Page 104 of Recklessly Rogue

“You didn’t even ask around if anyone was missing a lamb?” the woman I don’t recognize says.

“What did you want me to do? Draw missing goat posters? The goats got out. They came back with a lamb. The poor thing was starving, and her front leg was injured. Obviously, whoever she belonged to didn’t give a shit. We took her in and took care of her.” Griffin is glaring at the two people.

“What is it that you want exactly, Brandon?” Charlie asks the man. “You think this is your lamb, but you can’t really prove it.”

“Y’all found a lamb. We’re missing a lamb,” Brandon says.

“You want it back?” Charlie asks.

“No,” Griffin says immediately. “You left that lamb out in the pasture. That’s the only way the goats would have found her. The only way she could have followed them home. You didn’t have her in a barn the way you should have. She was starving. Clearly not being cared for by her mother or you. You can’t have her back.”

“We didn’t know the mother had rejected her,” the woman with Brandon, who I assume is his wife, protests.

“You’re just proving my point, Jackie,” Griffin says. “If you didn’t even notice that, you shouldn’t have animals in your care.”

“And,” Charlie interjects. “If you take her back, people are going to wonder what happened to the lamb and why she’s not here, with her friends, who saved her, where she clearly wants to be.” She holds up her hands. “And we’ll have to tell them the truth. We’ll have to add to her story on the website. I’m just putting that out there.”

“You’ll make us the bad guys?” Jackie asks.

“You’re already the bad guys!” Griffin exclaims.

“Fine,” Brandon says. “You can keep her. But we want some of the money you’re making off her.”

“Excuse me?” Griffin asks, stepping toward the man.

Zander starts to shift, but Charlie puts her hand on Griffin’s arm.

She tips her head. “What money, Brandon? We’re a petting zoo. We have people coming here to see animals every day. Goats, alpacas, rabbits, pigs. Now there’s a lamb. But there’s no way to prove that people are coming specifically because of her.”

Jackie snorts. “Except that you have her up on the website with the story of how the goats ‘adopted’ her. And you’ve got stuffed lambs in your gift shop now. And the T-shirts that sayI want to be a goat at Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild toowith the cartoon lamb and goats on it?”

Griffin rolls his eyes.

Zander looks at Charlie, “You’ve got all of that?”

She shrugs. “Yeah. It’s a great story and people love it.”

“Do I need to be here for this?” Knox asks Zander.

Zander grins. “Probably not.”

“So why did you call me and tell me to come?”

“I just wanted you here.”

Knox sighs. “Doyouneed to be here?”

“Not sure yet.”

“Can’t you arrest them? Or at least make them give me the money I deserve?” Brandon asks.

“Arrest them for what?” Zander asks.

“Stealing my lamb!”

“It sounds like your lamb left you,” Zander says.He looks at Griffin. “Have you ever touched that lamb outside of the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild property?”

“No.” Griffin sounds perturbed. “Of course not. We already have so many animals around here, why would I steal another one?”

---