Page 18 of Deadly Evidence
“I heard Alvarez—the foreman on the next ranch north—found a mountain lion just after it killed a calf last week. He shot it.”
Brady pulled the rifle out of the scabbard on his saddle and loaded it, then gathered his reins and started leading Buck back down the draw, keeping an eye out for snakes on the ground and any suspicious movements on the rocks above.
“That’s one less mountain lion to worry about, then.”
“But its friends will smell the blood on your horse.” Dante wheeled Rowdy around and followed. “I’d better come along—Annawon’t like it if I let them eat you for lunch.”
“Thanks, kid,” Brady said dryly.
“If you want, we can ride Rowdy double.”
Brady eyed the boy’s gelding. Barely fifteen hands, it didn’t have the stout, muscular build of a quarter horse, and it wasn’t shod, either. “I’ll walk, but thanks.”
On the way out they’d taken numerous side trips into gullies and draws, searching out cattle to count and assess for general condition.
Now, heading straight for home, they topped the last rise above the home place in less than an hour.
Dante pulled his horse to a halt and stared down at the assortment of pole barns, corrals, and sheds, and the white adobe house beyond.
A white truck was parked close to the house. A stocky, older man and a young woman with long black hair stood next to it, talking to Anna.
Dante muttered under his breath.
Surprised, Brady looked over at him. “Who is it?”
Without a word, the kid pivoted his horse back toward the hills and took off.
By the time Brady had seen to his horse, Anna and her guests were seated at a wrought-iron table on the patio by the side of the house, under the wide-spreading branches of an ancient live oak.
Pitchers of beverages, glasses, and trays of cookies were arranged on a second, smaller table at the edge of the patio.
Vicente stood near the others, with a dark and troubled expression on his face.
Curious at both Dante’s abrupt departure and Vicente’s obvious discomfort, Brady ambled toward the patio on the pretext of delivering information.
Anna rose and met him halfway. “Come over and join us.”
“Don’t mean to interrupt,” he said, holding his hat at his side. “Just thought you should know about what happened up in the hills.”
“Maybe you’d better tell me privately.” She lowered her voice. “Did you have problems?”
“A few. My horse ran into some rocks, so I led him home. Dante came back with me but he took one look at your guests and skedaddled.”
“For all his bravado, he’s a shy kid around strangers.” She gave Brady a quick head-to-toe glance. “Looks like you survived okay. What about the horse?”
“A laceration on his knee, and one on his pastern. I cleaned him up with peroxide and used an antibiotic spray, then wrapped the pastern.”
“Does the vet need to come out?”
“Both would be hard to suture, given the constant flexing of those joints. I’d probably keep him in a stall so the wounds can be kept clean and also get him started on a round of IM antibiotics.”
“I’ll take a look later on. Anything else?”
“We quit counting the herd up there after Buck got hurt, but Dante thinks that some of the stock is missing.”
Her expression sharpened. “We’ll all go up there tomorrow at first light. We had a few cattle stolen before you came. A week later, we found a steer that had been shot.”
“You reported it to the sheriff?”
