Page 19 of Entwined Hearts
Weston
Today was not a good day. Not a good day at all.
“Fuck!” Beau roared next to another dead cow, his voice booming through the air like thunder. We’d already lost two others throughout the morning, and another dozen were sick. The vet confirmed they had ingested something toxic, so the ranch hands were rounding up the sick ones to take them to the barn for treatment, while moving the others to different pastures.
“This had to be the Hollises,” I said quietly, glancing around the property. But I didn’t understand how they did it. How did they manage to make the whole herd sick?
My gaze bounced from each water trough spread throughout the property. They were filled by an irrigation system that drew water from the well. My stomach sank as I uttered the words, “You think they’d be sick enough to poison the water?”
Beau’s head fell back to the sky, and his eyes drifted shut as a heavy, angered breath left him. “I’m gonna kill ‘em with my bare hands.”
And he saidIhad a problem with keeping a lid on my anger.
Hooves beating against the dirt approached from behind, and I turned to find Claire dismounting her horse before it even came to a full stop. She raced to Beau, looking wide-eyed and grief-stricken at the ailing herd. “What happened?”
“Those Hollis fuckers poisoned my cattle is what happened,” he said through gritted teeth. “I know it was them, Claire. I know it.”
A flash of anger swept across her face before she pushed it aside. “Okay,” she said softly, running her hands along his arms to soothe him. “Just take a deep breath, babe. We’ll figure it out.”
I turned away, not wanting to encroach on their private moment. Naturally, I looked over at the Hayes house like I did every time I was outside these days, now that Savannah was back. Claire and Emmett’s trucks were there, but Savannah’s out-of-place Mercedes was nowhere to be seen. But that wasn’t anything new. I just wish I knew what she was up to apart from avoiding me like the plague.
She hadn’t spoken to me since that night at Anna’s, and I’d only seen passing glances of her since. But just because she was avoiding me didn’t mean I didn’t see her in that white dress she wore every time I closed my eyes.
I knew she’d been busy all week with the woodpecker ordeal, but that was pretty much wrapped up now. It had turned into more of a goose chase than she had anticipated, though. Or that’s what she said in the massive group text we were all in. Turned out the whole thing was bogus, just like she said it’d be. Sterling had paid off a biologist to submit a false claim, but there wasn’t a paper trail to serve as proof, so it was his word against Sterling’s. But just as she finished cleaning up that mess, this one appeared.
This one, though, this one felt personal. This one crossed a line that couldn’t be undone.
“Hey, Sling King,” Colt called out from a few yards away, walking towards us.
I rolled my eyes at my new nickname that I’d gotten after making fun of his mustache one too many times.
“Hey,” I grumbled, adjusting my annoying as hell sling. I had my first physical therapy appointment in a few days, and I was hoping to every god there was that they’d tell me I could stop wearing it. It was emasculating and itchy.
He stopped next to me, his hand resting on his holster. “What the hell happened out here?”
“We think they spiked the water.”
“Who?”
“The Hollises,” Beau growled. “I’m gonna go over there and blow a hole through their fuckin’ oil tanks and see how they like having their livelihoods fucked with.”
“We need to press charges,” Claire said with the same fury in her eyes as Beau, but enough sense not to go and get us in deep shit. I personally would be useless with a shotgun right now, so I was team Claire on this one. But if I weren’tSling King,it’d be a different story.
“You got proof it was them? You know for sure it’s the water, and not something in the field or a dead animal or something?” Colt asked.
“Look, guys, we’ve got our own Nancy Drew.” I grinned, unable to help myself. Colt rolled his eyes.
Beau pinched the bridge of his nose. “Weston,” he sighed, “not now.”
“No, we don’t know what it could be,” Claire replied. “But you know it was them, Colt. Who else would do this to us?”
“I know as Colt McLeod it was them, but as the sheriff, I’ve got no clue who did it. And without proof, nothing can be done. Just like the woodpecker thing.”
“This is utter bullshit,” Beau said, pacing away. “I got a field full of sick cattle! Is that not proof enough?”
“You got someone coming to test the water?” Colt asked, clearly in sheriff mode. “You get the water tested, find out what they spiked it with, see if a purchase can be traced to them, and then you have a solid case.”
“He’s right, we need proof.” I looked at Claire. “You need to call Savannah.”
