Smokescreen (Pros and Cons Mysteries #2)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

TODAY

O live had awoken early for a hearty breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, and homemade hash browns. Then Reid had one of his guys saddle up two horses so Reid could continue to give her a tour of the ranch.

That was what she and Reid were doing now—riding along beside each other around the western perimeter. She rode a black quarter horse named Bella, and Reid was on his horse, a chestnut-colored steed named Blaze.

A beautiful stream babbled beside them. The air was crisp with a slight chill—but Olive didn’t mind since she had a flannel shirt on. Deer grazed across the pasture, and an eagle swooped overhead.

As a child Olive had begged her mom and dad to let her take horseback riding lessons. They’d never let her. But she’d had dreams of doing things like this.

For one of her assignments with Aegis, she’d gone undercover at an equine therapy center where she’d discovered the owner was funneling money from the nonprofit into her own bank account.

That experience was paying off now. At least she had some experience with horses—despite her parents.

At the thought of her family, she frowned. She thought about them often. Thought about the memories they’d made together—memories of meals around the dinner table, of game nights, of hikes through the mountains.

Then she wondered how many of those memories were real. Especially the hikes. They’d always seemed so out of the blue.

What if her dad had taken them on those out-of-the-way hikes for another reason? To meet someone as part of one of his “assignments”?

And the even bigger question: If her dad could fake so many things, could he fake his love for her? Tom Greer, the FBI agent who’d taken Olive in after her family’s murders, had hinted to Olive a few months ago that her father may have been a professional conman.

The thought caused a jabbing pain in her chest.

If only Olive had one more day with her family, she’d do things so differently.

Her last words to her mom and dad hadn’t been kind, and she’d always regret that. Heaviness settled on her at the memory.

“Olive?”

Reid’s voice snapped her back to reality, and she glanced at him as he rode his horse at a slow gait beside her. “I’m sorry. My mind left my body a moment. Could you repeat that?”

He shot her a look. “You don’t seem like the type whose mind leaves her body.”

“It usually doesn’t, but I guess I was swept away by this serene moment in nature.” She needed to divert his attention from her snafu back to this case. “So what were you saying?”

“I was saying that once a month my neighbors and I get together for a barbecue. It’s my turn to host, so everyone is coming to my place tomorrow afternoon. I intended on mentioning it to you earlier, but I forgot with everything that happened.”

“That sounds like the perfect opportunity for me to meet more people and gather more information.”

“That’s what I thought as well.”

They continued trotting along beside each other.

“Also, I have an appointment in town with my lawyer today,” Reid said a moment later. “I’m meeting with him about this will Lucy showed me. How do you feel about tagging along?”

Olive gripped Bella’s reins as she bounced along. “I think that’s a great idea. I’d like to hear his take on the situation. But, of course, I’ll appear to do that from the perspective of your girlfriend and not an investigator.”

“I trust you will.”

“I’m having one of my colleagues look into Lucy’s background a little more also. Hope you’re okay with that.”

“Go for it.”

Perfect. Olive wanted to figure out why the woman suddenly wanted some of this property. It seemed suspicious. She didn’t seem the type to have ranching aspirations.

Reid paused near a gate.

He opened it and let Olive through before entering the pasture himself and closing the gate behind him.

He stared out over the land. “These are some of my cattle that graze this portion of my property. This side is a little landlocked. It butts up against the highway to the north.”

Olive looked out over the pasture, the herd too numerous to count as they wandered the rolling green hills. “How many cattle do you own?”

“About twenty-five hundred.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s a lot of beef.”

She knew a little about the cattle industry. Depending on the cow, a rancher could get up to a thousand dollars per head.

However, in order to maintain that many cattle, a rancher had to have the proper amount of land—one or two acres per cow. Also, between food and medical expenses for each cow, the business wasn’t as lucrative as most people believed.

“Do you think your cattle could be the resource someone’s going after?” she asked.

Reid’s lips flicked downward in a quick frown before he shook his head. “Cattle are profitable. But I don’t see why someone would sabotage my ranch in order to obtain my livestock.”

“That does seem like a stretch. Then again, everything does. But we’ll figure it out. We just need more time.” Olive paused and drew in a deep breath of fresh air. “You know, I could get used to a place like this.”

Reid threw her a grin. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“I can see why you like it here. The big city has nothing on this.”

“I agree.”

Just then, she noticed Reid’s gaze tighten. “What is it?”

“Follow me.” He nudged his horse, and the creature began galloping across the pasture.

Olive followed suit, trailing behind him.

She had no idea what could have caught his eye.

As she glanced farther in the distance, she spotted an inconsistency in the fence line.

Part of it appeared to have fallen down.

That meant some of Reid’s cattle could have wandered from the safe perimeters of the ranch . . . and into danger.

“I need to round up my herd and get them back into the pasture before they reach the highway.”

Reid’s words washed over Olive, and she realized how dire the situation was. Not just for the cattle but for anyone traveling on the highway. One blind turn could lead to a deadly accident.

Reid already had his phone to his ear, no doubt calling in backup. The call was quick, and he shoved his phone back in his pocket.

Then he turned toward her. “Have you ever wrangled cattle before?”

Surprise washed over her. “No, but I’m a fast learner.”

“Good. Come on.”

She took off with him, and they crossed the downed fence to the exposed land on the other side.

As they did, more and more of his herd came into view. Just how many had gotten out? How would they ever gather them all?

“You go left, and I’ll go right,” Reid said. “We need to stay on the edge of their flight zone and guide them toward the fence. Don’t come at them suddenly—they’re easily spooked.”

“I’ll do my best.” A thrill zinged through her.

There may have been a time in her childhood when Olive really wanted to be a cowgirl. Now she felt like maybe she could be—if only for a day. What would her mom and dad think if they could see her now?

She circled toward the creek. Bella seemed to instinctively know what to do as the horse moved along the edge of the herd.

The cattle slowly looked over from grazing. Saw them.

“Go on, guys,” she murmured. “Get back to safety.”

Instead, they stared at her as if curious.

This wasn’t working . . .

What was she going to do?

She continued pacing with Bella, hoping the bovines would get the hint.

She talked to the cattle—sometimes sounding mean, sometimes sweet.

The animals didn’t care.

She shooed them with her hands, pointed with her fingers, waved her hands in the air.

Still nothing.

Olive had never been one to give up, however.

She paused in front of one of the steers and leaned down close. “Hey, you. You need to get moving. Do you understand? Failure is not an option here.”

The young bull stared at her.

“Stop that,” Olive said. “And get moving. Don’t make me get off this horse.”

He flicked his ears, then looked away.

Then . . . the animal turned and began walking toward the fence.

Olive held her breath as she waited to see what the creature would do next.

Slowly, the rest of the herd began to follow the first one.

The cattle were headed back to the safe confines of the pasture!

A surge of excitement trilled through her.

She’d done it! She’d wrangled the animals back toward safety.

The rest of the crew showed up fifteen minutes later, and they all worked together to get the cattle back over the fence. Apparently, there had been more than three hundred in this pasture. That meant each person was responsible for wrangling approximately thirty head of cattle.

Olive wanted to feel relief. But one look at Reid’s face and she knew something was still amiss.

She trotted to the fence and watched as he climbed off Blaze. He examined the wire stretched between the posts.

“What is it?” she asked.

He looked up at her with a grimace. “Someone intended for this to happen. This wire has been cut.”