Lilly noticed Dalton kept going back to one particular painting and studying it. Remembering what Stella had said earlier, she asked, "What is it about this painting, Dalton? You keep coming back to it. Do you see something?"
"I don't know. Something about it just isn't sitting right with me."
"I think it's a beautiful painting," Daphne said. "I don't see anything wrong with it."
"I don't mean something's wrong with it," Dalton clarified. "I love it, too. It happens to be one of the three I like the most. There's just something that keeps drawing me to it, but I don't know why."
Lilly and Stella exchanged a glance. Lilly suggested, "Maybe you're trying too hard, Dalton. Maybe if you let it go, something will come to you."
Dalton reached out and pulled her against him. He kissed the top of her head, still looking at the painting. "You might be right," he said. "Like I said, I really like this one, so maybe that's all that's drawing me to it."
The group went down to the living room and visited a little longer. When they all felt their brains had been taxed beyond the limit for one day, they called it a night.
***
The next morning, Lilly was downstairs to meet Dalton when he came in for breakfast. After they ate, they went upstairs to look at the painting again before he went out to work. Once he'd left, Lilly stared at the painting awhile, before she had an idea. If whoever this was said he knew this spot, maybe it wasn't what was in the painting that got his attention. Maybe it was what wasn't there.
She went to her room to go through her photographs. Maybe there was something else that she missed, or left out of the painting. She usually painted a scene exactly as she saw it, but occasionally she'd purposely leave something out, like a mud puddle after a recent rain, or a rusty old car sitting up on cinder blocks behind a house or barn.
It took most of the morning, but she'd finally gone through all her photographs and retrieved the ones of the area depicted in the painting. She studied the photos, but didn't see anything missing. She took them to the guest room and compared them to the painting carefully, but still didn't see anything missing.
Disappointed, she had another thought. Maybe she was on the right track, but it was a different painting. She was rather excited at the prospect of having something useful to do to keep her busy. She was about to go crazy in the house, and welcomed anything to keep her mind occupied. After lunch she would go through all her photos again, pulling out all of them that matched her paintings. Then she'd examine all of them. Maybe she'd find something from one of the photos, and it would at least give them a place to start.
She had a newfound sense of hope as she went downstairs to wait for Dalton and Clay to come in for lunch. She'd felt so useless lately, with nothing to do. Now she had a sense of purpose, and it felt good.
Dalton kissed her when he came in, and immediately knew something was different. "What's up, honey? You look happy. Did you find something?"
"No, but at least I've thought of a possibility. It may take me all afternoon, maybe all day tomorrow, too, but at least I feel like I'm finally doing something that might help." She went on to explain her thought.
She could tell he was deep in thought. "You might be on to something," he said. "Maybe it's not what's in the painting, but what's not in the painting. After lunch I want to go up and look at them again, with that in mind."
He shared Lilly's thought with Clay over lunch, and Stella was listening, as well. After lunch they all four went and looked at the photos again. Once again, no one saw anything notable.
Still studying the one photo, Dalton said, "I don't see anything missing. I like how you added a horse to this painting, but I don't see anything missing."
Lilly looked at him curiously. "What do you mean I added a horse?"
"This one," Dalton said, pointing to a black and white horse in a pasture. "That's one of the pastures I use for cattle, so there wouldn't be a horse in it. I love the look of it, the way you have it, though. Adding that horse added something to the painting. I really like it."
"But I didn't add the horse," Lilly said rather quietly. "The horse was there the day I painted this. Well, at least the day I painted that part of it."
Dalton turned to look at her. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. I dug up the photos for that picture already, and I compared them with the painting. I was looking for something I would have missed, that was in the photo but not on the painting. But the horse is in the photo, I'm sure."
"Let's find that photo, honey. This may be what we've been looking for."
He helped her find the corresponding photos, and sure enough, the mysterious black and white horse was in the photo.
Clay was the first to vocalize what everyone else was thinking. "Where do you suppose the horse came from, and what does it mean?"
"I was wondering the same thing," Dalton said. "And what was that horse doing on my land, in my pasture?"
Lilly studied the horse. "I don't remember seeing a horse like that in the barn, Dalton. It's not one of yours, is it? Could it belong to one of the hands? Maybe he rode it when out fixing fences in that area?"
"We don't have a horse like that, no," Dalton confirmed.
"And neither do any of the hands," Clay added.
"No, they don't." Dalton ran his hand through his hair. "I guess the next question is what was it doing there?"
Clay nodded. "I think the answer to that question would answer a lot of other questions, as well."
"It might help if we could pin it down to a certain day the horse was there. Is there a date on those photos, Lilly?"
"Not on the photos, but I took pictures of most places on my phone, too, and those would have a date on them." She was already looking at her phone as she said, "Let me see if I can find it on here."
Dalton was still thinking out loud. "If we can narrow it down to a specific date, that might help later on. We'll call Sheriff Sloan and give him this information. If we have a date we can give him, it might help."
"It certainly couldn't hurt," Clay agreed.
"Here it is," Lilly said. "I took the picture on September 8th. Any significance to anyone?"
"Not to me," Dalton said, "but it might be to the sheriff. We'll give him all this. I feel like for the first time we have something to go on."
"Me, too," Lilly said with a big smile. "But before we call him, I have one other question."
Dalton pulled Lilly into a hug. "I'm awfully proud of you. This was all good thinking on your part. Now, what's this other question you have, my little detective?"
Dalton smiled as he watched her face turn red. His little lady sure wasn't used to compliments. He made a note to be sure that changed. Then he focused his attention back on her and her question. "If this isn't a horse of yours or the ranch hands, have either of you seen it before? I mean, it seems to me like it's not your generic horse, like the one that the man was on when he chased our horses away when Daphne and I were out."
Dalton looked at her with a serious expression. "You're certain it's not the same horse?"
"Positive. That one was brown. This is black and white, but the markings on this one are more unique. Does it look familiar to either of you?"
Both men looked at the horse again. Clay nodded his head. "You know, now that you mentioned that, Lilly, I think I have seen this horse before. I can't remember where, though. How about you, Dalton?"
Dalton was starting to nod his head. "Yeah, I think you're right. I'm almost positive I've seen it somewhere, but I can't say where."
"Think," Lilly encouraged the men. "Maybe at another ranch around here?"
The men looked at each other, both with raised eyebrows. "Could be," Dalton said. "I can't place it right now, but that could be where I've seen it before." Clay nodded in agreement.
"So I guess the big question is whose horse is it?" Lilly said.
Chapter Nineteen
"We'll give the sheriff all this information," Dalton said. "Maybe he'll
be able to find out whose horse it is. We'll give him one of the pictures to keep so he'll have it and can use it to identify the animal."
"Maybe the date will have some significance to him, too," Lilly said.
An hour later, Sheriff Sloan and Deputy Sherman were sitting at Dalton's kitchen table. The sheriff was anxious. "Okay, Dalton, you said you found something. What did you find?"
He quickly explained Lilly's thought that it might not be what was in the picture, but what wasn't there, which led to her getting the photos out to compare. "We didn't find anything missing, but I found something that's there that shouldn't be."
The sheriff sat up straight. "Something that shouldn't be there?"
Dalton handed him a photograph of the scene. "I saw this horse in the painting and thought she'd just added it for effect, a creative little addition on her part. When I told her that and said I liked it and thought it added a nice touch, she insisted she didn't add it, that the horse was there the day she painted him in. We don't keep horses in that pasture and we don't have a horse on this ranch that looks like that, so I questioned it. She dug up her photos of this spot and showed me, and lo and behold, the horse is in the photo."
The sheriff studied the picture. "And you're sure it's not one of your horses?"
"Positive," Dalton confirmed. "I think I've seen it somewhere, but I can't say where. Clay thought the same thing."
"Do you have any idea when this picture was taken?"
"We thought you might want to know, so she looked it up on her phone. It was taken September 8th."
The deputy's eyes opened wide. "That recent?"
"Yeah, that was one of the last paintings I did for the show," Lilly said. "Why?"
The deputy's eyes met the sheriff's, and Dalton knew there was some significance to the date. "What's going on? You're both thinking of something, I can tell. What is it?"
Sheriff Sloan thought a moment before responding. "I'll tell you in a minute, but let me ask you a question first. Where on your property is this?"
"It's on the northeast corner of my land."
When the sheriff and deputy both smiled and looked at each other, Dalton knew it was good news. "Why?"
"I think you two have just helped us solve another crime," the sheriff said. "I'll have to check on the date to be sure, but your neighbor to the northeast was broken into somewhere right in that time period. They stole several things of considerable value. They're all small items, but the homeowners are upset because most of what they stole are family heirlooms. It's not the monetary value that has them upset; it's the sentimental value. We didn't have any clues on that break-in, either. When your house was broken into, we assumed it was someone working the area, ranches in the neighborhood, but nothing was stolen from your house that you've noticed."
Dalton couldn't help a smile. "I guess the thief's saying I don't have anything worth stealing. It all fits into place now, though. His get away car was his horse, which he left tied up loosely in our pasture. The area between our pasture and the McCallahan house is full of trees and shrubs. He could easily get from one to the other without being seen."
"My thoughts exactly," the sheriff said. "He saw that painting in the gallery window that showed his horse, and it worried him."
"Lilly was right," Dalton said. "His horse is pretty easily identifiable. If people that knew it was his horse saw that picture, they'd wonder about it."
"Or if the sheriff saw it," Lilly offered, "it could be used as evidence against him."
"Exactly," Deputy Sherman said. "So now the only question is, whose horse is that?"
"I think when we have the answer to that, we'll have our thief," the sheriff said.
"Well, at least we know what they were looking for in our house," Dalton said. "It's kind of ironic. They broke in too early to the house, and too late for the truck."
"So do we have to find out whose horse it is before I'm allowed to go outside and paint again, or now that we know what they wanted am I free to pursue my painting again?"
"I don't want you going out alone until we find who this is and the sheriff arrests him," Dalton said with no uncertainty in his voice. "If he sees you out painting, he may attack you to get the painting. No, now that we know what he wants and why, you need to be very careful. If he were to catch you alone, it's hard telling what he'd do to get that painting from you."
"Great," Lilly said. "So how are we going to find this horse?"
"We aren't," Dalton said, emphasizing the word we. "You leave that to the rest of us."
"Dalton's right, Lilly," the sheriff agreed. "You stay out of sight until we catch this man. We'll find the horse and its owner. Now at least we have something to go on."
"Sheriff, I'm almost sure I've seen the horse around. Lilly suggested maybe we've seen it on a neighboring ranch. Is it okay if Clay and I go visit some of our neighbors and pay special attention to their horses?"
The sheriff paused, thinking. "I don't want to put you or Clay in harm's way, either, Dalton. Are there any ranches you're better friends with than others?"
"There's a couple, yeah."
"Let's sit down and make a list. You and Clay can check out the ones you're good friends with, but be careful. Be very discreet. Don't let them know you're looking at their horses, and don't mention anything about the break-ins. Let my deputies and I check the other ranches. I can tell them I'm looking for a horse involved in some mischief. I'm thinking you're right and your neighbors aren't involved, but rather it's one of the ranch hands at a neighboring ranch."
"That could very well be," Dalton agreed. "It would make more sense."
"I think so, too," the deputy said. "More horses are brown than black and white, so if we ask the owners if they or any of their hands have a black and white horse, they'll probably be able to tell us. If that doesn't work, then we can go ranch to ranch and ask to look at their horses."
"Good idea," the sheriff said. "The owners probably won't have anything to hide and will cooperate with us. We'll start with that."
Half an hour later, the men had a list of ranches and who was going to check on which ones. "Call me if you find anything, and I'll call you if we find something," the sheriff told Dalton before leaving.
Dalton took Lilly in his arms after the sheriff left. "I feel much better about this now. I think we're finally getting close."
"Me, too," she almost purred into his chest.
"Let's watch a movie tonight."
"Sounds like cuddling to me," she said with a grin. "I'm all for it!"
"Me, too," he said with a chuckle. "I was going to suggest we go out to dinner to celebrate your good work, but I hate to leave Stella alone in the house."
"I agree," Lilly quickly said. "Cuddling on the couch works for me. It sounds wonderful."
"I was hoping you'd say that. You've been too stressed since this all started. Tonight, since it looks like it finally may come to an end, maybe you can relax a little."
"You're right, I have been stressed. It would be nice to relax and cuddle." He suggested she call Daphne and tell them their findings, then went out to find Clay and relate to him what they'd learned.
Supper that night was more jovial than it had been for awhile. There was a sense of hope now. After supper, Dalton and Lilly went into the living room and found a movie they wanted to watch. She cuddled up on his lap, which had become her favorite cuddling spot, and within an hour she was fast asleep.
He smiled as he looked down at her. She looked so pretty, and small and fragile leaning against his chest. This had been hard on her. Having to stay inside was very difficult. He'd quickly come to realize she enjoyed being outdoors, and now that she'd overcome her fear of horses, she loved riding. Her love of the outdoors was not surprising, considering her passion for painting scenery.
As soon as this was over he had a special spot in mind to take her for a picnic. He hadn't told her about it before because he didn't want her going there alone. They'd seen a couple of mountain
lions in the area, and a couple of wolves. They'd even seen a bear. It had been several years ago, but with all those creatures having been there in the past, he wasn't about to let her go there alone. He'd take his rifle along just in case, and they'd have a picnic.
There was one item the person who broke into their house hadn't taken, and Dalton was glad. He had his mother's wedding ring. It had been passed down through three generations, going to the oldest son. When he received it in the will, it didn't mean much to him. Getting married was the last thing on his mind at the time. But lately he'd been thinking a lot, not only about the ring, but about getting married.
He knew he and Lilly had only been dating a matter of five months, but they'd known each other a lot longer than that. And more importantly, he knew his feelings. He loved her, and he could tell she returned his love. When he knew what he wanted, it was settled. He never was one to change his mind.
He wasn't sure what she would think, though. Was five months enough time for her to know her heart? He went back and forth in his mind as to whether he should wait and give her more time, or go ahead and ask her. He finally decided he was going to ask. If she wasn't ready, he'd be patient. He didn't want to get married until she was as sure as he was of the decision.
He looked back down at her and kissed her forehead gently. He had to find this black and white horse and bring this thing to a close. She needed to be free to find her special places and paint her magical paintings. And he needed to be able to take her on a special picnic.
He carried her upstairs and set her carefully on her bed. He took her shoes off and put the quilt at the bottom of the bed over her, then gave her one more kiss on her forehead before going to his own room. He hoped she agreed to marry him pretty soon. He so wanted to be able to lay her gently in his bed instead of the one across the hall from him. He shook his head to get that thought from his mind before going to his bathroom to take another cold shower being going to bed.
***
A Beautiful Ranch Page 24
