Page 39 of Samuel

“What about Lemon Drop?”

Her face looked so fucking hopeful, but only for one fleeting second. Sam was sure the expression on his own face gave her the answer, but he still said the words out loud, just in case.

“We were too late, Evie. They’d been gone all night.”

Her hands moved to cover her face. Sobs wracked through her body and Sam was up in an instant, closing the distance between them to wrap his arms around her.

“You told me not to fall in love with them. B-but I did.”

Of course she did. He’d seen the way she looked at that damn cow. He was ready to bring her calf into the barn the minute it was born and let Evie bottle feed it if it made her happy. Hell, he would have put a bow on Lemon and given them a field right in view of Evie’s apartment window if it meant seeing her smile. But he couldn’t any more. They were gone.

“I know, sweetheart. I know you did. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m glad they were loved before they left this earth.”

“Oh god, Sam. Her baby.” Evie’s whole body shook. “Shedidn’t get to meet her baby. I got to see Jellybean at my appointment today and Lemon is never going to get a chance to meet L-Lemon Drop.”

His hand circled over her back. “That’s how life goes sometimes. You know that pain too, Evie.” He thought back to their walk and how he could hear the pain in her voice when she talked about her miscarriage.

“You’re right.” She pulled away, walking towards the kitchen. He watched as she used a napkin to dry her tears and wipe her nose. “I’m so sorry I fell apart like that.”

She squared her shoulders before continuing. “This is a working ranch. That’s the circle of life. I’ve never really thought about it before, but I guess I believe there is something after this life for all living c-creatures. I’m sure Lemon,” her voice caught and she bit her lip. “I’m sure Lemon and Lemon Drop are still together, wherever their sweet souls have journeyed on to.”

“I believe that too.”

Her eyes narrowed. “We’re going to find out who did this and make them pay, aren’t we?”

“I’ve already filed a report with the Sheriff’s Department. We’ll figure it out and they’ll pay.”

“Good. All of the cattle who were killed deserve that justice. But I really want to see it happen for Lemon and her baby.”

Eleven

Evie had been so angry with what happened to Lemon and Lemon Drop that she dove head first into clearing out the storage room. And as soon as she did that, she discovered just how far behind Sam was in digitizing his records. It had taken a few days, but she organized box after box in that dusty room and began pulling out every receipt and balance sheet she could find.

She’d grabbed the box of records with the previous month’s date slapped on the side earlier that morning. Sam had asked that she work on recent months first, in hopes of finding something that would point to a suspect, and that’s exactly what she planned on doing.

An hour in, and Evie had a pretty good grasp on what she was looking at. Different vendor accounts were slowly sinking into her memory, and everything balanced out. There was just one thing that didn’t add up. She’d just look again…

No, that couldn’t be right. She’d seen that account number before, but this time, there wasn’t an invoice that matched the withdrawal. Oh no. Evie’s head swam as panic clawed at her throat. It couldn’t be happening again.

“Hey.” She jumped at Sam’s greeting as he entered the office. “Woah, everything okay? I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She swallowed hard, her hand fluttering above her heart. “Everything’s fine. Sorry. I was just deep in thought and you startled me.” She looked back down at the ledger, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

“You look flushed.” His eyes trailed over to the boxes spread out on the sofa and floor. “Did you carry all those in here by yourself?

“No. Zeke helped me with the really heavy ones. I only carried the light ones.”

She heard the grumble in Sam’s chest, but didn’t have the capacity to worry about his anger. There had to be an explanation for what she was seeing, and she needed to figure it out, fast, before she was out on the streets looking for a job and a place to stay.

“Anything I can help with?” He took a step closer to her, but she snapped the ledger closed.

“No. I don’t think so. I just need to look over some records to make sure everything makes sense.”

“Okay.” He walked over to his desk, opening his laptop.

He definitely knew something was wrong, because Evie never felt his eyes leave her as she fluttered around the office, grabbing receipts from the filing cabinets and printing expenditure reports from her computer. Her stomach felt tight, nausea bubbling to the surface as the minutes rolled by.

“Sam?” Evie said as she cleared her throat. She needed to get out of there and figure out what was happening. “I know I have a few more hours of work to do today, but I was actually thinking of leaving for the day. I’m not feeling all that well and think I could use a few minutes to lie down. Would that be okay?”

---