Chapter Four #2
As Sydney sat at the kitchen table, she looked over the books and decided she needed to buy some feed, so she called Ash Beckett and made an appointment for a delivery.
She wasn’t out, but Billy had told her it was getting low.
She’d rather have too much than not enough, and with the threat of more snow, she didn’t want to get stuck not having any.
“February, I wish you’d make up your mind. I’ll be happy when March comes in and maybe warms us up,” she muttered, and looked out the window to see heavy snow flying by.
Her thoughts went to Caysen. She wondered what he was doing and if he was getting anywhere on finding her horse. Damn, that pissed her off. Someone stealing her horse was just wrong and where was she now? Are they taking care of her or did they do something to hurt her?
Tears rolled down Sydney’s face as she thought about what someone would do to that animal.
She’d heard the horror stories, and it scared her anytime she heard animals had been stolen.
If it were up to her, she’d make the punishment as it had been in the old west. A hanging offense seemed fitting to her.
You just don’t steal a person’s livestock.
She knew people did it for all sorts of reasons, money being the biggest one.
But stealing from people making money with their livestock so you can get money is wrong.
“I don’t raise my horses for you asshats to steal them. They belong to me, not you.” She wiped tears away when a knock sounded on the door.
Pushing the chair back, she walked toward the door, peered out to see Caysen standing there. The brim of his hat and shoulders of his coat was covered with snow. She opened the door.
“Come in, before you freeze,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. I appreciate it.” He removed his hat, brushed the snow off it and his coat, then stepped inside.
“It’s gotten worse as the day’s gone on. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“I would, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, not. Have a seat.” She turned to make him a cup, then glanced over her shoulder to see him hanging his hat and coat up on hooks beside the door, then he moved to the table but didn’t sit.
She shook her head as she picked up the cup and walked toward the table.
She set the cup on the table, nodded for him to sit, but he shook his head, and motioned for her to sit.
She did, then he pulled out a chair and sat.
He picked up the cup, blew on the hot brew, then took a sip .
“That’s good. Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome. Did you find out anything?”
Caysen grinned. “Straight to the point, huh? Not yet, but I’m on the right track.”
“But you won’t tell me, will you?”
“No. I don’t need you going there to confront them.”
“Do you think I’d do that?”
He lifted his cup to his lips. “In a damn heartbeat,” he said, then took a sip.
Sydney laughed. “How would you know?”
“You come across as a no-nonsense woman. You’re not going to back down from trouble. Am I right?”
“Yes. My dad used to tell me someone was going to stand up to me one day, and no matter how big they were, I wouldn’t back down, and I could get hurt. I get it from him, so I don’t know why he worries about it.”
“And have you come to that yet?”
“Yet? You think I will?”
“You have to be careful, Sydney. A man could hurt you, no matter how mad you are.”
“I know. I try to hold my temper, but when things like someone stealing my horse happens, I am pissed.”
“I get that, but you can’t start something you might not be able to finish. Let me do my job. I’ll find out what happened to the horse, or I’ll find her.”
“I hope they didn’t hurt her.”
“I don’t think they did. I’m talking to a couple of people. I’ll find her.”
“You sound determined.”
“I have to be in my job. I don’t like the idea of stealing to begin with and especially if it’s someone’s livelihood. The thieves don’t get that. They don’t care. Whatever it takes to get an animal, they’ll do it.”
“But why?”
“Odds are, they’re stealing for someone else, or they steal from a neighbor they’re having problems with. I’ve heard all types of reasons, and not one of them makes sense.”
“I just got her to start trusting me. She wasn’t a mean-spirited horse, she was scared, so I’d bet she was mistreated, and I’d bet it was a woman who did it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because any of the men who work for me had no problem getting close to her. When she saw me, her ears would perk forward, her eyes would widen, her nostrils flared, she’d tense up, sometimes shake, and stomp her feet. She was afraid of me because I’m a woman.”
Caysen nodded. “She was surrendered because she supposedly bit a woman three times. Most horses aren’t going to bite without a reason.
A horse may bite as a defensive reaction if they feel threatened or perceive a potential danger.
This could be in response to a threat, or a sudden movement or noise. ”
“And from being hurt before,” Sydney said.
“Exactly. I think I need to talk to Mrs. Norton again. She surrendered the horse because it bit her. I’d bet she was mistreating the horse, and when it had enough and bit her, she got rid of it. She didn’t care about hurting her stepdaughter’s feelings at all.”
“I don’t like her.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Norton.”
“Do you know her?”
“No, but I know people like her, and I don’t like anyone who mistreats an animal. That’s just a beginning for some people.”
“Yes, it is.” Caysen pushed his chair back and stood.
“Thanks for the coffee. I need to head to the Norton ranch.” He shook his head.
“I’m not looking forward to it,” he said as he removed his hat and coat from the hooks.
He pulled his sheepskin coat on over his protective vest, then held his hat in his hands as he looked at Sydney. Their eyes met and held.
When she stood up, he moved closer to her, and she could smell his aftershave mixed with snow and it was an intoxicating scent.
He stopped right in front of her, stared into her eyes, then looked at her lips, then back into her eyes.
“I shouldn’t do this,” he murmured.
“Yes, you should,” she whispered as he lowered his lips to hers.
Sydney gasped against his mouth because no other kiss had ever felt this good.
She slipped her arms inside his coat and around his waist, as he slid his arms around her, pulling her tight against him.
He groaned when she moved her tongue against his.
Slowly he lifted his lips, and she missed them already.
“Yeah, we’re definitely going to get to know each other better once this case is solved,” he said against her lips before taking them in a deep kiss.
Just as Sydney was about to drag him off to the bedroom, he raised his head, stared into her eyes, grinned, then turned to walk out the door.
He opened it, put his hat on, touched the brim, and closed the door behind him as she plopped back down onto a chair, with her fingers touching her tingling lips.
*** *
As Case climbed into his truck, he shook his head. “You shouldn’t have kissed her,” he chastised himself.
After starting the truck, he looked toward the door to see her staring out the window, and touched the brim of his hat again, then drove off.
He had to get this case finished. He knew he was on the right track with Mrs. Norton.
She had to be the one who mistreated the horse, but he also thought Gibbs and Tillman were involved somehow.
He was sure those boot prints in the field would match one of them or both.
The only thing he could think was that Gibbs and Tillman hid the horse for Rachel Norton and probably had nothing to do with Mrs. Norton’s mistreatment of the horse.
“If she mistreated that horse, I’ll throw her ass in jail,” Case said as he pulled out on the road to head to the Norton ranch.
As he pulled to a stop beside the porch steps, he glanced around, and the place seemed deserted. With a heavy sigh, he opened the door and heard shouting coming from the barn. He quickly withdrew his weapon and made his way across the yard.
At the doors, he leaned back against them, and peered into the barn, but it was too dark to see anything. He had to go inside since there seemed to be an argument going on. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the barn, with his weapon at the ready and slowly made his way along the barn’s aisle.
The shouting seemed to be coming from the back room. So Case stayed against the wall and made his way to the doorway. He stopped beside it and listened.
“You had no right to surrender her horse, Tracy,” Roy Norton yelled.
“That thing bit me and—”
“That… thing bit you because you were always hitting it. I hate that it’s been stolen from the new owner because I’m sure whoever adopted the horse, saved her life.”
“That’s bullshit, Roy. I only hit the horse with a little whip.”
“You didn’t need to hit it at all. She was a good horse. Now my own daughter won’t speak to me because of what you did.”
“Rachel didn’t do anything around here except care about that horse,” Tracy Norton yelled.
“She had a job, Tracy. For God’s sake. When she was off work, she took care of the horse.
That was the deal when I let her buy it.
She had to be the one to clean the stall, feed and water it.
Hell, she even bought the feed! You didn’t have to do any of that, so why were you even around the horse if you hated it so much? ”
“All you care about is your daughter.”
“Bullshit. I love my daughter. She’s been through a lot. Losing her mother, me marrying you, and then you surrender her horse for no damn reason. You didn’t have anything to do with it being stolen, did you?”
“How dare you ask me something like that? Of course, I didn’t. It was probably her damn boyfriend. He’d do anything she’d ask him to do.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Just where would he take the horse?”
“You know his family has all that land.”