My Ranch My Way

by Misty Malone

  Cece snapped a couple more pictures of the truck as it left, but still couldn't get a good shot. As the man and the trailer left, she turned her attention to the bull. He was certainly causing a commotion among the heifers. They wanted nothing to do with the newcomer, but he was not taking no for an answer. Soon the heifers were all running, and he was close behind them. She watched, concerned. The heifers were starting to panic, which was a dangerous situation.

  * * * * *

  As soon as Chase finished talking to Cece he got his dad and they grabbed the shotguns they keep handy for wild animals they encounter on the ranch. Chase drove while Joe called Ty and explained the situation. He told him to get some hands up there, along with the truck and trailer, and bring a couple extra horses, saddled for Chase and Joe. Next he called Sheriff Green and put him on speaker so Chase could relay to him what Cece had reported. He gave him directions to the pasture they would be in.

  He went across the ranch, straight to the grove of trees. As soon as he got out of the truck Cece ran into his arms. She quickly said, "Chase, the man left, but the bull's in there and look how upset the heifers are."

  "I see that," Chase said, glancing at his dad. "I wonder if we can get him away from them somehow and settle them down."

  "I don't think he's very friendly, Chase," Cece said. Both men looked at her. She could tell they were both trying to hold back smiles, and she explained, "I know bulls aren't generally friendly, social animals, but what I mean is the bull didn't want to come out of the trailer, but the man never went in after him. He used a pitch fork to get him out."

  "We better be careful around him, son. Cece's right. We don't know anything about this bull. If he's been pastured his whole life he's not a bull we'll want to mess with."

  "That's what I was thinking, too," Chase said. "We better not try to do anything with him until we have horses, and then we better be careful. I hope Ty and the boys get here soon. He's got those heifers pretty stirred up."

  "They look young," Joe said. "Are they the heifers about to be bred?"

  "Yeah," Chase said. "They've never been with a bull yet. That's why they're so upset."

  "He may be mean, but he doesn't look like much of a bull," Cece said. "I mean, look how small he is."

  "That's probably why whoever put him here chose him. I don't know where they found him, but he's not good stock. We don't want any of our heifers breeding with him, so we've got to get him out of there before he gets to them."

  "So far they don't seem to care much for him," she noted.

  Chase chuckled and said, "No, they don't, though a lot of that's because he's new. As long as they don't get any more panicky than they are now and stampede, I'm okay with them like this. If they settle down and let him in among them, that is when I have to worry about him breeding with them."

  "So if I wouldn't have seen him drop this bull off, he probably would have bred at least some of your heifers, which would have lowered the value of your herd for a year, the calves born next spring?"

  "And their calves, as well," Chase said. "Whoever is doing this is trying to cost me money, make sure this ranch doesn't prosper."

  "And the person who would benefit from that is my brother," Joe said, shaking his head sadly. "This makes me think it has to be him."

  "Maybe," Chase agreed. "He does have motive."

  "Here comes Ty," Cece said, pointing. Chase went over to the gate and directed him into place. He opened the trailer and led out his horse, Thunder, and a horse for Joe, all saddled.

  Looking into the pasture at the bull, Ty asked, "Should we go get him loaded up, or do you want to wait on the guys?"

  "After talking to Cece about how the man unloaded him, I think we better wait for the hands. Who's coming; experienced, or greenhorns?"

  "Experienced. When you said a bull, you never know what you're dealing with, so I sent experienced men. Mack and Ryan are on their way, both good hands, and Sean's coming, too, though he hasn't had as much experience. I'm very impressed with him, but he's younger."

  "Maybe we should put him in charge of closing the trailer door as quick as we get him in," Chase suggested. "Let him watch, see what a bull in an open pasture is like."

  "Good idea," Ty agreed, and his dad nodded, as well.

  Chase turned to Cece and said, "When we go in that pasture, Sugar, I want you in my truck, and I need you to stay there. This is not a good situation. We're going to have to be extremely careful, and if the cattle or the bull panic and jump the fence I don't want to have to worry about where you are. Will you do that, please?"

  She saw the concern in his eyes and quickly assured him, "I understand, Chase. I'll get in your truck before you guys go through the gate and I'll stay there. But please, you guys be careful in there."

  "We will," he promised. "Dad, I think you and I will take the shotguns with us, just in case."

  Joe shook his head. "I don't like that idea, Chase. You'd have to have it loaded in case you need it quickly, but that makes it too dangerous. If that bull hits against your horse and knocks the gun loose it can go off. Ty, you're about the best shot I know. Maybe you should stay back with the gun in case we have problems."

  Chase nodded his head in agreement. "You're right, Dad. Ty, as much as I'd like to have you in there helping us get that bull in the trailer, I think I'd rather know you're standing by with the shotgun in case that bull manages to knock someone off their horse."

  "Any idea whose bull I'd be shooting?" Ty asked.

  "No idea," Chase said, "and I don't see that it matters, either. If it threatens me or one of my employees, I want you to stop it."

  "Okay," Ty agreed. "As long as we all feel the same way about it, I'm fine with it."

  When the other three arrived, Chase spelled out their plan and made sure everyone knew what they were to do. "If he tries to jump the fence, let him," Chase said. "Don't try to stop him and risk getting hurt. This bull's not worth it. Ty, if he does jump the fence, take him down."

  Everyone nodded, and Sean opened the gate to let them in. When the men first tried separating the bull from the heifers, things were okay. He didn't cooperate, but was more interested in getting away from the cowboys on horses. As they persisted, however, the bull became more aggressive. It slammed a couple heifers against the fence, and Chase was worried it would try doing the same thing to one of the horses, which would be dangerous for both horse and rider.

  Sheriff Green arrived while they were in the pasture attempting to get the bull into the trailer. He quickly took in the situation. He watched, as well, and after he'd been there watching for fifteen minutes the bull started to charge Chase and Thunder. Chase quickly got Thunder out of the bull's line, but the bull turned and dropped his head, ready to charge again. Sheriff Green yelled, "Shoot it, Ty. That's getting too dangerous. He charged once, he'll do it again."

  Ty whistled and motioned the cowboys away from the bull. He quickly lined up his shot and dropped the bull with one shot. The men all heaved a collective sigh of relief. The heifers, on the other hand, didn't like the shot one bit. They were already extremely antsy from the bull, and at the sound of the shot they all headed for the other end of the pasture on the run.

  Chase took off immediately, pushing Thunder, and was able to get ahead of the heifers. He slid from his horse and quickly opened the gate, glad the adjoining pasture was empty. He barely got the gate open in time for the stampeding heifers to make it through.

  He grabbed Thunder's reigns and held him off to the side, out of the way, and watched while the heifers all gradually settled down in the adjoining pasture. Heaving a sigh of relief, he mounted Thunder and went back to join the others.

  As soon as he slid off Thunder, Cece ran to him, clutching him. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back to calm her down. He could feel her shaking.

  "Good thinking, Chase," Ty said with obvious relief. "When I saw them take off I thought for sure they'd try jumping the fence, and we'd have all kinds of problems.
"

  "Me, too," Mack agreed. "You always have a few that don't make it and get hurt, break a leg, and have to be put down. Eventually the rest of them just knock the fence down. Then you have a bunch of scared cattle, some of them injured, all of them running free."

  "My hat's off to Thunder, too," Ryan added. "I knew he was a real good horse, but I didn't know he had quite that much speed in him. You two together are impressive, boss."

  Chase blushed as he thanked his men. "I'm just glad we got the bull and avoided what could have been a very tragic event. I want to thank all of you for your help."

  He looked down at the still shaking little lady cocooned in his arms and said, "And a special thanks to you for your help again, Darlin'."

  She looked up at him, confused. "But I didn't do anything to help this time, Chase. I stayed in the truck like you asked."

  "And I thank you for that," he said. "But the special thanks is for calling me when you saw them unloading the bull into the pasture."

  "Yeah, I want to hear all about that part," Sheriff Green said. "But first let's finish up here. Ty, I noticed you approached the bull with your gun still trained on it. I assume since you came back, that means the bull's dead?"

  "Yes, sir, it is," Ty confirmed.

  "Good. Let me get a couple pictures of it, then I'll help you men load him into the trailer," the sheriff said.

  "I'll have it taken to a butcher and made into hamburger to donate to a homeless shelter, if that's okay," Chase suggested.

  "I'd rather you didn't," the sheriff said. "We don't know anything about this bull. Whoever dropped it off may have poisoned it first, for all we know. Why don't you just bury it to be sure."

  "Will do," Chase agreed. He gave directions to the guys to do just that, and they all left, leaving Chase, Joe and Cece, who was still enjoying the comfort of Chase's arms.

  Sheriff Green listened to Chase tell about the first dam in the creek in the valley that impeded the flow of water, and Chase reminded him about the gate that had been opened, allowing the cattle to get out. He told him none of his men had been in that area for several days before the cattle escaped. He told him about the dam in the creek that flooded his cornfield. "That brings us to today's excitement," he finished.

  "Have you found any clues that might help in the investigation?"

  "When we go back to the house, I'll show you a bracelet Cece found in my creek downstream from the dam, shortly afterwards. Whether it has anything to do with these things or not, I have no idea. The timing of it makes me wonder, though."

  They talked a little about that, and the sheriff asked, "Anything else?"

  "I have pictures of footprints around the gate that was opened. They look more like shoes than boots, and they seem to be from either a smaller male or female."

  "Okay, good. Anything else?"

  "No, not that I noticed," Chase answered.

  "Do you have any idea who may be responsible; anyone we can start with?"

  Joe and Chase looked at each other before Chase answered, "Yes, we do, actually. We don't know how to narrow it down or prove anything, but I'm sure you will. The first person it could be is actually my Uncle Ralph."

  Joe and Chase together explained the will and how Ralph could benefit.

  "That certainly would give him motive, but do you think he would actually do that?" the sheriff asked.

  Before Chase could say anything Cece said, "Sheriff Green, I need to tell you something here."

  "No, Cece, you don't have to," Chase said.

  "Yes, I do, Chase. I'm not proud I did it, but I won't deny it or hide it now. It could affect the investigation, and I won't impede that." She explained to the sheriff how Ralph approached her at a time she was upset with Chase, and she explained about the two things she'd done.

  Sheriff Green noticed Chase's arm wrapped firmly around her waist the entire time she was confessing what she'd done, and turned to him to ask, "Can I assume you don't want charges filed?"

  "Absolutely not," he confirmed. "Not only has she apologized, but the things that have been happening lately are on a larger scale than what she did."

  "So if Ralph McDermott is responsible for all of them he's getting more brazen as he goes along, and we need to stop him before someone gets hurt," the sheriff noted.

  "True," Joe agreed.

  "But that's also part of the reason I have to say there is someone else you need to look at, as well," Chase said. He went on to explain how Leah Hunter showed up at his ranch unexpectedly, and a week later Jim Hunter was seen following Chase, and sitting out along the road, watching The Circle M with binoculars.

  The sheriff asked some questions, which Chase answered as best he could. He assured the sheriff he'd only dated Leah once, and it was shortly before he moved to Wyoming. The sheriff looked around the pasture they were at and took a few more pictures before going back to Chase's house, where Chase gave him the bracelet. He explained what Jim Hunter had said he was doing. He programmed Jim's number into his phone, then gave the sheriff Jim's business card. They also showed him the pictures they'd taken of the footprints around the gate that had been left open, and Cece showed him the pictures she took of the truck that dropped off the bull. The sheriff had them send the pictures to him so they could get them on the sheriff's department's computers and enlarge them and see if they could get any helpful information from them.

  "I have a lot of leads to follow up on," Sheriff Green said. "I'll put a couple guys on it and we'll let you know when we find something."

  When the sheriff left, Joe went to Chase. "Son, now that the sheriff is involved, hopefully these things will stop. I'm going back home tomorrow, but keep me informed."

  "I'll let you know as soon as the sheriff tells us anything," Chase promised. "Thanks for coming to help me out, especially to talk to Ralph."

  "No problem. If I find out it's been Ralph all along I'm going to—"

  "Let the sheriff handle it," Chase said. "Don't do something stupid just because he's family, Dad, as much as I know you'll want to."

  "That makes sense," Joe admitted, "but if I find out it was him you might have to remind me that I don't want to do anything stupid." They all chuckled.

  Joe left the next morning. Chase and Ty got back to work, and Cece started writing again. Things settled back into as much of a routine as possible, considering they were all anxiously awaiting word from the sheriff, while remaining alert and hoping nothing else happened to sabotage the ranch.

  Chapter 13

  It was almost a week before the sheriff came out to talk to Chase. "I haven't had much luck with anything," the sheriff told him. "Ralph told me where he was when all four of these things happened, and he has a solid alibi for every one of them. Now, I know he could have put someone else up to doing them, like he did Cece, but I haven't had any luck with that angle. I'm still working on it, but nothing so far. You don't know any of his friends he could have asked, do you?"

  "Not at all," Chase answered.

  "I've been looking into the bracelet, too, but no luck there, either," Sheriff Green reported. "I've checked with local pharmacies, but those allergies didn't sound familiar to them. I've checked with the bracelet manufacturer, but he checked his records for this area and came up empty. He's still checking, but he warned me that the way his records are kept it could take a while to find someone with those allergies. He's old school and didn't put his records on computer until last year."

  "I just checked locally, but I couldn't find anything on that, either," Chase said.

  "Jim Hunter checks out so far, too. He does in fact work where he says, and he's been sent to do exactly what he said. He has no prior record. Leah doesn't, either, but I haven't done much checking on her yet." The sheriff sounded frustrated when he said, "We'll keep on it, though. You haven't had any more incidents, have you?"

  "No, we haven't," Chase said. "Maybe whoever's doing it knows you're looking into them and they've quit."

  "I hope so," Cece sa
id.

  But three hours later that all changed.

  Cece had gotten into a habit of sorts. She'd been going to her favorite spot overlooking her swimming hole to do her writing. After the sheriff's visit, she fixed lunch for herself and her dad. Then she saddled Ginger, put her computer in her saddlebag and headed off to the creek. She got there, tied Ginger to a tree and retrieved her laptop. She sat down on her favorite rock and started to work.

  After a few minutes she heard a loud noise, and looked up. When she heard it again, she went to investigate. It sounded like a dump truck dumping its load, but what would a dump truck be doing out here? Because of all the things that had been going on lately, she hunkered down low as she raced to the top of the knoll to look in the direction the noise was coming from.

  Sure enough, there was a dump truck emptying its contents. It was being dumped on her dad's land, but right up against the fence that separated their land from Chase's. It looked like lime, which she knew her dad routinely had delivered and spread on his fields, but this was one big pile at the very end of their land. Lime would be spread on the fields, or dumped in smaller piles throughout the field so he could spread it. This didn't make any sense.

  She didn't know what was going on, but she had a bad feeling about it, so she took out her phone and snapped a couple pictures of the truck. Then she made a phone call. "Dad, did you have a load of lime delivered today?"

  "Lime? No, not until after the crops are off the fields. Why?"

  "Someone just dumped a load of something that looks like lime right up against the fence that separates our land from Chase's, at the end of the field where you planted timothy this year."

  "I didn't order anything. You stay out of sight, Cece. I'll call Chase and we'll be out. Try not to be seen."

  Ten minutes later Chase arrived on Thunder from one direction, while Pete came in a pickup from the other. After she assured them both she was fine they went to look at the lime, which turned out to be a pile of salt.