Page 40 of Meant for Her

“Was it a result of him gambling?” she asked.

“That’s what we think,” Luke said.

“When I asked him about it later on, Dad wouldn’t talk about it,” Ryan said. “I don’t blame him. Most people don’t like to discuss their failures, especially to their kids.”

“I get it,” she said. “Go on.”

“It was quite evident that Dad couldn’t stop gambling,” Luke said. “Oh, he would say that the next game would be the one to bring in the money and would be his last. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Over the years, the ranch went from twenty-thousand acres to a little over a thousand, barely enough to feed sufficient cows to keep the ranch going.”

“That’s so sad,” she said.

“When Dad died,” Ryan said. “He only had twenty-five cows.”

Her eyes grew wide. “I thought you said you had a hundred and something.”

“We do—or rather we did before twelve of them were stolen. Between Luke and myself, we built the ranch back up to where it is today. We were hoping that with this new crop of cows, we might even be able to buy back some of our land,” Ryan said. “After we pay our dad’s debt to the bank, that is.”

“Ouch. I’m impressed with what you’ve both accomplished. What about all of the workers? Surely, your dad had to lay off a lot of them. Would any of them want some kind of revenge?”

Luke hadn’t considered that option. “I doubt it. Dad died three years ago. I imagine anyone who wanted to take revenge would have already done so.”

She shook her head. “When your dad passed, the ranch wasn’t worth much. Maybe they were waiting until there was something of value to steal.”

He looked over at Ryan. “What do you think?”

“I couldn’t name half of the workers. We were kids when Dad had to lay off a fair number of the hands.”

He pointed a finger at Ryan. “That’s true, but do you know who would know?” Luke asked him.

“Pete?”

“Yes. He was with Dad for thirty years.”

“Who’s Pete,” Malia asked. “Is he a werewolf?”

“He is. His name is Pete Rizolli. If I were being honest, he was more of a dad to us than our father ever was.”

“You should speak with him,” she suggested.

“I would if I knew where to find him,” Luke said.

She polished off her wine. For the next few minutes, they ate. Ryan was moaning more than he was chewing, and Luke had to force himself to ignore him.

“I have an idea,” Malia finally said.

“What’s that?”

“This Pete person might be the key to things. If, and that’s a big if, someone wanted to get back at your family in particular, I’m thinking Pete might be able to tell us who the most likely candidates would be. He might even know if your dad owed money to someone he gambled with prior to his death.”

Now it was Luke who was impressed with Malia for her quick thinking. It was a good idea to have an outside perspective. “I agree, but by now Pete could be working in Wyoming or Idaho for all I know. We’ve not been in contact with him in a while.”

“He also could be dead,” Ryan said. “He was no youngster.”

“Not to a teenager he wasn’t, but I bet he’s no more than sixty.”

Ryan shoveled down more food and then nodded. “You’re right. So how do we find him?”

“Like I said before, my cousin is a private investigator. I bet he’d be willing to investigate.”

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