Chapter Five
Ellen arrived home less than an hour after she’d left to find Bobby sitting on the porch. His jeans were wet and his shoes were muddy. Whiskey lay at his feet, just as wet and muddy as her son.
She put aside her worries about George and Millie and sat on the swing next to Bobby. “You didn’t find Cleo?”
He shook his head. “What if a coyote got her?”
“She’s a smart cat. She’s been on her own for a while. Maybe she wanted to have her kittens someplace else.”
“But the barn is safe! I made her a bed and she had food and she likes me.”
“Yes, she does.”
“We have to find her.”
He was on the verge of tears, and Ellen worried that if he found Cleo, she might not be alive. She didn’t want him to be alone if that happened.
“I have work to do here, but I was going to send Avery to check on the Mendozas and see if they need help with the sheep. Maybe Cleo went over there.”
“They’re almost a mile away.”
“But remember that old barn? Where they used to store their equipment? If she got scared, that would be a good place for her to hide, it’s dry and quiet.”
“Our barn is dry.” Bobby pouted.
“Take a cage. If you can find her, try to get her into the cage and bring her back. I’ll look around here as I’m working.”
He looked at her hopefully. “You will?”
“Of course.”
“Can we go right now?”
“Ask Grandma if Mrs. Mendoza called back. If she hasn’t, you and Avery can head over there—take the ATVs and a radio. Be back before two, I want you both home before the rain starts.”
He jumped up. “Okay, Mom! Thanks!”
He ran toward the house and as the screen slammed behind him, she heard, “Grandma! Grandma! Did Mrs. Mendoza call?”
Ellen really hoped and prayed the cat was okay. Bobby was a tough kid, but when it came to animals, he felt deep empathy when they suffered. Her eyes burned thinking about what might have happened to the poor stray … and how Bobby might react.
Life and death were part of living on a ranch. She knew it, and ten-year-old Bobby knew it. But that didn’t always make it easier.
It took less than ten minutes for Bobby to get Avery moving.
Ellen reminded them about the roads and weather and made sure the radios were charged.
As she watched them ride the ATVs on the long dirt driveway toward the gravel road, she wondered if maybe she should have gone with them.
No, they were fine, she told herself. Avery was responsible, and Bobby would listen to her.
The house phone rang. A moment later, Penny called out, “Ellen! It’s Jake.”
She went inside and picked up the phone. “Done with the run-in?”
“Mom, Greg Baldwin was robbed last night. He was shot—they’re bringing in a life-line helicopter right now.”
She froze. “Greg? What? How?” A million questions cluttered her mind.
“I found Timber in the field halfway between Baldwin’s house and the run-in.”
“Oh my God, is he—?”
“He’s injured. I’m going to borrow Baldwin’s ATV and a trailer and take him to Uncle Travis.
We should be able to remove the buckshot in his leg and bandage him up sufficiently until we can get him to a vet.
I called Dr. Jim, but he won’t be able to get here in time.
Said I could call him and he’d walk me and Uncle Travis through any problems, but I think it’s going to be straightforward, and Uncle Travis has some experience. ”
Ellen’s head was spinning at the information. The poor dog … poor Greg. “Someone shot both Greg and Timber? You’re sure?”
“Positive. Sheriff Perez is here. He wants to talk to you. Mateo fixed the run-in; says it’ll weather the storm. He’s going to bring my horse home when we’re done here.”
A second later, Rick Perez got on the phone. “Ellie?”
“My God, Rick, what happened?”
“Don’t know yet. But this isn’t the first robbery in the area. Two folks over in Grayson County had something similar happen, but no one was home.”
“Who? I didn’t hear about any thefts.”
“The Pattersons, down just north of Whitesboro, were robbed Monday night, and the Trevino family over off Sycamore Creek was robbed Wednesday.”
“They’re okay? Of course,” Ellen said immediately. “You said they weren’t home.”
“I didn’t hear about the robberies until yesterday, since they were in Grayson.”
Cooke and Grayson counties had similar demographics, and the county line cut through farmland to the extent that unless you were a native, you didn’t really know where one county ended and the other began.
County Line Road and Farm to Market Road were roughly the boundary.
Baldwin’s property abutted the county line, not too far from the end of Sycamore Creek Road where the Trevinos lived.
“Ellie, you need to be careful.”
“We have nothing of value here, other than livestock and farming equipment. What did they steal?”
“The Pattersons lost cash, electronics, paper—banking records and the sort. They’re worried about identity theft and are working with their bank to lock down their finances.
The Trevinos lost electronics and some jewelry.
The Pattersons were robbed at night—they were visiting family down in Houston—and the Trevinos were robbed during the day while they were in the field.
The thieves broke some stuff, making me think these are older teens who are just being jerks.
But then Baldwin, well, this just feels different, even though the thief or thieves stole the same kind of stuff.
I already have a call into Vance so we can compare notes, see if he has a suspect. ”
Sheriff Vance Jefferson was in Grayson; Rick was in Cooke.
“Is Greg going to be okay?”
“I can’t say. He hasn’t regained consciousness. But he’s a tough old bastard, I’m putting my money on him.”
Through the phone, she heard a helicopter in the background. She looked out the kitchen window; in the distance she could see the whirlybird over Greg’s property.
“They shot him for what? Some collectibles?”
“Don’t know what they got specifically, but all the damage was in his office.
They came in through the back but left through the front, maybe because in the confusion of being confronted by Baldwin they were disoriented.
They didn’t touch his gun collection, which is worth a pretty penny and not even locked up.
They tried to access the safe in his library, but it’s still secure.
His computer is broken on the floor, paper everywhere. You know the rumors.”
She did. Greg Baldwin was considered one of the wealthiest landowners in the region.
He had a gentleman’s farm, had made his money in banking and investments and was semiretired, even though he was only in his fifties.
People who didn’t personally know him might think he had a lot of valuables in his house.
He had nice things, but most of his money was in real estate, stocks, and horses.
“Ellie, I mean it. You need to be careful, hear me?”
She didn’t respond. She thought about Bobby and Avery heading toward the Mendozas and wished she hadn’t let them go.
“Ellen,” Rick said. “You listening?”
“Of course. But Greg wasn’t supposed to be home until Sunday.”
“You certain about that?”
“We talked after the hailstorm, and he said he was leaving Wednesday to visit the girls in Dallas and look at a mare he was thinking of buying and would be back Sunday. I gave him a box of Penny’s cookies for the trip.”
“Hmm,” Rick said. “Could be the thieves didn’t expect anyone to be home, he surprised them. But that tells me they are local, because who else would know that he was supposed to be out of town?”
“I don’t know the Pattersons,” Ellen said, “but the Trevinos don’t have expensive items lying around the house. What about Greg’s caretaker?”
“I put in a call to him, but Jake said he doesn’t live on the property and only stays in the apartment above the stables when Baldwin is out of town.”
That was true. If Greg came home early, his caretaker would have left. “Still, call him because he might know why Greg came home early.”
“Will do,” he said. “Just keep your wits about you. I’m going to talk to the Robinsons, though they have more security than most folks in the area.
Make sure they’re aware that we have this situation.
You want to reach out to the Coulters, Mendozas, and oh, the um …
that new family at the end of the bend?”
“The Pritchards,” she said.
“I haven’t had a chance to meet them, but Ryan said they’re friendly.”
“They are. They have a couple of young kids; I’ll make sure they’re okay.
” She had planned to call them anyway about their storm prep.
They’d moved up here from Dallas last summer in a back-to-nature move, and Ellen wasn’t certain they were ready for all that Mother Nature could throw at them.
“I’ll ask Travis to keep an eye out as well,” she added.
“Well, just, um, be careful out there.”
“I will.”
Ellen appreciated his concern, though she wasn’t incompetent with a gun. She may not be the sharpshooter Penny was in her youth, but Ellen could hit what she aimed at.
“I can send Ryan over to help for the weekend.”
She laughed; she couldn’t help it. “You think that’s a good idea?”
He chuckled. “Well, Avery’s a good girl, and Ryan would be on his best behavior around you and Jake.”
Avery and Rick’s son Ryan had been inseparable for the last year.
Young love. They were both good kids, but Ellen didn’t really like how close they’d grown.
She wanted Avery to see the world, go to college, walk a path where she found joy and purpose.
Avery said she wanted to stay on the farm …
which Ellen always reminded her when she slept past sunrise, which was every day that ended in y.
“We’ll be fine,” Ellen told Rick. “And no one, not even a thief, would brave the roads tonight. It would be suicide.”