Chapter Seven
“I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, but this email was sent through a type of untraceable source.” The Cybercrimes Department at the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office came about two hours later like Alex had said.
“Untraceable?” Hope asked, unaware of a lot of things outside of her home, but Gage knew exactly what that meant.
He couldn’t believe the words he was hearing.
The bastard had a way around it. In his gut, he knew they wouldn’t find anything.
Cummings wasn’t stupid enough to leave a trail.
He’d used proxy servers like Gage expected.
“Yes, well, it bounces around to throw us off the trail. The origin of the email has led to a place just outside of Moscow. Do you know anyone that lives in Russia?”
“No. I don’t have friends,” Hope confessed. Gage rubbed her back.
“Love, don’t be ashamed. It’s your bastard father’s fault you never left that damn prison of a house in the first place.” Gage looked at the detectives and said, “I haven’t dealt with a Russian in years, and he was deported.”
There was no doubt in Gage’s mind that this had everything to do with Cummings.
He looked around the room, trying to control the fury building.
His wife’s sperm donor had played his cards well.
Gage wondered if Cummings had actually been injured or had faked it.
The more he thought about the spiderweb of IP addresses, he knew that it couldn’t be anyone else.
No one would put in that much effort and not point it to Cummings directly.
The tech added, “Give us the name, and we’ll see if he’s behind it. It’s a long shot because I’m sure the email came from much closer, but we can still check it out.”
“Good, because I’m certain it’s Cummings. That lawyer of his gave me a funny feeling. I bet his ass is crooked.”
“We’ll do what we can.” They packed up their gear and left.
Gage and Hope went about their day like nothing had happened, although in the back of both their minds, trouble was a moment away.
Just as the techs pulled out onto the main road, Bill came running up the steps, panting while wiping the sweat off his brow.
“The bull is missing. I checked the area, but I can’t find him.
There’s another hole in the fence in a different spot.
The camera’s there and recording, but the pole has been knocked over. ”
“Shit. Have the men scanned the area?” Gage asked.
“Yes, but there’s no sign of the bull. And it’s worse.”
“What?”
“I found this by the camera.” He opened his hand to reveal a spent shell casing from a long-range rifle. Gage’s heart sank.
“So someone shot down my camera.” Gage paced the room, thinking of everything he learned. This all must lead to Cummings—but how?
“It would appear that way.”
“I need all of you out looking for the bull. Cummings is in the hospital, so I doubt he’ll come after us. I need to review that camera’s feed and see what time it happened.” Bill left right away to send out a search party.
An hour later, Gage found the time of the shooting, which had been at four in the morning, just before they began their day. What it didn’t show was what happened afterward. A loud rumble and shout could be heard out of the speaker, but that was it and then it went silent.
His phone rang as he stood up to check on Hope, who had gone to feed the baby.
“What’s up, Bill? Please tell me you have some good news.” From the long pause, Gage knew the answer would be no.
“I’m afraid I don’t. I found the bull. He’s dead.”
“Son of a bitch!” He slammed his phone down on the desk. Regaining his cool, he picked it up and said, “What do you know?”
“It wasn’t an accident or anything. He’d been shot and left in Colt’s field.”
“Shit. Okay.” That was a message. Colt would have wrangled up the bull and called me, so who shot the fucker?
“Colt said he’d handle it.” Gage nodded to himself. His cousin was a truly professional rancher and was used to dealing with dead animals.
“Thanks. I’m going to need a drink.”
“Sorry, boss.”
“Thanks again. Finish up the work for today and get some rest. I’ll talk to you later.”
Colt called Gage twenty minutes later with a lead on the suspect. “I’m sorry about what happened. I pulled my footage, but the only thing my cameras picked up in passing was a dark blue Ford pickup. The model was unclear as well as the plates, but at least that’s a start.”
“Thanks, man. Can you send me a picture of it?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. I need to call this into the police.”
A loud sigh came from Colt. “Um…Gage. I’ve got more shitty news for you. Silas Perkins is out of jail now.”
“What?”
“Yeah, on good behavior.”
“Great. Things are just getting better and better. Damn. Silas Perkins.” A light went on in Gage’s head.
He thought back to the scrawny old bastard with his schemes.
Several people had been convicted of stealing, but Silas had been the ringleader.
“That son of a bitch. With Cummings out on bail, I completely forgot about him. Do you know where he is?”
“He’s back at his place as far as I know. How is Hope?”
“She’s taking care of the baby right now.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“Don’t do anything with the bull until the cops come. They may want to check it out.”
“I took pictures, but I had to get it off my field. The other animals won’t graze with it there.”
“Understood. Talk to you later. Thanks for everything.”
“No problem. Call me anytime.”
Gage made the call to the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office again. This time they came out with two detectives. “You’ve got a lot going on today, Mr. Gibson.”
“Yeah, way too much bullshit for my liking.”
“So you say someone trespassed on your property, damaged your cameras, and killed one of your cattle?”
“Yes, it happened at four in the morning. My crew came up to me this afternoon to tell me the bull got out again.”
“This happened before?” Gage tried to keep his cool. They weren’t the ones who worked the case, so they didn’t have to know about it. The FBI handled the matter because it crossed state lines.
“Did you hear about the Cattle Auction Ring that happened last year?”
“Oh, yes. I read about it.”
“Well, I was the one who turned the people in after they were caught on camera stealing my cattle back.”
“Do you think the two events are connected?”
“It’s hard to say. I know that the email had to be from Cummings regardless of the fact that he was in the hospital with severe injuries. One of his lackeys could have been the one to hit the button.”
“True. We’re going to ride over to Colt’s ranch and get all we can from the bull and then have a talk with Mr. Perkins. Do us a favor and don’t contact Perkins. Understood?”
“I won’t. I’m not interested in going to jail. I have a family to look after.”
It was already five when he went looking for Hope and their son.
His stomach was rumbling, so he was sure hers would be too.
His stomach had been in knots with everything going on, so he hardly touched the lunch Hope brought him after Bill left to search for the bull.
They were in the baby’s nursery just outside their bedroom. “Are you hungry, Hope?”
“No. I want to spend time with Ethan.”
Gage stared at his wife as questions circled in his mind. Was she pushing me away? Did she blame me for spending so much time away from her? “Do you want me to join you?”
“Of course. Unless you don’t want to.” She seemed unsure. The both of them were shaken by the constant danger they’d had to go through—the doubt and fear challenging their young love.
“I always want to be with my two favorite people.” Gage got down on the floor with Hope and Ethan, who sat around his playmat and toys.
“Ouch, shit. I think I got a toy up my ass,” Gage said, digging a toy phone out from under his rear.
“I’m not even going to go there.” She giggled, which made Gage’s heart swell.
“I always want to go there,” he growled with his hand cupping her ass.
“Gage,” she whimpered, pressing her ass back into his hand for even more attention. “I love you.”
“God, I exist for you, Hope.” Gage crushed his mouth to hers, biting on her bottom lip. The softness of her plump lips always drove him insane. He arched up onto his knees, thrusting his fingers into her hair.
The sound of their son cooing stopped the passionate moment, and they returned to playing with their little boy.
For an hour, they gave him his tummy time, helping him strengthen his already large body.
Gage’s mother informed them that he had been a big baby as well, so little Ethan was taking after his daddy.
“He has everything from you. If I didn’t give birth to him, I wouldn’t know I had anything to do with making him. ”
“And I’m sure any little girl we have will look just like you—stunningly beautiful.”
“Thank you, my sweet husband.” She rested her head on his shoulder as they watched their baby try to crawl. He’d get one leg up and then one hand on one side and accidentally roll over onto his back. He could flip himself onto his tummy again, and he did it after two tries.
“He’s going to…” Hope yawned “…be crawling soon.”
“He will be for sure. Then he’ll run amok just in time for our other little one to arrive.” Gage brushed her hair away from her face and could see the fatigue in her eyes. “Baby, if you’re tired, you can lie down.”
“No, I don’t want to miss any time with you two. If it wasn’t for the attack, you’d be working with the guys.”
“I’m sorry. I know I work a lot, but as soon as I find enough hands, I’ll take a step back.”
“You don’t work too much. I’m just greedy. It’s never enough time alone with you.”
“Damn, I fucking love you.” He stole another kiss before taking their son and setting him in his bouncer with the hanging toys. The baby giggled with each bounce before yawning.