Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
The man put his rifle to his cheek and took aim at her. She had no gun on her to protect herself. There was no other choice but to face down what was clearly about to happen. I’m sorry, Lord, for anything I haven’t apologized for until now.
Lacy’s horse galloped racehorse-style, his mouth open and ears pegged back toward Ferd. Now the gunman had to decide who to aim at first. The barrel wavered. Back and forth. He froze for a second, then took off racing at an angle away from them.
Did he know she wasn’t carrying?
Ferd tightened her grip on the reins. If she moved the horse over to intercept him, she could lose her footing. She was already going fast enough that an injury could mean having to put the horse down. That was not happening today. She would not be the cause of death for a poor horse.
“Let him go! We’ll call the police,” Lacy screamed, keeping up with her now.
“Recognize him?” She looked over her shoulder. He was already near the fence as they got farther away from it.
Lacy worked to slow her mount, but they both still came to the barn far too fast to go unnoticed. Connor raced out and grabbed hold of the reins of both horses. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Call the police,” Lacy said as she breathed heavily. “There was a man in the pasture. He took shots at us.”
Connor reached up. With one arm, he slipped her off her horse and down to his side. “And you’re okay?”
“Yes. I think they were aiming at Ferd. Check her and Milly.”
Milly. That was her name. Now she’d never forget. “I’m fine,” she said as she brushed her hands over Milly’s neck and flanks.
Connor took over, checking her thoroughly. “Unless the saddle is hiding anything, you both were unharmed.”
Her pounding heart could disagree. “I've been shot at twice in two days.”
“Meaning your shooter is likely unfamiliar with a gun, thankfully.” Connor took up the reins again and led the horses into the barn.
“He was older than me too.”
Lacy plowed into her and held her tight. “Let’s not do that ever again. I’ve been a target before, and I have no desire to become a walking target.”
“I don’t either.” She pulled back. “That guy. Did you see his run? Would you say he was older too?”
Lacy furrowed her brow. “I . . . Ferd, I’m older than you. What do you mean by older?”
She couldn’t put her finger on it but the way he lifted his knees when he ran made her assume, without any further examination, that the man who’d shot at them was older or never ran.
Now that she could scrutinize her thoughts, she wasn’t sure she wanted to put a number on it. “I don’t know. Older than forty?”
Lacy tilted her head and squinted at the sky. “Yeah, I would agree with that. If he is older than that, he’s fit. He only hesitated because he didn’t know how to deal with two of us. If I hadn’t decided to follow you . . .” Her face scrunched.
“No. Don’t live like that. You did come. Thank you for your help.”
Sirens wailed as three cars pulled up the driveway. “Who called?” She hadn’t even reached for her phone yet.
“There was shooting and anyone over at The Haven would call right away if they heard them.”
Ferd nodded. Mom would. Ferd took her phone from her pocket and called Mom as she turned her back on all the noise heading right for them.
Before she let Mom say anything, “Mom, I just wanted you to know I’m okay. I’m sure you heard the sirens. We’re all okay.”
Mom’s voice trembled. “Oh, praise God. I heard the shots and immediately called. I was terrified. They even warn us around here before they set off fireworks. That was just shocking. Horrible. I had visions of abductions. Murder . . .”
Shooting wasn’t all that rare, even on places nearby, but the shots had been close enough to Wayside Ranch that everyone had to have known the shots were too close.
“Ferd?” Duke’s hand on her shoulder distracted her.
“I’ve got to check in with the police. I’ll talk to you later, Mom. I just wanted you to know I’m okay.”
“Connor too?”
She beamed. Even though Mom was no relation to Connor at all, she still cared about him and tried to mother him. “Yes, he’s fine too.” She hung up and caught the worry in Duke’s eyes.
He waited until she shoved her phone into her back pocket before he took her shoulders and gave her a subtle shake. “Why didn’t you call me? Immediately. Are you okay?”
She stepped back out of his reach. “Mentally or physically?”
“Both. As soon as I heard the call come through, I was going crazy. May have slightly exceeded the speed limit we’re supposed to stick to.”
She couldn’t help grinning. “Glad I could give you the excuse.”
“Okay, I know you’re okay now.”
“Thanks for the evaluation.” Thanks, Duke, for the levity.
His breathing slowed to normal. “Okay, in all seriousness, tell me what happened.” He waved her over to a nearby bench.
They walked side-by-side, away from the other officers and Connor. “It’s crazy to me that you immediately assumed I was the issue. There are no less than eight victims of human trafficking here right now, and you assumed I was the target.”
His face scrunched, then he looked away. “I don’t know how I can explain it. Maybe it was because of yesterday and how shaken up you were all the way to Cheyenne, but I couldn’t convince myself it was anyone but you.”
Okay, that sounded too much like friendship.
Time for the investigation again. “I don’t know the people we’ve interviewed well enough to guess who a man in all black might be based on his gait, but he was older than forty.
Maybe even older than forty-five. I would say that with some degree of certainty. ”
“You think this has to do with the Bailey case?”
She nodded. “I have no doubt. What’s really strange is they seem to think I’m the issue. Not you. Why is that?”
“I wish I could answer that question. Can you show me where it happened? I might be able to locate a casing or a bullet fragment, but we’ll probably need a metal detector out here.”
Especially since he missed. “The fragment will be across the road. Hopefully a tree caught it otherwise who knows how far it flew. He didn’t have a chance to take a second shot, but I can show you where he stood. He wasn’t on horseback.”
“We’ll have a shoe size then, if nothing else. As long as the grass was damp enough to leave an impression.”
“I never thought I’d be thankful for all this rain lately, but I am.”
She walked with him in silence to the spot where Milly had reared. Two deep hoof prints marked the spot. A few feet away, big chunks of mixed gravel had been tossed back by Lacy’s horse when he took off.
“I see where she dove down the bank and landed. I’m glad she didn’t break an ankle or toss you. People have died from getting bucked like that.”
“And if I’d been knocked off, I would’ve been a sitting duck.” She paused. “Then again, the last two days, I’ve been a sitting duck no matter where I go. We need to find this guy. It’s personal now. I have to leave for home in five days. I want an arrest made before I leave.”