Lilly slowly turned and looked. "It looks like it to me," she said nervously. "What's he doing?"
"It looks like he's looking through binoculars. He's probably looking for us. Be careful that you don't move. Dalton's right; he won't look in the trees unless he sees movement."
"Do you think we should call Dalton and tell him?"
Daphne quickly answered, "No. He may catch our movement if we get our phone out of our pocket."
"Good point. Let's watch him and see where he goes when Dalton and Clay get here."
"We will. I hope he runs off when he sees them coming."
They stopped whispering then and held still, both worried about what would happen. What if he had a gun? What if he hurt Dalton and Clay?
Luckily, those questions were answered a couple minutes later when they heard horses approaching from the direction of the barn. The man on the horse obviously saw them, as well, and quickly turned his horse and ran off.
As the men approached the clump of trees, the girls climbed down. As soon as they were close enough to hear her, Daphne yelled, "The guy who chased off our horses has been sitting up there on his horse looking for us."
She pointed to where they'd seen him, and Clay yelled, "Stay here with them, Dalton," and took off on his horse.
Dalton opened his arms and both ladies ran into them. He hugged them, making sure they were okay. He was still holding the trembling girls when Clay rode back up.
"I got a glimpse of him, but he's way out ahead. I think he saw me, though, so hopefully he won't be coming back. Let's get the girls home while he's headed in the opposite direction. Daphne, do you want to ride with me?"
They were soon headed back to the barn. Dalton was holding Lilly tightly in front of him, while Clay was taking Daphne. They met the men with the pickup, and Dalton turned them around and sent them back.
They all reached the barn just as the sheriff pulled in.
He asked lots of questions, and the girls answered them all. They were able to give him a description of the horse, but unfortunately, when they both described it as brown with some white on his face and his lower legs, that described probably half of the horses in the area. All they could tell him about the man was he had on blue jeans, a blue chambray shirt, and had a black winter hat covering his face and hair. Again, not very helpful.
The sheriff, both girls, Dalton and Clay all went in the house to discuss it more. Stella put a coffee pot and cups on the table, and gasped when she heard why the sheriff had been called.
Dalton asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Do you think this is related to the break in?"
The sheriff didn't try to hide anything. "I think it almost has to be," he answered, "but I don't have any proof."
"I chased the man a little ways, but he was quite a ways ahead of me," Clay said. "His tracks should be there yet."
"When my deputy gets here ,can you take him out and show him the tracks?"
"Absolutely," Clay said. "I'll be happy to follow them with him."
"Thank you, Clay."
"Do you have any idea what whoever this is might be after? I mean, what kind of a motive could he have? Do you think he's dangerous, or just wanting to scare us?"
"Those are all good questions, Dalton. It seems to me if he would have wanted to hurt the ladies today he could have, so I hope that means he doesn't plan to. I don't think you can be too careful, though, until we catch him. I'd do things in pairs for awhile, and not have anyone out alone, especially the ladies."
"Do you think they're targeting them, or—" Dalton was running his hand through his hair with worry.
The sheriff saw his concern. "Dalton, I understand why you're so concerned. Frankly, I don't blame you; I would be, too. But until we have something more to go on, I don't know what to tell you. He could be targeting the ladies, he could be targeting you and Lilly, or he could be targeting the ranch in general. I could make an argument for any of those possibilities. I'll be trying to answer those questions, but until I get some answers I think we have to be careful and assume he could be dangerous and targeting anyone involved in some way with the ranch. I know that doesn't help you much, but—"
"I understand, Sheriff, and it does actually help." He turned to the girls. "Lilly, Daphne, until we have some answers I don't want you to go out either by yourselves individually or the two of you together unless Clay or I can go with you. It's not just me saying this, you just heard the sheriff saying the same thing. Do I have your word, both of you?"
Daphne looked at both men. "That's just if I'm here at the ranch; right?"
Dalton explained to the sheriff, "She and her husband built a house on the edge of ranch property, just around the corner. What do you think?"
"I know you won't want to hear this, but I'd stay inside if you're alone. Right now, we don't know who this is or what they're after. It may be someone who knows you're part of the ranch family."
They talked with the sheriff for half an hour, trying to think of anyone who might have an argument or disagreement with anyone at the ranch, but no one really had any good leads. Sheriff Sloan got ready to leave. "If anything else happens, let me know. Even if you don't think it's related, if there's anything unusual or different, let me know about it. I'll check it out and see if we can't find some leads. I'm going to go see how Clay and Deputy Sherman are doing on the tracks. Let's hope they found something."
Sheriff Sloan left and Stella wanted to know what had happened. Dalton had the girls explain it to her, listening closely to their explanation. He hoped they'd mention something different or he'd pick up on something he missed the first time he heard it. Nothing new stood out to him, though. He talked to the girls a few minutes to make sure they understood he didn't want them out alone at all, even briefly, and why. They were both still upset and scared, and neither argued with him.
Chapter Fifteen
It didn't take long for Lilly to find out Dalton was serious about not being outside alone. He threatened her with a spanking if he caught her going out to wash her car alone again. "But I was right there in the lane," she argued. "I was close to the house!"
"I said no going out alone and I meant it, Lilly. Consider this a warning, but don't expect another."
She fumed the rest of the afternoon and was quiet during supper. After supper, he took her into the living room and sat her down. Checking to be sure they were alone, he quietly said, "Lilly, I know you're still upset about the car washing incident, but you need to get over it. I won't allow you to keep pouting. You know the rule and you know why the rule's in place. I don't like it any more than you do, but until we get some answers, I have to protect you."
She had tears in her eyes as she quietly said, "I know."
He knew then something else was wrong. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "What is it, honey? What's wrong?"
"I know you're right, and I'm sorry. But I hate it. I thought you meant not to go far from the house. Now that I can't go outside at all, I feel like a caged animal. And it's scary. Who could be doing this, and what do they want?"
He tenderly kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Lilly. I know it's hard. It's especially hard on you because you can't paint much, and I hate that. I can take you out to paint on Sunday, but I know that's not offering much. I've been giving it a lot of thought, but I haven't come up with anything yet."
"Thank you for trying. It's not your fault and I'm not blaming you. To be honest, I'm not sure how good my painting would be on Sunday, anyway, knowing you're there as a body guard. I just want it to end, and I know that's asking for something you can't do."
He held her and they talked until she felt a little better.
Two days later, Lilly needed an address she had on a paper she had in the trunk of her car. She started out to get it, but Stella talked her into waiting for Dalton. "You know he'll be coming in for lunch anytime now. You don't want him to see you outside."
"Ooohhh," she hissed. "This is so frust
rating. It would take me two minutes to pop out there, grab the address, and be back in here. But you're right; with my luck, he'd come in for lunch right then, so I'll wait. Thank you for helping me remember, Stella."
"Remember what?" Both ladies turned to see Dalton walking into the kitchen.
Lilly went over to give him a kiss. "I need an address. It's on a letter in the trunk of my car, and I almost forgot and was ready to slip out to get it, but Stella stopped me. I was thanking her."
"Thank you, Stella. I appreciate your help, as well. What letter is it you need, and where is it? I'll go get it right now."
"It would be quicker and easier to show you." When she saw the stern look on his face, she explained which letter and where it was.
She was standing at the door as he went to her car and opened the trunk, in case he had any questions. She watched him approach the car, and stop. He looked in the windows of the car, then very quickly opened the trunk. He sighed and quickly shut it and pulled out his phone and made a call as he headed toward the house.
He walked in and closed the door behind him as he said, "This is Dalton Henderson. I need to report another problem at our ranch. A car has been broken into and vandalized."
Lilly gasped and tried to run outside, but Dalton caught her. Clay opened the door to come into the kitchen just then and quickly assessed what was going on. He put his arms around Lilly, successfully holding her arms at her sides, and moved her back into the house. He held her still while they all listened to the rest of Dalton's conversation.
"It had to have happened sometime today. It was okay when I went to the barn this morning. Yes, I'll be here all day and evening. Okay, thank you very much."
He put his phone away and nodded for Clay to let Lilly go. He took her hands in his and said, "I'm sorry, Lilly."
"How bad is it? What did they do? Why can't I go see it?"
He sat down in a chair at the table, motioning for everyone to do the same. He pulled Lilly down on his lap and said, "Someone broke in and tore it up pretty good." He pulled her in against him before going on. "Even if your insurance doesn't cover it, ours will, so we'll get you a replacement car. I know that's not your biggest concern right now and I don't blame you, but keep that in mind. It looks like they must have had a knife or something because the seats are shredded. I'm sure Sheriff Sloan will want a list of things that were in it. I'll help you with that in a little bit, but was there anything in there that had a special value to you?"
She was fighting back tears, but managed to say, "Not that I can think of."
"Good. We'll go look at it, but I would prefer to wait until the sheriff or his deputy get here. Honey, for all I know whoever did this could be out there watching the house. I don't know what they want—"
"They obviously want me," she shouted. "But why?"
"Ssshhh, Lilly, calm down," he said, holding her tightly, hoping it would help her feel safe. "Why do you say they want you?"
"Isn't it obvious? They broke into your house, which is also where I'm staying, so it's my home, too. Then they chased off our horses, which was me again, and Daphne. This time it was my car. All three of them involve me! I've got to be the one they're after. But why?"
"Honey, it doesn't necessarily have to be you, or just you. They could be after the ranch. That would involve anyone or anything on the ranch. We can't jump to conclusions."
Clay and Stella helped Dalton try to convince Lilly there wasn't enough evidence to say she was the target. They were still talking about it when Deputy Sherman knocked on the door. Dalton let him in and invited him to have a seat, while Stella offered him coffee.
"No, thank you. Sheriff Sloan's coming out, too, but he was further away. I take it that it was the Camaro in the driveway?"
Dalton nodded. "It's exactly how we found it. The only thing I did was look in the windows and open the trunk. When I saw they'd been in there as well, I closed it and called you. It's Lilly's car and I haven't let her go out to look at it yet. I wasn't sure it was safe. I mean, that car has been in that exact spot since yesterday. Lilly and Stella have been in the house all morning and there have been hands around the barns. How could someone have done this and not been noticed?"
Deputy Sherman looked at Lilly. "You haven't moved your car since yesterday?"
"No."
He turned back to look at Dalton. "And you're sure it was okay this morning?"
"Positive. One day last week when Lilly got out of her car, she left her keys in it. With the problems lately, I looked in the car on my way out to the barn after breakfast this morning to make sure she hadn't accidentally left the keys in it again. It was fine then."
"What time was that?"
He looked over at Stella. "7:30, 8:00?" Stella nodded. "Around there, I'd say," he told the deputy.
The deputy asked several more questions, taking notes of the answers. When Sheriff Sloan arrived, he looked at Deputy Sherman's notes, then asked a few additional questions. Dalton and Clay, along with the two deputies, surrounded Lilly as they went to the car to look at it. They looked quickly at the front, then checked the trunk. They all took a few pictures on their phones, and went back to the house.
Sheriff Sloan checked his notes again. "Lilly, why don't you look at the photos and see if anything stands out as missing. We're going to tow your car to the police station so our lab can check it for any fingerprints. It's been dry and I didn't see any discernible footprints around it, so we'll hope the lab comes up with something."
Lilly nodded. "Dalton said you'd want a list of everything that was in there. I'm not sure how accurate it'll be, but I'll do the best I can."
"Thank you. We'll match your list with what they find in there. Anything on your list that's missing from the car, or anything that's there but not on your list may be of some help."
She nodded. "I'll start on it today. I'm sure I'll forget at least a few things, but I'll do my best for you."
"Thank you. You never know what one little thing is going to be the clue you need." He turned to Dalton. "They're here to tow the car to the lab. We're going to go back to the station and go over everything. If you think of anything else, give us a call."
The group talked about any possibilities they could come up with while they had lunch, although no one seemed to have much of an appetite.
After lunch, Lilly started her list after Dalton went back to work. She kept the list out and added to it all afternoon as she'd think of something.
After they had supper that evening, Dalton helped her try to remember more things.
He called the sheriff the next morning to tell him she had the list. Sheriff Sloan asked if they'd have some time during the day to stop in. He said the lab found a couple things that might be of some help. Dalton wasn't about to let her go herself, and he couldn't take the time before lunch, but assured him they'd be in early afternoon.
After lunch, he told Lilly to wait in the house until he brought his pickup from the barn, where he'd been keeping it. She agreed, and was surprised when he came back to the house on foot, making another phone call. He came in and shut the door as he ended his call. "They broke into my truck," he told her.
"What? When?"
"I don't know. I parked it there last night after I checked the cattle in the east pasture. That's the last I looked at it until now."
"So now what do we do?"
"We wait for the sheriff. He and one of the deputies are coming out and they're going to tow the truck in, too."
Lilly could see the frustration in his eyes, and she went to put her arms around his waist. He pulled her in against him. "I'm sorry, Dalton."
"Thank you. The good news is it should no longer look apparent to you that they're after you. The bad news is we're running out of vehicles." He smiled, but she just hugged him tighter. "Seriously, I'm going to call our insurance company and see if we can go get a replacement car and truck, then I'm going to call the security system people again and get some outside cameras installed.
We'll get this guy, or guys, whoever he or they are."
Clay showed up a couple minutes later. He saw the two of them in an embrace, looking upset, and quickly asked, "What happened? Is everything okay? I got a text to come to the house. What's going on?"
Dalton explained what happened. He asked if he'd noticed the pickup anytime today, trying to pin down a time the culprit could have attacked. They were still talking when the sheriff arrived. He asked similar questions. After he asked all his questions, they went out to look at the truck.
Afterward, Sheriff Sloan asked for another moment of Dalton's time. He asked Clay to get the guys back to work while he talked to Sheriff Sloan.
He led the sheriff back to the house and into his office. He had a couple things he wanted to discuss with the sheriff, as well.
The sheriff started right in with his questions. "Dalton, how well do you know all the men working for you? Are any of them new hires, say within the last six months?"
"I've thought about that myself, Sheriff. The last new hire was a little over a year ago. None of them have seemed upset about anything. I haven't gotten onto any of them lately." He smiled a little and added, "Well, any more than usual, anyway. I don't think any of them are upset."
Sheriff Sloan nodded. I'm going to be up front with you, Dalton. I did some checking around yesterday. That car was too close to the house for most people to consider doing anything, especially in broad daylight. The first thing I thought of was one of your men. People wouldn't question that as much as a stranger. So I asked around, talked to some of the other ranches in the area. It seems this is one of the two or three top ranches on the best places to work list."
Dalton smiled at the sheriff. "My dad always said if you treat people right they'll treat you right. I know he followed that, and I've tried to live up to his standards, as well."
"Well, you must be succeeding because hands at other ranches seem to think everyone who's lucky enough to land a job here, stays here. That doesn't sound to me like a disgruntled employee, but I wanted to ask if you've considered the possibility."
A Beautiful Ranch Page 19
