Page 13 of Legacy of Lies
Lines, deeper than Garrison had seen before, creased the skin around his dad’s watery blue eyes, suddenly aging him. “No, but the fence break was pretty extensive. Looked intentional.”
Shelby stared at him.
Garrison put down his knife. “What do you mean?”
“A big section of fence had clean cuts in the wires, enough to let an ATV pass through. And there were some tracks in the open section.”
“Exactly which section were you working on?” Garrison’s hand curled into a fist.
“Top of the property, north section, where the mountains start.”
“Near the national forest? Abutting the Brand property?”
“Yep.” His dad raised a bushy eyebrow and passed a weathered hand over his face. “Something’s going on over there.”
“Like what?”
“Don’t know. The Brands never liked us, ever since I moved here in the seventies and outbid them for this property. But they’ve been acting more squirrely than usual over the past year, especially after we turned them down on their offer for our ranch.” He swiped at the circles under his eyes. “Now? Big equipment moving in and out of their property, but no one in town knows anything. Ol’ Wyatt who runs the supply store was acting weird when I came in to buy feed the other day.”
Shelby sat up straight and leaned forward. “Acting weird, how?”
“Cagey. Won’t make eye contact. Won’t extend us credit anymore. He says no more local discounts, but it seemed personal. I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting old and paranoid.”
“What’s ‘paranoid’?” Zach piped up.
“Paranoid is what you’re going to be if you don’t finish your homework,” Garrison said.
“Can I be excused?” Zach lifted his plate. “Look, Auntie Shelby, ate all my greens. They’re all goooone.”
“Good job!” Shelby’s tight smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Wash up first,” Garrison said.
Zach jumped out of the chair and was halfway to the kitchen doorway.
“Dishes!” Garrison called out.
Zach spun around on his socked feet, grabbed the plate, dumped it into the sink with a clatter, and dashed out of the kitchen. The thud of his feet on the stairs stopped, and the water ran in the bathroom upstairs. Full blast or nothing. That kid didn’t have a second gear. If only Garrison had that much energy, he’d make a dent in the endless list of things to do.
“Dad, I don’t like you taking Zach out if the Brands are acting weird.”
“Agreed. Didn’t think fixing my own fences was dangerous until I saw the ATV tracks coming through the opening in my fence. And cattle tracks.”
“You sure it was the Brands?” Shelby pulled on the end of an orange curl. “No other folks with missing cattle?”
Their father rubbed the loose skin on his jaw. “Haven’t heard of anyone else, and it makes sense. Given the area of fence cut, if someone else wanted to take our cattle, they’d have to cut through the Brand fencing, break through our fencing, take the cattle out, and run them through rough terrain in the mountains before getting back to flatland. That’s if no one saw them. So, damned unlikely to be anyone else.”
Garrison took a bite and swallowed. “To hell with them. We have enough to do without having to deal with those losers. What’s going on over there? Why can’t they just leave us alone?”
His dad shook his head. “No idea, but Hank Brand called again today, asking if we’d sell our ranch to them.”
Shelby’s head whipped up to stare at their father.
Garrison’s vision blurred. Damn it, they’d already told that man no. “He did what?”
“Said he reckoned we might be losing money, and they could help us make up the losses if we sold.”
Cheeks blazing red, Shelby leaned forward. “It’s odd how much he knows about our financial situation. It’s none of their business. I hope you told him to go shove it.”
