Page 30 of A Mile of Ocean

It wasn’t until she reached school that she heard everyone talking about the fire at the ranch. The last time she’d spoken to Trent, everything had been fine. Well, not okay, but quiet. Now, she learned there had been another death. The securityteam she’d seen the night before was down a man. Her earlier enthusiasm dropped to a new low, even when her students began filing into the classroom.

As she half-heartedly started class, her concern grew as she thought about Trent and the rest of the people at the ranch. The news of another death was a harsh reminder of the dangers he faced, the dangers they all faced. Savannah decided to give him a call during her lunch break just to check in. But then she had another idea. She’d need permission from Superintendent Julianne Dickinson to make it happen. But she would need to run it past the kids first.

At the same time Savannah started class, Trent grappled with the latest threat while caring for the horses in the barn. The incident had shaken him to the core. He felt a heavy burden to protect the people and the land.

The funeral arrangements weighed on his mind, along with the need to maintain a semblance of normalcy. But given the current circumstances, that was almost impossible.

His long talk with Hawk came before breakfast and gave him another opportunity to try and explain the difficulty of providing security on such a large piece of land. “I’m sorry about Slade.”

“So am I.”

“How is his wife handling the news?”

“Not good. We have two women who are now widows—your grandmother and Slade’s wife—it didn’t need to be this way. Do you think we’re dealing with one man or two?”

“I don’t know. None of this makes any sense. But from now on we’re conducting the basics of animal care during the day and putting all our energy into the night patrols.”

“Your men can’t work twenty-four-seven,” Hawk pointed out.

“I don’t expect them to do that. We’ll start caring and feeding the stock at dawn when we come in from patrol, put infour hours, and then try to grab five or six hours of shuteye in the afternoon.” I wanted to talk to you about the funeral tomorrow. The men have decided to forego the church service and wait to pay their respects at the graveside. That’s fine with the family and everyone else. So tomorrow morning, when we leave for the church, you’ll have a full crew on site—nine men to watch over two thousand acres. If you have any better suggestions, I’m all ears.”

“As long as we’re all vigilant, I don’t want a repeat of last night.”

“Any thoughts on how to improve the patrols?”

“No changes. Lincoln worked well with your man, Cecil. Drum and I have always worked well together. I don’t see any reason to switch up the teams at this stage. I thought you might be mad about your golf cart.”

For the first time all day, Trent let out a laugh. “The golf cart is the least of my worries. It’s the same with the shed. It will take some time to replace all the treated wood in there, but Tucker Ferguson already said he’d give us a break on the prices.”

“What’s the big deal with losing firewood? I counted enough trees around here to fill it up again in no time.”

“Ah. Firewood yes. But we stored our treated lumber in there, too. It lasts longer, but costs have skyrocketed. That shed held lumber valued at approximately thirty-five thousand dollars. We use it for fence posts, building open-air shelters, durable fencing, landscape projects, patching, and general maintenance. Because of the chemicals, we’ve been trying to phase out using that type anyway. Losing that in the fire means we’ll change sooner than planned. For now, let’s just focus on keeping everyone safe.”

“So the person who targeted you has intimate knowledge of what was in there.”

“It seems they do, yeah.”

“I’d like to take Lincoln and Drum out on patrol in daylight to get a better feel for the property and the terrain so we can navigate better at night.”

“Sure. Unless you guys want to walk, have you thought about learning to ride?”

“Tate and your grandmother offered to give us a quick lesson or two when they get back from town. Lincoln’s going with them.”

“Great. Go for it. Let me know how you do.”

After Trent finished up in the barn, he headed to his office to check on Taco and Trilby. The pack needed feeding and exercise, so he walked them around the yard and then opened cans of dog food, distributing the meal between the two adult dogs. Looking over the four male and four female puppies, he realized they were all thriving. Not one looked sickly or unhealthy. “You did a great job, Trilby. Dolly will be feeding you next. You’re on the schedule for this afternoon at five. Come on, Taco, you’ll need to pull your weight now that you have so many mouths to feed. Start picking out names.”

He picked up one, cuddled it, then another, until he’d given all the babies some attention and placed them back on the bed with their mother. “You guys will be eating solid food before you know it. Savannah would love to hold all the little wriggly furballs. She’ll be back to see you tomorrow. Be on your best behavior.”

His stomach rumbled with hunger. “You’ve eaten, now it’s my turn.”

He walked across the compound to the main house and entered through the back door to the kitchen. He smelled the strong aroma of coffee and eggs before spotting Dolly, her apron wrapped around her round belly, busy at the stove, flipping pan-fried patty sausages. “Where else would you be the morning afteryou cracked a knot on your head but cooking for everybody else? Are you sure you shouldn’t be in bed?”

“I’m fine. I feel stupid enough as it is for running into a wall.”

“I thought it was the doorframe?”

“Same thing. I took a fall and went down like a rock. Not my finest hour. Poor Slade. I didn’t even know him, but he seemed nice,” Dolly declared as she shoved a plate of biscuits with egg, cheese, and sausage toward him. “Help yourself. I just took these out of the oven.”

---