Page 43 of Deadly Evidence
Brady sidestepped his horse next to hers. “These were all branded?”
It took a second for her to speak past the knot in her throat. “Of course they were. They couldn’t be taken straight to a sale. Not when the sheriff could be notified and a bulletin faxed to every auction barn and brand inspector in the country.”
“Then someone has to rebrand them and let the brands heal.”
“Exactly.” She drew a deep breath and forced her clenched fists to relax. “But the Triple R brand isn’t easy to alter, and ourear notches are unusual and hard to mask. Thieves could sure find other herds much easier to deal with.”
Brady shook his head. “I’m sorry, Anna. You don’t deserve this.”
Dante rode up on her other flank, his face a mask of worry. “What about that sale?”
“I’ve got several hundred young steers in the southwest pasture, but none of them have gained anything even close to market weight.”
She worried her lower lip with her teeth. “I’ll go after my semi and call the sheriff while I’m at home. With luck, maybe someone saw something suspicious and can give us some leads.”
Ranches out here were so few and far between that most people would notice if a strange truck came through. She hoped.
Brady handed her his satellite phone. “Call him now.”
“I want you two to go after the cattle you found already,” she continued after she made the call. “Round up anything else you can find. I’vegotto ship a load today.”
Dante frowned. “But we’ve been looking for hours already.”
“And the market isn’t that good right now,” Brady added.
“I know I’m going to lose money,” she retorted grimly. “But I need that cash for a loan payment, and waiting isn’t an option.”
On Monday, Mia studied the two lunch trays she’d prepared, then adjusted the angle of the folded napkins.
Maybe she wasn’t exactly the best cook on the planet, but no one could say that she didn’t understand presentation.
She found breaded chicken patties in the freezer and nuked them, then studied the two dinner plates.
The canned green beans she’d lined up like perfect little soldiers.
A fan of apple wedges completed the plate, which added a dash of red and some nice crunch to the textures.
And the pièce de résistance, the brownies she’d made from a box up in the cupboard, with just the right dusting of snowy powdered sugar. Who could resist?
Satisfied, she grabbed a tray with each hand and headed through the living room, down a long hallway, and then to the right, where two of the five bedrooms were occupied by two old guys who were going to enjoy the prettiest meal they’d ever seen.
She grinned to herself, wishing Lacey was around to seethis.
With spring break over, Lacey had started back to school this morning.
She’d left without a word, though she’d grudgingly accepted the waffle Mia made and had almost cracked a grin at the bulging eyes and wrinkled smile Mia had created on it with two hard-poached eggs and a strip of bacon.
Sliding one tray onto a table in the hall, she knocked on Vicente’s door and nudged it open to peek inside. “Lunchtime,” she called out. When he didn’t answer, she bumped the door open wider with her hip and stepped inside with a flourish. “Here you go!”
The bed was empty.
Startled, she walked around the bed and checked the floor. The walk-in closet. The bathroom. His boots were gone too, no surprise He’d left the sling for his arm tossed at the foot of the bed.
As grumpy as he was, he probably much preferred his own company and had headed for the solitude of his own cabin.
Heaving a sigh, she headed to the next room and knocked, then entered with a tray in her hands.
Jonah was in bed, as always, poor thing. She hadn’t even spoken to him yet, because he always seemed to be asleep.
