Page 34 of Samuel

Jake laughed. “I foresee lots of air conditioned rooms in your near future.”

“Might as well order myself a walk-in freezer,” she joked. “I’m lucky. The AC in my apartment seems to be in good working order.”

“That is good. Alright, let’s get you out of the car. Is there anything we need to take with us?”

Jake held his hand out for her to take. Evie swung her feet out the door and ducked her head as she stepped out into the sunlight.

“If it’s not too much, do you think we could also tote along my groceries? I really don’t want to lose all that money I just spent on them.” Her head swam as her ears began to ring. “Oh, I think—” Bile rose in her throat as her stomach bottomed out. She placed her hand low on her belly, trying to ground herself and stop the world from spinning.

“Evie? You okay?”

She braced her arm against the car as her breathing sped up.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t eaten much, and the heat…”

Jake was by her side, his arm hooked around her back stabilizing her. She would have been worried, but the buzzing in her ears and the swell of nausea were overwhelming her.

“Take a couple of slow deep breaths for me, Evie. Then we’ll get you into my truck. The AC’s going and it’ll help to get you cooled down.”

“I’m so sorry, I don’t think I?—”

The last thing she saw as the world faded away was Jake’s worried face.

Ten

“Who the fuck would do this to us?” Zeke stomped out his cigarette in the dirt.

“Jesus Christ.” Sam’s fucking heart was pounding out of his chest trying to figure out what the hell had happened to the heifers over night. He ran his hand over his scar, willing the anxiety churning in his gut to quiet down.

“You got a problem with anyone around here?” Derrick asked.

“Not that I know of. I’d like to think someone would come to me if I’d done them wrong, because this is… atrocious.”

Five heifers lay dead in the most gruesome scene Sam had ever come across, including one very special one. It wasn’t the work of natural predators, either. No. The cuts were too clean. The way they’d been butchered told a very clear story.

“I didn’t want to fucking believe it.”

As soon as they left the office, and were outside of hearing distance for Evie, Zeke told Sam what he and Derrick had woken up to find that morning. At first, Sam suspected it was a prank. Some idiot kid got ahold of some Halloween propand the guys had fallen for it. But seeing the severed head of his cattle at the bunk house had been just the start of his trouble.

“Zeke, get the satellite phone and call the sheriff,” Derrick said. “We need an official report. Whoever the fuck did this was trying to send a message.”

“Wish they would have just picked up the phone.”

“Yeah, me too, Boss. Me too.” Zeke squatted down, patting Lemon’s neck. “Sorry, old girl.”

A sharp acidic pain pulled in Sam’s throat. The cow and her baby hadn’t survived whatever attack had happened. She was days from having her calf, and some sick asshole had taken both of their lives. The thought of telling Evie about her fate pressed into the front of his mind and made his stomach ache.

It took a few hours, but with sweat dripping down his face, Sam finished talking over the plans with Derrick and Zeke. They needed to move the rest of the heifers to a new pasture and deal with the ones left behind.

“I’m going to get this paperwork written up and filed. I’ll make a copy of it for you and drop it off before I head home tonight so you’ll have it for insurance purposes.” John ripped the paper off his clipboard.

“Okay. Zeke, Derrick! Start moving the herd over to the west pasture. I’m heading back to the office to deal with…” he pointed to the carcasses. “All this.”

Sam grabbed his phone out of his pocket, his stomach plummeting when he saw the number of missed calls from Evie.

It only took a minute, and he could already tell she was in trouble.

“Fuck!”

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