Page 29 of In Pursuit of the Truth

He intended to buy a third one to cover the front door of her house, too. If it were up to him, he’d get an alarm system installed. He knew it wasn’t something Bailey would be open to. In that case, Nate had every intention of sticking around until they caught whoever was behind this.

Chapter Eighteen

It was nice to have Jenny stay for lunch and to help with cleanup for a little while. There was still so much to get done, and for Bailey, it was a constant struggle to keep from getting frustrated or overwhelmed. It truly made a difference, however, to have two of her friends there to keep conversation going and to make her laugh. Oh, they were both in rare form. Bailey didn’t think she’d laughed that much in a long time.

When it was time for Jenny to get back to work, she left but returned minutes later.

Bailey jogged out to her squad car. “Did you forget something?”

“This was taped to your mailbox.” Jenny handed a piece of paper over, a hopeful look on her face.

Bailey took one of the flyers she’d printed out about the lost goats. At the bottom was a note that said, “I think one of your goats wandered onto my property. Drop by anytime. We’re keeping her safe.”

Below that was a name, Fred Anson, and an address and phone number.

Bailey shook her head in wonder. “Wouldn’t that be something if Petunia were still alive? Oh, the boys would be so relieved. What are the odds that it’s someone else’s miniature goat?”

“Probably not good,” Jenny said with a chuckle. “I hope it works out. Make sure Nate goes with you, okay? Let me know.”

“Will do. Thanks again.”

Back inside the store, she showed the flyer to Nate. “Do you mind if we take a break and head over there? If itisPetunia, it’d be good to make sure she’s okay before the vet’s office closes.”

“Sure, not a problem.” He dusted his hands off on his pants. “Do you know Fred Anson?”

“Not really. I think we met them right after we bought this place, but we never really chatted.”

“So he’s never expressed an interest in buying your land?”

She blinked at him in surprise. “No, not that Joe ever mentioned. I hadn’t even thought about a neighbor being behind all of this.”

“I’m just looking at options. I can see someone wanting to buy adjacent land to expand what they own, especially if they have significant mineral rights. It’d be easy to get onto your property and back home in the middle of the night, too.”

Bailey had a hard time accepting the possibility. “So you’re thinking that Fred could’ve vandalized the goat pen and taken Petunia to his property himself?”

“I’m saying it’s a possibility. I’m going to call the station and have them run a background check on him. See if anything pops up. Then we can go over and see if the goat he found is Petunia.”

“That sounds good.”

Nate dialed a number on his phone. “Hey, Logan, I need you to run a background check on someone…” He walked to the back of the store until Bailey couldn’t hear what he was saying anymore.

Seth was practically hopping up and down in excitement. “Oh, I hope it’s Petunia! I’ll bet the other goats will be so happy to see her again!”

She knelt at his level. “You need to remember that the man may be mistaken. It could be that he’s found a different goat. We won’t know until we get there.”

“But I can hope. My teacher at church says it’s always important to have hope.”

His simple faith and positivity brought a smile to Bailey’s face. “Yes, we can always have hope.” She ruffled his hair.

While she waited for Nate to finish his phone call, she called Fred to make sure he was home and that it was okay to swing by. She’d just ended the conversation when Nate walked up.

“I spoke to a friend in the IT department. Nothing jumped out about your neighbor—no criminal record. Aside from a couple of parking tickets, his record is clean. It seems like a big leap to go from that to vandalism and issuing threats.”

It did seem far-fetched. Then again, a few days ago, she’d never have imagined someone would be targeting her family like this at all.

They put a large crate in the back of Bailey’s pickup truck, and Nate offered to drive it over to the Anson’s place. The gate was open at the entrance, and a man was waiting on a four-wheeler. He lifted a hand in greeting and stepped down.

Bailey turned to look at the backseat. “You boys stay here. We’ll be right back.”

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