Page 7 of For Always
Tyler shut down his computer after reading all the email messages he could stand for the moment. His manager needed him to review contracts for international distribution of the last series of fitness videos he’d produced and there were three invitations for him to speak at various fitness conferences for next year. His career was blossoming, taking him in directions he’d never dreamed of. But he couldn’t think about any of that at the moment. His mind was too wrapped up in what happened to his parents, the ranch and now, Gabriella Bennett.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to play out. His parents had planned to grow old at Westwind. They’d also planned to hand it down to their sons—the two who hadn’t worked the ranch at all in their adult life. But someone had altered that plan, someone Tyler wanted to see behind bars. In the meantime, Tyler needed to figure out what was going to happen with the ranch. He couldn’t stay here and run it, not only because he didn’t want to, but also because he had a life in L.A. He needed to get back to his career.
Gabriella Bennett could help with that. She said she was here to stage the house and the resort for sale. If he let her do her job, they could sell the ranch relatively quickly and Tyler’s life could get back to normal.
The faces staring back at him from the picture sitting on the edge of the desk said otherwise. His parents. They’d loved this ranch and their sons. Waves of guilt washed over Tyler as he recalled how little he and Jagger had given them in return.
Sitting back in the leather desk chair, Tyler finished the bottled water he’d grabbed when he came into his father’s office before the sun was up this morning. Now, blush-tinged light poured through the windows while he sat behind the old elm wood desk he remembered falling and gashing his head against as a child. It was just after seven and he still wanted to get a run in before he was scheduled to meet with the sheriff for an update on the case.
“Excuse me, Mr. West,” a male voice said following a quick knock on the door.
Tyler hadn’t closed the door because he was the only one in the house. So his frown should have been understandable when he looked over to the tall man standing there dressed in worn jeans, an equally as worn plaid shirt and beige vest. He had a dark brown complexion, broad shoulders and workman’s hands which held his Stetson as he met Tyler’s gaze.
“Come in, Stephen,” he replied. “And call me Tyler.”
Stephen Garret was the ranch manager at Westwind. He’d been in that position for two years and according to Clyde, was doing an exemplary job. George had no complaints about him. Tyler wondered if that meant his father had complaints about the previous ranch manager, but hadn’t found a moment to inquire about that as of yet.
“Mornin’, Tyler,” Stephen spoke as he came deeper into the office.
He stopped in front of the desk, between the pair of zebra pattern guest chairs. Tyler had been trying to figure them out since he’d arrived at the ranch, and decided they must have been his mother’s idea. Stephen, didn’t give them a second glance.
“We’ve got a problem,” Stephen continued, his brow crinkling as he stared down at Tyler.
“What type of problem?”
“Down at the chicken coop and goat stalls. Latches were broken on the stalls and the door to the coop was wide open when I first came out. Nevil pulled in about half hour after I did and we’ve spent the last few hours wrangling all the animals back to where they belong. We were gonna fix the latches and get more netting for the coops, but then just on a hunch I walked down to check on the horses. There are some fresh muddy footprints in there and a pair of wire cutters were laying out on the ground. Could’ve picked up that mud from the goat stalls and tracked it all the way down to the equestrian center. It did rain a little last night.”
None of this sounded good. In fact, Tyler thought as he slowly came to a stand, it was, just as Stephen had said—a big problem.
“Did you touch anything?”
“Not a thing,” Stephen assured him. “Guess I was thinking just like you are right now.”
Tyler nodded. “Good. Let’s go have a look.”
Minutes later Tyler and Stephen rode from the main house down to the equestrian center in Stephen’s truck. It was a Westwind issued Jeep, one of their fleet of twelve used by staff when traveling around the twenty-five hundred acre property. They both jumped out of the vehicle and walked through the open doorway. Natural light poured in from outside but Stephen hit the switch to turn on all the interior lights. This was a relatively new structure, built just five years ago. Tyler remembered because his father copied him on all of the ranch’s yearly reports and while Tyler didn’t pay a lot of attention to them, he recalled the photographs of the new equestrian center when it had been christened. They’d always had a few horses on the ranch, but after a while George had thought to bring in more horses and offer riding lessons as well as some breeding services. The structure looked great with beamed wood ceilings, black iron and wood stall enclosures and cement flooring.
On that floor were unmistakable footprints.
“They go all the way to the back and then stop,” Stephen said. “We checked and nobody’s back there, but where the hell did he go?”
“Those back four stalls are empty,” Tyler said. “Did you check them?”
“Nevil did. GG was antsy so I took him out and around a bit to calm him down. I don’t know how long he’d been irritated, but I’m guessing since whoever came waltzing in here.”
“Why would somebody come into the stables and then go out and open the chicken coop and goat stalls? Doesn’t make sense,” Tyler said more out loud than he’d actually thought.
“Not that I can see either. But then, things ain’t been the same around here since your mom and dad died.”
“You sure things were fine before they died, Stephen?” Tyler asked as he kept walking down the center of the dwelling. There were stalls on each side of him, but as they only had eight horses at the moment, they weren’t all full. “I can’t shake this feeling that something’s been brewing here for a while. Like I’m walking into—”
“Into a heap of horse shit!” a voice yelled and followed with a hearty laugh.
Tyler looked down to make sure what was said was just a joke and then turned to see who had come through the front doors of the paddocks.
Jagger.
“What’s going on big brother?” Jagger said as Tyler walked toward where he was standing. “Heard you’re taking the fitness world by storm. Getting ready to launch that new clothing line. You should really hit me up about your marketing though. I can take your brand to the next level.”
