Page 26 of A Triple C Ranch Christmas Wedding
“We’ve got to find those horses quick,” Buck said. “The brood mares are ready to foal soon.”
He wasn’t about to waste time arguing with George about whether he should check himself out of the hospital in Bozeman and drive back to the ranch. Then he remembered he didn’t have his truck and sat down on the bed again.
He’d have to find another way.
And where were his dang clothes?
“I know they are,” George said. “We’ve been checking on the horses, not just letting Red feed them. But I should have done more. Watched closer.”
“No, they were just fine,” Buck said. “This isn’t your fault. How long ago were they taken?”
“Not sure,” George said. “That young couple getting married at the ranch discovered the barn doors open this morning, and saw the cows were out again. They came and told me.”
“He let the cows out to slow you down,” Buck said.
“You know who stole them?” George’s voice showed his surprise.
A sick knot settled in the pit of his stomach. “I know for a fact who did this,” Buck said. “Zeb Boyd has been taking horses to the slaughterhouses across the border in Canada for a while now. He’s a slick one, and he’s got a beef with me. I been keeping an eye and an ear out and trying to warn folks.”
“Wish we’d been ready for him,” George said.
“There’s nothing you could have done,” Buck said. “He’s real slick, that one.”
“I’ve talked to the sheriff, and he’s on his way out here,” George said. “He wants a list of everything we know of has been stolen.”
“The papers on the horses are in the top-drawer filing cabinet in the office,” George said. “And the key to it is taped beneath the coffee can.”
“That’s smart,” George said. “That drawer wasn’t opened.”
“Good. Kept him out of their papers, at least. But he’ll have forged ones, anyway,” Buck said. “He’s a liar, a cheat, and a thief. Which way did he take them?”
“Tracks show he pulled off the side of the road out front, then moved up through the pasture,” George said. “He opened the fence then herded them down to the road and loaded them in the trailer there. We’ve figured out that much. And now, we’ve got a team of Brotherhood Protectors preparing to fly out over the roads, hopefully to follow where’s he’s gone, catch up to him, and then catch him. Gunny, the one who’s getting married here, took off in his truck to follow the tracks as soon as their man with the drone figured out which way he headed.”
“A drone?” Buck leaned back against the pillows, tired already from the stress and exertion. He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized the nurse would be in any minute to give him another round of meds and check on him.
He slid back under the covers to hide the fact he’d been up. The doctors weren’t ready to release him, and he had no ride, so for now, he was stuck here in the hospital an hour away from the Triple C.
“Which way do you think he would take them?” George asked.
“He won’t stay on the main highway,” Buck said. “He won’t take Interstate 15. He’ll take side roads. State Route 87, toward Roundup, Montana.” He reached for the remote and turned on his TV, looking for the weather. “Have you seen the weather report tonight?”
“No, I haven’t,” George said. “Been busy outside, putting them cattle up.”
“I just turned it on,” Buck said.
“They could take 19 out of Grass Range, which will take them up to 191,” George said. “Then from 191, they could cross over the border at Grassland National Park.”
“If Brotherhood Protectors men are flying in, they can fly into Havre,” Buck said.
“From Havre, they’ll still have to decide which way to go to look for him,” George said. “There’s a few places he could cross into Canada.”
“He’ll go to the same auction house he usually goes to,” Buck said. “Might even have buyers lined up already.”
“So, he planned this,” George said.
“I’d put my money on it,” Buck said. He coughed for a moment and then spoke again. “I know he stopped in Havre that time I trailed him.”
“From Havre, it’s likely he’ll cross at Willow Creek or Wild Horse, but which one?” George said.
