Chapter Sixteen
Four Days Later
The wind had picked up significantly, blowing in some much colder air as thick gray clouds rolled in from the west, announcing a storm that could potentially bring the first snow of the season.
Sam had just left the house after a hearty breakfast, ready to get started with his chores.
Despite his desire to do more labor around the ranch, Sadie insisted that she employed plenty of ranch hands to do the work, so he didn’t really have much to do besides mucking his stallion’s stall and giving him food and fresh water.
Two days ago, she’d also told him that he should use his spare time to follow up with the sheriffs in neighboring towns to catch up on recent investigations.
Sam had been surprised at that, but he and Sadie seemed to have come to a new kind of understanding, which he appreciated more than he could say. Things just felt easier.
Ruby was usually with him in the mornings, feeding Black Shadow too many apples and carrots, but today was his daughter’s very first day with the new teacher Sadie had hired for her.
He’d never expected that Ruby would get her education from a private tutor, though he was very pleased that he didn’t have to worry about Ruby having to leave the ranch to actually go to visit a school in person.
Everything seemed to fall into place nicely and Sam was in a great mood, despite the threatening weather.
Sam had gotten word that a group of U.S.
Marshals were in town, apparently investigating rising crime in relation to the ever-expanding railroad network, so he decided to ride out and meet with them.
Maybe they had some information that could be useful to him.
Since his talk with Sadie, he felt much more relaxed to continue his searches.
He saddled up his stallion and was just about to lead Black Shadow out of his stall when he overheard the agitated voices of some of the ranch hands nearby. Something about a robbery at a neighbor’s ranch. Sam’s ears pricked up instantly.
“…stealing Sampson’s horses!” one man exclaimed. “They broke in through the fence on the far end on the south-western side.”
“Did anybody get hurt?” another man asked.
“I don’t know. They did burn the barn down, though,” came the answer. Sam walked over to the small group of men standing in a circle near the tack room.
“Where did this happen?” he asked them. Their heads turned toward him.
“The ranch next to us, Sampson’s Cove,” one of them supplied. “The one that’s thinking about selling…” Sam paused.
The tiny hairs in his neck stood up on end.
Walter had mentioned a rancher wanting to sell when he’d come by with his ‘business proposition’ the other day.
Sadie had shown Sam the road leading up to the place on their way to town.
The fact that it was so close to Sadie’s ranch was more than just unsettling.
“Are you riding out there?” Daniel asked as he appeared next to him. “I wanted to go and have a look myself to make sure that none of our fences are damaged.”
“That’s a good idea,” Sam replied. “I wanted to have a look at the area. Maybe they left some clues behind.” Daniel nodded and went to get his horse ready.
Sam tipped his head at the ranch hands and turned to go back to his stall when Sadie came running in.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw her wearing men’s clothing—trousers and a long leather coat—which almost hid the fact that she was a woman.
She headed straight for her white mare. Sam hadn’t noticed that one of the ranch hands in the stall had already saddled it for her.
“Is everybody ready?” Sadie called out as she walked back out of the stall, barely holding the reins. “We should get going!”
Her mare followed her blindly and waited patiently for Sadie to climb on. The way she sat on that horse oozed absolute confidence and Sam was impressed. He couldn’t shake it. Sadie looked regal, somehow.
However, it didn’t change the fact that she shouldn’t just ride out there like that.
“I don’t think that it’s a good idea for you to come with us right now,” Sam told her carefully. “We don’t really know what to expect about what happened there. It could be very dangerous.”
“The Sampsons are our direct neighbors. I have to go there,” Sadie said firmly. “You and Daniel will be there with me,” she added with a smile over her shoulder. “I’m safer when I’m with you, am I not?”
Sam didn’t know how to reply to that. It sounded like a real compliment, yet at the same time she didn’t seem to realize how dangerous it could be. He was torn.
Daniel stepped out, so Sam went to grab Black Shadow, who suddenly seemed agitated. His stallion knew that something was up. The tension in the air was palpable and with the storm rolling in, everything had suddenly taken on a certain urgency.
By the time he mounted his stallion, Daniel and Sadie had already left the barn and waited for him outside.
“Let’s hope the weather holds up,” Sadie said as she glanced up at the gloomy sky, pulling the string holding her Stetson in place tight below her chin.
“Doubt it,” Daniel commented when Sam joined them.
It didn’t look promising. The sky had taken on a threatening charcoal color and the clouds were moving fast. Sadie didn’t waste time and kicked her mare into a fast trot, riding off down toward the long road leading away from her ranch.
Daniel and Sam followed. They rode in silence, each one of them in their own thoughts.
Even though Sampson’s Cove was a neighboring ranch, it was still a twenty-minute ride to get to the burned-out building.
Smoke was still rising from smoldering parts.
It was a devastating scene. Several people were already there, making sure that the elderly owner was taken care of. Sadie jumped off her mare.
“Mr. Sampson?” she called out to him as she rushed toward the man with the silver hair and weathered face. His face had black blotches all over it from the soot. “I’m so sorry about what happened to you! Is there anything we can do to help?”
While Sadie spoke to the owner, Sam started to look around the premise. Daniel rode off to check out the fence line.
With so many people already there, any possible hoof or foot prints had long vanished. As nice as it was to see the community coming together to help, it did hinder the investigation. Sam knew that much from experience, so he started to walk around the back of the barn.
He was desperate to find anything the arsonists had left behind.
Any clue that would possibly hint at their identities.
This was too close to home and Sam really didn’t like it.
Whether she knew it or not—Sadie was suddenly in real danger.
If those men wanted to come for her, she’d lose much more than just a barn.
Just as he expected, Sam couldn’t find anything.
The thieves had broken in, taken the old man’s horses and set fire to the barn, which meant that Mr. Sampson had nothing much to sell.
The old farmhouse he lived in wasn’t worth anything.
Out here it was all about the land and livestock, so with his horses gone, his selling price would take a massive hit.
Riding back toward the house, Sam felt sorry for the old man. You worked your whole life to build something, only for it to be taken away so easily. Sam hated the memories flaring up. He’d lost one home; he wouldn’t lose a second.
Sadie was walking back to her mare when he joined her.
“Did you find anything?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes. Sam shook his head with a sigh.
“How is he holding up?” he asked her as she mounted her horse.
“I’m thinking about buying his property,” she replied matter-of-factly.
Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “We’ve known each other my whole life, and I know the true value of his land.
I was thinking about expanding my ranch anyway, so this is an easy decision.
And I already told Mr. Sampson that he can stay here and won’t have to move away. He grew up here, just like me.”
Sadie spoke with reverence as well as shrewd business sense. Sam had to admit that he saw her in a completely different light. She wasn’t the innocent and naive young woman he’d mistaken her for. Sadie wasn’t just beautiful, she was smart and clearly knew what she was doing.
Sam felt… pride. He was proud of his wife.
“I’ll go back home now,” Sadie said to him, interrupting his reverie. “I don’t like staying away for too long. Especially now!” she added, looking at the burned remnants.
“I’ll go find Daniel to see what he found out,” Sam said to her as he brought his stallion side by side with her mare. He was a little taller, but that didn’t stop him from taking her hand and squeezing it. “Be safe,” he said imploringly.
“You too!” she replied with a soft smile. “See you later.” She hesitantly pulled her hand out of his, then turned to ride back to her ranch. Sam watched her for a minute before he went to ride the path Daniel had taken earlier.
When Sam finally found him on the far end of a field, he saw Daniel and two other men hovering around a torn-down part of the fence.
“This is where they came through,” Daniel told Sam when he joined them.
“The tracks go both ways, which suggests that they went in this way, then took the stolen horses away through here as well.” He pointed at the numerous hoof prints pointing in either direction.
“According to the ranch hands, nine horses were stolen.”
Sam looked around the areas where the thieves had torn down the fence, trying to find anything they might have left behind. Once again, there was nothing. Not even a torn piece of fabric. Sam grunted in frustration. Whoever the thieves were, they were professionals.
The first rain drops started to fall.
“We should head back,” Sam suggested. “We won’t be able to find anything once the rain starts.” Daniel nodded and they both walked back to their horses.
Since there was no other way to cut across, they first had to ride back to Mr. Sampson’s house before they’d be able to get back onto the road to Sadie’s ranch.
It just so happened that Sheriff Briggs showed up at the same time they came back. Sam tipped his hat toward the man, but Briggs wasn’t a pleasant person, so he decided not to speak to him.
As their paths crossed, Briggs turned around to Sam with a scowl on his face.
“Wait a second! It’s you!” Briggs yelled at Sam. “What are you doing here? This is a private investigation! You have no business snooping around this property!”
Sam didn’t expect a warm welcome from this man, but he also didn’t expect to be attacked. He and Daniel exchanged surprised glances.
“We came to see if Mr. Sampson needs anything,” Sam said with a flat tone.
“That’s neighborly courtesy,” Daniel added.
Briggs didn’t acknowledge Daniel at all. His narrowed eyes kept staring at Sam.
“Seeing you here makes you extremely suspicious to me,” Briggs told Sam, his voice a clear warning.
“Who’s to say that you didn’t have anything to do with this crime, hm?
And now you came back to check it out, while the good people of this town scramble to make it right for Mr. Sampson.
It’s just all too convenient in my book! ”
Sam stared at him with a blank expression on his face. He’d assumed as much, but now he knew for a fact that Briggs didn’t like him. Why? Sam had no idea.
“I’m sure you know what an alibi is,” Sam told him flatly, then he turned away from the sheriff, ready to leave the area. The rain was picking up and his Stetson would hold off only so much water before he’d be soaked to the core. Briggs wasn’t worth it.
“You were dismissed from your job for a reason!” Briggs kept going, waving his finger at Sam. “Dishonorably, might I add. We don’t need someone like you snooping around here!”
Sam was taken aback and he should have been angry, but he wasn’t. Men like Briggs didn’t matter to him, much less the lies they were spewing.
However, Daniel didn’t take these accusations so lightly.
“What are you talking about?” he shouted at Briggs with an angry scowl on his face. “This man has shown nothing but concern for a neighbor! Why are you bashing him like that?” Once again, Briggs did not acknowledge him.
Sam didn’t care about how Briggs treated him, but he felt protective over Daniel. He steered his stallion back around toward Briggs, forcing the sheriff’s horse to back away. Briggs started screaming at his horse, but Black Shadow’s dominance was not only visible, the other horse sensed it.
Sam turned back around, shooting Daniel a pointed look. They were about to leave when another rider came barreling down the road toward the house, kicking up mud and dirt as he went. Sam groaned loudly and Daniel grunted.
“What is he doing here?” Daniel asked as they led their horses away from the ranch and the still screaming sheriff.
“I have no idea,” Sam replied, almost dreading his next encounter with Sadie’s uncle. On the outside, he seemed unmoved, as if he couldn’t care less, but raw anger was bubbling up on the inside. He grabbed the reins tighter, until his knuckles turned white.
“What’s going on here? Why are you here?” Walter yelled at both of them from afar, though his wild eyes were clearly focused on Sam.
Sam didn’t answer. Instead, he gave him a deadpan stare as he and Daniel rode right past him. Whatever Walter was yelling next was drowned out by the cracking thunder.