple of days. You can get to know him along with me. It’s possible you remind him of one of his former owners,” he remarked as they followed the narrow track through the trees. “See,” he declared just moments later as the small meadow came into view.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s so beautiful,” she exclaimed, gazing around the flat, round patch of land. “How did this happen? Why are there no trees?”

“It’s a mystery. Annie and her husband Brody believe it was a UFO landin’ site.”

“That’s funny, but it’s so perfectly round maybe he’s right.”

“Maybe he is, but dammit, where have those dogs gone? Jack! Diane!” he yelled as she climbed from the saddle.

“Should I tie her up?”

“Yep, to that tree,” he replied, tossing her the lead rope.

“Are you really worried about Jack and Diane?”

“Not too much. They do this sometimes. They’ll pick up a scent and decide to follow it.”

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