Page 4 of Silverstorm

It was this quality that kept the guests returning to Stargazer over and over again.

But Dean had sounded a little frazzled on the phone this morning when he’d called to ask Jude to come out.

Jude decided to walk up to the machinery shed. He could drive his cruiser up, it’d be quicker, but he was enjoying the fresh fall air. The sun had appeared from behind a bank of fluffy clouds, lighting up the mountains in the background, making the green pastures seem almost iridescent. Five minutes later, he rounded the edge of the large, red barn structure and entered the gaping doorway. The smell of grease and dust hit him first, then he heard voices, but it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. Dean and his mechanic, Cat, were at the other end of the shed, peering into the guts of an old tractor set on a square of concrete next to a long bench containing a myriad of tools.

“Surely, it’s time to get a new one, Dean. This tractor is as old as the hills. You keep asking me to repair it, but I think this time it’s beyond repair.” Cat straightened and put her hands on her hips. Wearing a pair of gray dungarees, her spiked blonde hair stood out in the fluorescent lights. Jude knew the cost of repairs wouldn’t be an issue for Dean. He was just a sentimental at heart. He loved old things and couldn’t bear to get rid of them.

Cat turned and saw Jude first, smiling and waving him inside. As Dean straightened, she rolled her eyes in her boss’s direction but kept her lips firmly shut. Cat had a feisty tongue to go with her give-no-shit attitude and her many tattoos. But she also had a heart of gold and would give you the shirt off her back if she thought you needed it. She and Levi, the local park ranger, were recently married in a summer wedding that’d been held at the ranch.

“I hope you’ve come to help me convince Dean that this old dinosaur is ready for the tip.”

“Not on your life,” Dean bellowed. “This old gal is a work of art. They don’t make them like this anymore.” Dean was in his late fifties, wearing his customary plaid shirt, sheepskin vest, and blue jeans. He was tall and commanding. The light sprinkle of gray at his temples, in contrast to his dark hair, might give away his age, but his face was warm and welcoming, almost childlike, so alive with humor and excitement. Jude liked Dean. There weren’t many people in the area that didn’t.

“Yes, with good reason,” Cat mumbled.

Jude smiled to himself. Cat loved bright, shiny new machines. She rode a Triumph motorcycle, a big touring bike, all black and chrome, and Cat loved it as if it were her child; the only thing she loved more in this world was Levi.

While Dean loved nothing more than to preserve a piece of antiquity. It was one of the reasons he’d been able to bring the lodge back to its full glory, his attention to detail and the fact he didn’t care how long a project took.

The two of them were like chalk and cheese, and Jude wouldn’t like to put a bet on who was going to win this particular showdown. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to get in the middle of it.

“Morning, Cat.” He tipped his hat in her direction. “Dean, you said you had something important you wanted to discuss? Do you want to go outside and chat?”

Cat’s crystal-blue eyes sharpened at Jude’s tone. “What’s going on, Dean?”

Anyone else might see Cat’s razor-edged words as a tad insubordinate toward her boss, but Jude knew Cat’s history. And he also knew that Dean thought of his staff as more an extension of his own family. Just as Jude guessed he would, Dean ignored Cat’s implied accusation and cut straight to the chase.

“No, we can talk in here. I don’t mind if Cat joins us, she may even tell me I’m being overly suspicious and to stop being an old fool.”

“What’s going on?” Cat asked again, but Jude caught the edge of worry in her gaze.

“Two of my cattle have gone missing in the past few weeks.” Dean shrugged his big shoulders. Then he held up a hand and added, “And before you ask, yes, I’m positive. We weren’t sure about the first one. Sometimes a cow will find a way through a fence and get lost in the hills. But after the second one, I got Tom to do a head count. It’s not unheard of to lose two cattle to mishap or an accident, and I’m probably being a worrywort,” Dean said with a curl of his lip. “But after all those troubles we had with my cattle last year…”

Dean had every right to be jumpy when it came to the safety of his cattle. Nearly eighteen months ago, Dean’s cattle had been poisoned. He’d lost quite a few cows that day, and was lucky not to have lost the whole herd. They’d found the culprit. A man called Cyrus had been targeting Dean in retribution for Dean having put his brother in jail. But Dean also loved his cattle like he would a family pet, so Jude knew he wouldn’t lie about something like this.

“What do you think happened to them?” Jude took out his little notebook and pencil he always kept in his top pocket and began to write notes.

“We’re not sure.” Dean rubbed his chin. “Tom didn’t find any broken fences, so whoever took them must’ve gone through a gate. The herd was in Selway’s Pasture, but after the second one disappeared, I moved them closer to the lodge, so we could keep an eye on them. I’ve also brought in the mob from the back pasture, even though they seem to all be accounted for.”

“What about tire tracks? Or other signs someone’s been in the paddock?” Cat asked, pacing back and forth across the grease-stained concrete.

“No tire tracks,” Dean said hesitantly. “But there were other signs that something might be amiss.”

“Such as,” Jude prompted when Dean merely pursed his lips.

“A couple of boot prints in a sandy section of the paddock near the gate. That’s all. As if someone walked in and stole them. Which is ridiculous. And the reason why I’m hesitant to report it. There’s not a lot to go on.”

“You’ve done the right thing,” Jude encouraged. There was one more question he needed to ask, but he hated to even raise the topic. Stargazer Ranch had been through so much already, it was almost unthinkable that Dean could be targeted yet again. “I have to ask this, Dean. Have you had any threats lately? To you or to the ranch?”

“No. No, nothing,” Dean replied, but his blue eyes were worried. “I promise, I would tell you if there was anything like that.”

“What does this mean?” Cat asked, staring at Jude as if he had all the answers. Worry creased the corners of her eyes, and he rushed to alleviate her fears. Cat had been an unwitting target in the first arson attack on the ranch and had nearly lost her life in a raging wildfire. If Levi hadn’t rushed up there to save her, she might not have survived, and so he understood where her concern was coming from. Even though the culprit had been caught and put in jail, she was still wary about anything untoward happening on the ranch.

“I don’t know yet. But I’ll certainly look into it.” He briefly laid a comforting hand on Cat’s arm.

“I asked Tom to see if he could find any footprints leading away from the paddock. But it’s been a dry fall, and the ground is hard and rocky. Tom is no tracker, but he thought he saw some marks leading up the hill toward Canyon Peak.”

Canyon Peak was part of a mountain range that ran along the western edge of the Stargazer Ranch. The Bitterroot Mountains were a series of rugged peaks, with numerous steep canyons cut into them by swift-running streams millions of years ago. They were some of the Northern Rockies’ most rugged terrain. Beautiful, but also deadly, if you didn’t know what you were doing. People hiked and camped in the national forest area all the time. Could it be as simple as some hikers making mischief? Someone stealing a couple of cows as a prank?

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