Chapter Fifteen #2
“I will not take a chance that you decide to take something or even run off. I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, Brent, but you stole a horse for God’s sake.
You’re damn lucky you’re not sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial.
It’s a felony. I feel like I’m beating my head against a wall trying to get you to understand. One slip-up and you will be in a cell.”
“Yes, sir. I won’t do anything stupid. I promise.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not taking your word for it. You prove it to me and to Sydney. You’re damn lucky she’s letting you work there.” Case put the truck in gear, checked traffic, then pulled onto the road.
“Where’s Bobby going?” Brent asked.
“I’m working on that. The judge let me decide what to do with both of you.”
Later, when Case entered the department, he strode to his desk, removed his hat and vest and sat down. He turned on the computer, and looked at the information on a new file he was looking into. He glanced up when his brother Deke walked past.
“Morning, Deke,” he said.
“Morning. Damn, my ass is dragging. Ellie isn’t feeling well and she kept us both up all night.”
“I’m sorry. Is it a cold or something?”
“Ava thinks so. She’s going to see how she feels today and if she’s not better, she’ll take her to the doctor.” Deke yawned.
“Where’s Rawley today?”
“I think he took today and tomorrow off.” Deke grinned. “Actually, I think Dave made him take them off.”
Case chuckled as he stood, pulled his vest on, and grabbed his hat. “I believe it. That man never stops working.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going out to pick up Bobby Gibbs.”
“Where is he doing his community service?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“The judge can make that decision.”
“I know, but I talked to him first. He told me if I couldn’t find someone to let them work for them, he’d put them somewhere. I need to head out. I’ll see you later.”
Deke nodded, as Case walked out the door, opened the door to the stairway, and ran down the steps. He climbed into his truck, called Bobby and told him to be ready when he got there and drove to the Gibbs ranch.
A little while later, Bobby sat in the passenger seat of Case’s truck, staring out the window.
“Where am I going to be working?”
“On a ranch.”
“Why can’t I do it on my father’s ranch?”
“That’s not how it works, Bobby. You have to work somewhere your hours can be kept.”
“Well, that’s better than picking up trash along the road.”
Case looked at him and grinned. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means, there are enough juvies working on the roads, so if this ranch doesn’t work for you, you’ll go to jail.” Case was feeding him a line, but he didn’t need to know that.
“What? Why?”
“You can’t serve community service if there’s no place to serve it.”
“That’s not right,” Bobby snapped.
“Then you’d better be prepared to work at this ranch. Like it or not.”
“I don’t mind working a ranch, I’ve done it my whole life.”
“Your whole life? All twenty years of it, huh?”
“Well, no. I started when I was eight doing little things. ”
Case shook his head. “Well, I have a feeling you’ll make up for it here.” He pulled into a long blacktop driveway, then drove up to a huge red barn and parked.
“Wow, nice spread,” Bobby said as he looked around. “It might be nice—” Bobby stopped, then shook his head. “Oh, hell no. I am not working for him.”
Case opened the truck door, walked toward the barn and grinned when he saw Rawley standing at the doors, shaking his head.
“You’d better not have that kid here for what I think you have him here for,” Rawley said as he took off his leather work gloves and stuck them into his back pocket of his jeans, then folded his arms.
“He needs to do his community service.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what he needs to do. He’s not doing it here. Take him to your place.”
“I wouldn’t have enough work for him.”
“Oh, sure. I get the one who’s a dick.” Rawley looked at Case. “Get Tillman here and Sydney can have Gibbs.”
“Oh, wow, I’m sorry, but Brent just started working at Sydney’s.” Case grinned.
Rawley looked off into the distance, then at Case. “Fuck. I don’t want either of them here, but if I have to make a choice, I’ll take Tillman, and she can have that little jerk.”
“I just told you that Tillman is already working.”
“Then put him on cleaning up trash,” Rawley snarled.
“Come on, Rawley. How about you and Sydney each take them for half their community service?”
“You want me to put up with him for two hundred and eight hours? ”
“If you work him ten hours a day, it’s a little more than a month.” Case grinned.
“And you know that never works. This is a working ranch, Case. If it rains, we don’t get a lot of hours in, though I’d make that little shit stay out in it.”
“You’re not even here during the week,” Case said.
“True, but I don’t need Todd quitting on me.
” Rawley pulled his gloves from his back pocket and pulled them on.
“Tell him to be here at five tomorrow morning. If he’s one second late, he can go pick up trash along the road.
” He turned toward the barn, then looked back at Case. “You owe me. Big time.”
Case grinned as Rawley entered the barn, then walked to his truck and climbed inside. He looked at Bobby.
“Be here at five tomorrow morning and don’t be late.”
“Why do I have to work with him?”
“Most of the time you won’t be. He’s a livestock agent, he has a job, but he owns one hell of a spread here. Left to him by his grandfather fifteen years ago. He raises Black Angus beef.”
“I don’t know anything about cattle.”
“You’ll learn. Raising cattle is generally easier than raising horses.
Cattle are less picky eaters, more tolerant of harsh weather, and don’t require intensive daily care.
I’m sure you know horses require higher quality feed, veterinary care and hoof maintenance.
Of course, they’re more prone to injuries too. ”
“Why does he work if he has this place? Doesn’t he sell much beef?”
Case chuckled. “He’s one of the top beef sellers in the area.
He works because that’s what he was doing when his grandfather left him the ranch.
Rawley has made this place what it is. He has some of the best ranch hands around, so don’t fuck it up.
His manager, Todd, is tough, so if you slack off, he’ll make you regret it. ”
After dropping Bobby off at home, Case drove to the office and got back to work on his latest theft.
Six bison had been stolen from a local ranch, and he needed to get out there and talk to the rancher before it got too late.
After an hour of finding out all he could on the internet about the ranch, he picked up his hat and walked out of the office.
As he climbed into his truck, he checked his watch to see it was almost four. He sure hoped he didn’t interrupt the man’s dinner. He’d keep it short because he had to go home, shower, head back into town, pick up burgers, and then head to Sydney’s.
****
Sydney sat on the sofa, watching TV when she heard a truck pull up. She looked at the clock to see it was five past six.
When a knock sounded on her door, she took a deep breath, got up, and walked to the door. She pulled it open and waved him inside.
“Come in,” she said as she held the door open wider.
Caysen removed his hat, wiped his feet on the mat, entered the house, and handed her a bag from the diner.
“I didn’t think you were going to come by.”
“I said I would. What did you want to talk about?”
“I wanted to talk to you about meeting my parents.”
“Okay.”
“Will you go to Arizona to meet them? ”
“I don’t know if I can get time off right now since we’re busy. Is that all you wanted to talk about?”
“Yes. I just want you to meet them.”
“I’d love to, but I’ll have to see when I can get the time off.”
“Okay. Come sit down and we’ll eat. This smells so good.”
“You smell so good,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her lips. “How did Brent do today?”
“Billy said he worked very hard. I just hope we can trust him.”
“I’m sure he won’t do anything wrong. He’s too scared.”
“It’s just the thought of him helping steal that horse. You don’t have any idea what that feels like. I mean, you deal with theft every day, but it’s like a stab in the heart that someone thought it was okay to take something that didn’t belong to them, and I am a little nervous about it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I do know. My horse was stolen when I was fourteen. I never forgot that feeling. That’s why I do all I can to solve rustlings.”
“You never told me that.”
“It never came up.”
“Would you have allowed the person who stole your horse to work on your ranch?”
“If I knew they truly regretted it.”
“There’s no way to know that.”
“Call it gut instinct. Do you think I don’t know when someone’s lying to me? I looked them in the eye. I know they regret what they did.”
“Can I trust him?”
“You can trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
“I do trust you,” she replied, as she shook her head. “It’s just… ”
“Look, if you don’t want him here, I’ll take him to my place.
Almost everyone deserves a second chance.
It’s not like they took the horse to sell it to someone or for meat, they made a mistake.
Something you have obviously never done,” he growled as he walked to the door, put his hand on the knob and looked back at her.
“I guess I thought you were a little more forgiving. Enjoy your burger.” He walked out and closed the door behind him.
Sydney stared at the door. She couldn’t believe that just happened.
Taking a deep breath, she walked back to the living room, picked up her phone and called Celine. She would understand since she was married to a livestock agent.
“Hey, Syd, what’s up?”
Sydney took a deep breath, then told Celine about what happened.
“Why should I feel guilty?” She pulled at a string on her T-shirt.
“You shouldn’t, but you did testify that you would accept community service.”
“I did, but that doesn’t mean I have to trust that kid.” She sighed. “I’m trying. Billy did say he worked hard today.”
“So, you trust Tillman enough to help keep him out of jail but not for working around your horses. You can’t have it both ways, Sydney.”
“That does make sense. Caysen stormed out.”
“He probably thought you’d be willing to at least try.”
“They stole my horse, Celine.”
“I know that, but they only did it to make a young woman happy.”
“It’s still theft,” Sydney said .
“Yes, it is. It’s your decision, but I think Case thought he could count on you since you told a judge you’d accept community service for them.”
“Then I turn around and say I don’t trust them…”
“Exactly. I know it would be hard for you to have either of them on your ranch, but it’s not like they’re going to steal anything with your ranch hands around. You know Billy and Ezra would keep a close eye on them.”
“Do you think Killian would do that?”
Celine laughed. “He has. So has Eli and Deke. They help when they can.” Celine’s sigh came across the phone.
“It’s not like they’re helping hardened criminals.
I know they’re both twenty, but that is so young.
The one just wanted to help his girlfriend get her horse back.
Yes, I know it was wrong, but as I said, they’re young.
I do believe that if it happened again, Case would make sure they were put away. ”
Sydney heard Killian in the background. “What did he say?”
“He said, they try to help out when they can, but the judge doesn’t always agree. Especially if they’ve been in trouble before, but those two don’t have any type of record.”
“It could lead to more though.”
“Yes, it can, but I believe they’re sorry. I’m sure a lot of offenders say how sorry they are, but not all of them mean it. Theft happens for several reasons; including stealing a horse that once belonged to someone they loved. Am I making any sense?”
“Yes, but what would you do?”
“I can’t say since I’ve never been in that position.”
“True.” Sydney sighed. “Well, Caysen is disappointed in me right now.”
“I’m sure. He thought you’d be more understanding. Wait, Killian is saying something.” Celine laughed. “He said if Case told you to trust him on them, you should have. To put it in his words, he knows his shit.”
Sydney laughed. “I know he does. He worked tirelessly on this case and I disappointed him. Damn it.” She sighed. “I’m just scared.”
“I know you are. They sound like they’re really sorry about it, though. Killian told me about the case once they were caught.”
“I guess I need to talk to Caysen and beg for forgiveness. He was really… maybe, hurt about me not willing to trust Brent when I suggested community service.”
“I’ll be here if you need me.”
Sydney hung up, placed the phone on the arm of the sofa, and stared at it. She’d call or text him tomorrow. She’d let him calm down first. She grinned. Damn, he was hot when he was mad.