Page 531 of Conveniently Wed
“Ladies, please excuse me.” He eased out of the chair. “I need to check it out.”
He peeked between the lacy curtains, blowing in the cooling breeze. Thomas Walker was supposed to be with the other hands checking the herds scattered in several different pastures on the ranch. Franklin wanted an inventory of how many beeves they had, and which ones would be on the cattle drive to Frisco to meet the train headed to a Chicago packing plant. Some needed moving to other grazing land. He wanted them fattened before the drive, even if it wasn’t a long one.
A sharp knock on the front door drew him from the parlor. He opened the door. “Everything all right, Thomas?”
“We need to talk.” The expression on his foreman’s face was grim, and his tone ominous.
Franklin heard the women visiting quietly. He didn’t want to upset them before he knew what was wrong. “You can come into my office, or we can talk outside.”
“I’m too dirty to come into your house, and I’ve been in the saddle most of the day. How about if we just walk.”
“Fine with me. Wait right here.”
Franklin went back to the doorway to the parlor. “Thomas has returned from the pastures, and we’re going to take a walk.” He smiled at his bride. “It might take a while. Don’t wait up for me, Lorinda.” No need to alarm them unnecessarily.
He and his foreman ambled in the shade of the tall trees as the sun made its final descent behind the peaks.
“So what’s happened? Is someone injured? Do we need to head out to help him?”
“No…no injuries.” Thomas seemed to be taking plenty of time to choose the right words.
He’d been that way as long as Franklin had known him. But he also didn’t raise an alarm, if there wasn’t anything to worry about.
“You know we’ve been trying to find that man...or men…who might have murdered Mike Sullivan...and may be the arsonist. We thought whoever it was moved on.”
That caught Franklin’s attention. “Did you find someone?”
“Not really. But the numbers are lower than we expected. Some of our cattle are missing.”
Not good.Franklin frowned. “Do we know how many?”
“Hard to tell.” Thomas stopped and stared toward the mountains. “Seems to be a few from each part of the herd... You know, scattered out a lot. Maybe he hoped we wouldn’t notice they’re gone. But there are too many more missing than in other years.”
Franklin needed the money from the beeves to carry them through the winter. They’d be able to make it all right, but he’d have to curtail extra spending if the herd was too small.
“So did you get all parts of the herd counted? Will we have enough for the drive?”
Thomas rubbed his hand across his stubbled chin. “I sent the men in teams of two or three to do the counts. Had ’em cut the cows with calves and then count all except the breeding bulls. Our numbers are down by about a fourth, but still plenty for the drive.”
“That’s a relief.” Franklin huffed out a deep breath. He started walking again, and Thomas joined him. “When we were out at the RM Ranch today, picking up the baby, Rand mentioned things had gone missing around their place. Stella had baked two pies and set them on the windowsill to cool. When she came downstairs from taking care of their baby, one pie was missing, pie tin and all. Other things, too. Food missing from their spring house, which is farther from their house than ours is. Things like that.”
Franklin stopped and sat on a stump, and Thomas rested one foot on a log that waited to be chopped into firewood. “That’sthe next thing I was going to tell you. All the supplies have disappeared from a couple of line shacks. Everything–furniture and pots and pans included.”
“Looks as though we have a thief in our midst. I guess the person could be the same one that murdered Mike and burned his cabin.” Franklin took out his pocketknife and started cleaning his fingernails. “But it could be someone else entirely. Were there tracks you could follow?”
“I sent a couple of guys to try to find some, but they soon returned when the trail led to an outcropping of rocks. Couldn’t pick it up again at either place.” Thomas took off his hat and twirled it in front of him. “I have most of the men following the fence lines to see if they can find a place where the cattle could have gotten out. They’ll be fixin’ any broken places and report their findings to me. I’ll let you know.”
Franklin got up and clapped his foreman on his shoulder. “I know I can depend on you. Why don’t you go ahead and spend the night in the bunkhouse? And I’m sure the women can rustle up something for you to eat.”
“I ate with the men at the chuck wagon before I came. But I would enjoy sleeping in my bunk. I’ll head out early in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me.”
While his foreman headed toward the bunkhouse, Franklin hurried back to the house. He wasn’t going to worry the women with this information. They should be safe here at the ranch house. He’d make sure at least one or two hands were close-by at all times.
He didn’t want to risk losing his beautiful bride so soon after their wedding.
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