Page 36 of High Density

“Come with me,” I instruct Logan.

He’s a good kid and instinctively places himself between me and Mackey, as we walk past him and down the ramp.

There are thirty-seven other cows in the pen. By the time we have the cattle chute set up and run each of them through, taking blood and stool samples, almost two and a half hours havepassed. The second truck has been unloaded in a neighboring enclosure, and a third truck is just pulling in.

“Did you see where they took the truck with the dead cow?” I ask Logan as I scan the grounds.

“I thought I saw him head that way.” He points toward the road heading out of the park.

Goddammit.

I shouldn’t have let that truck out of my sight. Mackey doesn’t want anything standing in the way of getting his cattle to auction tomorrow. I wouldn’t put it past him to try and haul that cow off somewhere before I get a chance to examine it.

I immediately grab one of Mackey’s guys, the one who’d been in the trailer with Logan when I first got here.

“Where did your boss send that truck?”

“Which truck?” he asks, feigning ignorance.

“You know which one I’m talking about,” I push.

“Tell her.”

I swing around to find Phil Jericho walking up, JD is right behind him. Jericho is staring down Mackey’s hand, while JD sidles up beside me.

The guy shrugs, like he really doesn’t care what the outcome will be, and points at the public parking lot.

“There’s a clearing on the other side. I’m guessing he’s there.”

When I look in that direction, I see a plume of smoke rising above the trees.

“That son of a bitch,” flies from my mouth as I start running toward my truck.

I hear JD’s heavy footfalls right behind me.

Chapter Eleven

JD

“Wanna tellme what the fuck is going on?”

I hang on to the handle above the passenger side door, as Janey takes a turn a little too sharp, and the back of her truck fishtails in the loose dirt.

“Mackey,” she forces out between clenched teeth. “There was a dead cow on one of the transports. Looks like some kind of poisoning, and I was gonna have a closer look after clearing the rest of the load.”

“Let me guess,” I volunteer. “He doesn’t want the delay.”

“He was irate when I told him to separate those cows from the rest of the herd,” she adds.

“So he’s afraid of what you might find? Like an infectious disease or something?”

“Who the hell knows. It may just be he’s pissed I’m here and wants to make my job extra difficult. He’s a miserable excuse for a man, and I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Another turn that would do a rally racer proud, and then I catch sight of the fire. Janey aims her truck straight for it. She’s out of the vehicle before I can stop her, but the fire is too hot for her to get close. The smell of burning animal fills my nostrils when I get out of the truck. Whoever set it on fire not only used some kind of fuel, but covered the carcass with brush and old wooden pallets. It’s burning fast and hot.

“That son of a bitch,” Janey mutters softly as I step up beside her. “He knows damn well unless I can find another sick cow in the bunch, I can’t keep the rest of the load from auction.”

“So now what?”

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