I'm On a Ranch?

by Misty Malone

  That was soon accomplished, and he reported what he'd found out. “The truck was indeed found in Weston and an arrest warrant was put out for the vet that was driving it, which was indeed you, Janelle,” he reported. “The state police are going to contact the veterinary clinic and explain what happened. He's going to call me back shortly on this line.”

  Austin, who had lent the sheriff his phone, said, “Keep it until he calls you back.”

  “Thank you. Now, we're going to need a description of these men, Janelle. Once we have that we'll try to determine who they are and get them into custody.”

  Bryce pulled Janelle a little closer to him before addressing the sheriff. “While we're all here I want to ask something so we all know what we're up against.”

  “Go ahead, Bryce,” the sheriff said.

  “Since this involves a congressman I know it's got to be big.”

  “Agreed,” the sheriff said.

  “I also assume that he's got money, and these two men that have been asking about Janelle are on his payroll?”

  “I'd say so, yes.”

  “He's obviously not the honorable congressman the public thinks he is. Not if he's got men on his payroll that are poisoning horses.”

  “Again I'll agree.”

  “If he's got two men here trying to get her, the way I'm thinking, if you arrest them, he'll know it. What happens then, will he send more? How careful do we have to be, and how much trouble could we be in if he finds out where she is?”

  The sheriff thought a few moments before answering. “Bryce, I appreciate your straightforwardness. I'm going to be honest with all of you because I think we all need to know and be aware. With a high-ranking politician involved, I'm sure there's plenty of money, and more people that can step in when needed. And you're right, if we arrest these two it'll alert Congressman Bartello, and I don't want that. We need to expose him and take him down. What I plan to do is get the FBI involved so we have the resources we need. I think we need to find out who these two are and have them followed to be sure they don't cause any problem. While we're following them we can investigate the congressman and the horses. That way we can get the information we need to bring them all down without him knowing he's being investigated. Once we have the proof we need, with the manpower of the FBI we can arrest them all at once.”

  Bryce looked around the room at the looks on his men and Lena and Janelle. “How confident are you that we can trust the FBI?” he asked.

  “To be honest, not overly confident,” the sheriff admitted, “except for one man. He and I started our law enforcement career together at the peace officer's training program in Cheyenne. We've been good friends throughout our careers. I went the route of a sheriff, while he went to the FBI. I trust him, and I'm sure once we tell him what's going on he'll know who in the agency he can trust.”

  “Okay, that makes me feel better,” Bryce said. “Do you have any idea how long it might take for all this to happen? Or how long it might take to ID and find these men looking for Janelle?”

  “Not really,” Sheriff Hollinger said. “The FBI agent, Bill Caldwell, and his wife are friends of ours. I'll take my wife and we'll go visit them this evening and I can fill him in. I'm sure he'll get right on it, probably talking to someone about it tomorrow morning.”

  “Good,” Bryce said.

  “In the meantime,” the sheriff warned, “everyone here has to be careful. Has anyone said anything to anyone at all, even a family member, about Janelle being here?”

  “We just told Doc Alexander,” Bryce said. “He was here and saw her. I told him it was very important he not say anything to anyone, and he said he wouldn't mention it to a soul.”

  “I'll follow up with him,” the sheriff said. “I'll explain how important it is, just to be sure he understands. Anyone else that knows she's here?”

  Everyone shook their head. “Okay, good,” Sheriff Hollinger said. “If anyone remembers someone you may have mentioned it to, come by and tell me, and tell Bryce, in case I talk to him first. I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you not to say a word to anyone.”

  Austin's phone rang, and the sheriff answered it. After his call he filled everyone in. “That was the state. They called the vet clinic and talked to the owner. He was sorry to hear about what happened to you, Janelle, but very happy to hear you're okay. The warrant for you has been canceled, the charge of theft dropped. He said to tell you when this is all over, your job would be waiting for you if you want it. He said you're one of the best vets he's ever worked with and he'd be happy to have you back. In the meantime, he said if there's anything he can do to help, let him know.”

  “Thank you,” Janelle said, blushing.

  “I knew when I watched you perform that surgery this morning you were a special vet,” he told her. He chuckled a little when he saw her face redden a bit more. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, Sunshine. I am glad to know I'm not dating someone on a wanted poster though.”

  Several people chuckled, but Landon asked what several of the other hands were wondering. “Dating, huh?”

  “Yes, dating,” Bryce confirmed, giving Janelle a quick kiss on her cheek. He looked at Landon with a challenge on his face. “Any problem with that?”

  Landon laughed. “Absolutely not, boss. I couldn't be happier for both of you.”

  “I'll second that,” Austin said, and several others joined him.

  “Thank you all,” Bryce told them. “And I'll thank you now for keeping this quiet and doing whatever we have to do.” He turned to the sheriff. “What happens now?”

  “I'll be in touch as soon as I know how the FBI are going to proceed. Janelle, I'm sure they'll want to get you together with one of their artists to come up with a sketch of the men, and I'm guessing they'll want to send someone out here. I don't think they'll want to take a chance on you being seen in public.

  Until I hear anything different, we're going to want you holed up right here, out of the public eye. I have a feeling these guys have been asking around about you. I know they asked at Millie's Diner if anyone knows where their cousin's staying. They gave your description. They've probably been asking around town, so I don't want anyone seeing you.”

  “We'll keep her here and out of sight,” Bryce promised.

  They finished their discussion with Bryce addressing his men. “Thanks for coming in. I'll keep you up to date, but if any of you have any questions, feel free to ask. Be careful not to mention anything to anyone. If you see or hear anything at all, maybe Saturday night if you go into town, no matter how small you think it might be, let me know. Okay, you can get back to work. We have a ranch to run.”

  Everyone went back to work, leaving Sheriff Hollinger, Deputy Armstrong, Bryce and Janelle. The sheriff double-checked his notes, making sure he had everything correct.

  “I'll talk to Bill tonight, and I'll come by in the morning to talk to you, Bryce. I'll ask him about the phone lines, if he thinks there could be a problem. I'll tell you what he says.”

  “Thanks for coming out here, both of you. I wasn't real anxious to take Janelle into town, in case someone was watching your office.”

  “I'm glad you didn't take her in. Janelle, I know you'd probably love to leave this ranch, at least for a night out, but --”

  “Don't worry about it, Sheriff. I was about to go stir crazy, but it helps a lot knowing who I am. That was about to drive me crazy.”

  “I understand,” he said.

  Bryce saw the two men out and went back to talk to Janelle. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. “Are you okay, Sunshine?”

  She pondered that question carefully. “I don't know,” she finally admitted. “It's just a lot for one day. I mean, this morning I didn't know who I was. Now I do, but it's strange. It's like it all just happened, like the emotions are new. It felt like I mourned for my mom again when I remembered that she had died.”

  “And now you remember more. Bad news?”

  “Yes,” she
said quietly. “Now I remember that my dad died of cancer while I was in college. That was really a rough time. I was trying to stay caught up with my classes while grieving and taking care of his estate. There was a problem because my uncle, his brother, claimed Dad owed him a huge amount of money, and produced what he said was a signed IOU. I spent a lot of time meeting with my attorney and the police, because my attorney turned up something that said the IOU was a fake, so he went to the police, who launched an investigation into it. That was awful. It was family, and that made it worse.”

  “Did you finally get it settled okay?”

  “Yes, eventually, but it was an ongoing battle. It started my senior year of college, undergrad, and we didn't get it settled until my last year of vet school. That's why I remember being so happy that I got my diploma.”

  “A well-earned diploma,” he said.

  “Yes. And now here I am, working with the police on another nightmare.”

  He nodded in understanding and held her in his arms. “I'm here for you and I'm a good listener, you know.”

  “I know. And I may take you up on that sometime, but right now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.”

  “A lot to rehash in your mind at one time?”

  She nodded. “I understand,” he assured her. “Anytime you feel like you need something, let me know, okay?”

  “Your arms feel pretty good right now,” she said as she laid her head on his chest. “I don't want to keep you from your work though.”

  “It can wait,” he said simply. “My girlfriend needs me.”

  She looked up at him with a smile. “Your girlfriend?”

  “Yep. I'm getting used to something new, too, but my news is all good. I can't tell you how happy I am to find out you're not married or engaged.”

  “Me, too,” she said. He leaned down and gave her an easy kiss, which turned quickly to a much more urgent, much more passionate kiss for both of them.

  Chapter 11

  Sheriff Hollinger stopped by the house the next morning as they were finishing breakfast. He gave Bryce a disposable cell phone. “Agent Bill Caldwell is going to be heading up the investigation on the FBI's end,” he said. “He agrees with you about the phone line and would prefer we not use either the office phone or even my cell for anything pertaining to this case. He gave me these disposable phones we'll all use for anything relating to this case. If there's anything else that happens that's not related to this case, use the office phone.”

  “Okay.”

  “He's going to get a group of agents together for this case and it's going to have priority. He and I will be working together and keeping each other informed. Bill and another agent will be coming by soon to meet and talk with both of you. His number is programmed in your cell phone, as well as my cell and Deputy Armstrong's. They have this number, as well.”

  “Okay.”

  He handed another phone to Janelle. “Here's yours, Janelle. All the numbers are programmed into yours, as well. We have a code word established for this case. It's pizza. If someone calls and you don't recognize the voice, feel free to ask how you can be sure he is who he says he is. Once he says the word pizza you can relax. If someone calls and you have a problem, some kind of emergency, somehow fit the word pizza into your conversation and we'll get to you ASAP.”

  “Thank you,” Bryce said, echoed by Janelle.

  “I gave Bill the description you gave me of the two men, Janelle. He's going to do a little checking and see if he can find some pictures of people we know work for the congressman. He'll probably bring them along to see if you recognize any of them.”

  “All right,” she said.

  I talked to him before I came out here and he says he already has a couple agents checking out the horses. I didn't ask you the other day, do you know the name of the horse the congressman owns?”

  “No, I don't. They didn't say the name of any horses other than Morning Lilly, who was going to be racing against him that Saturday.”

  “Do you know what day of the week this happened?”

  “It happened on a Monday.”

  “Okay, so it's pretty safe to assume it was the Saturday of the week you were discovered in the tree then, I would think.”

  “I assume so,” she said.

  “Okay. He's checking the race list for that Saturday, and assuming Morning Lilly was scratched, he'll zero in on the rest of the horses in that race. He can eliminate the ones that are owned by one owner, but any owned by a corporation will be checked out. They'll follow them back and see if they can find past races they've won, where a horse was scratched. They'll follow any that were scratched and try to find out why. Hopefully, they can get some evidence from a vet that can verify that they were poisoned.”

  “What else will they need before they can arrest people?”

  “Bill will go over all that with you. We're trying to find the two men who fit this description. We want to find them so we can follow them while Bill's doing the rest of the investigation. We're hoping we can get a picture or two of them with the congressman to further tie them together.”

  Bryce got a phone call from Agent Caldwell early that afternoon. He and Agent Miles Finnetti came to the ranch later that afternoon to meet and talk with Bryce and Janelle.

  They went over all the information they'd gotten from Sheriff Hollinger, checking to be sure they had it correct, and asking more questions here and there. They showed Janelle pictures of six people who were known employees of the congressman, but she didn't recognize any of them.

  “That doesn't surprise me,” Agent Caldwell said. “Those are employees that are in his office pretty much daily. We have the names of four others and are in the process of getting pictures of those. It's more likely the men you saw are some of them. We're checking to see if there may be others, as well. We'll bring those pictures by when we get them.”

  Agent Finnetti assured her the charges and warrant for her arrest had been taken care of. “I personally talked with your employer in Kansas today, to be sure he understands how important his silence is. He assured me he hasn't said a word to anyone. As far as your co-workers know the warrant is still out there. He feels bad about that, but promised to tell everyone as soon as this is over, so no one thinks badly of you.”

  “Thank him for me the next time you talk with him, please,” Janelle said.

  “I will. And he wanted me to explain why they had to report the truck stolen. He said you'd only been there a couple weeks.”

  “That's true,” Janelle said.

  “He said during that time you told your co-workers you couldn't believe how hot it was.”

  “True again,” Janelle said.

  “The day you disappeared was a terrifically hot day. When you didn't go back to the clinic and didn't answer your phone he was worried about you and called the local sheriff. The sheriff talked to your neighbors and co-workers, who all said you complained about the Kansas heat, and he concluded that you didn't like the heat, and left. He declared the truck stolen and gave a copy of the report to the insurance company so they could get involved. When they found the truck, and it was not wrecked your boss called the sheriff and wanted the theft report withdrawn, but the sheriff said he wouldn't unless they had proof otherwise. Your boss felt bad that there was a charge filed against you.”

  “Tell him I completely understand,” she said. “Everything he said is true. I did say it was hot, and I meant it. Maine doesn't get that hot.” He promised to relay the message for her.

  ***

  The next several days were trying for Bryce and Janelle. They obviously had feelings for each other and were happy they could finally act on them. She was having a difficult time dealing with some of her memories, though, which resulted in her moods changing often as she thought of something new.

  She was crying at lunch one day when she was thinking about her father and how sick he was at the end. He held her and comforted her until she felt better. When he came in for supper that night
she had been thinking about her uncle trying to steal her family's home from her by presenting a forged paper. When he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist she jerked away from him.

  He sat her down and got her to talk to him, to explain what happened. As she talked about it she started feeling better. They spent the evening talking it out, and by the time she went to bed she had worked through her feelings.

  At breakfast the next morning she was feeling like herself again. At lunch she was in a wonderful mood, remembering how happy she was the day she got a letter telling her she'd received a large scholarship for the veterinarian school she had applied to. But at supper she had a horrible attitude.

  It was a quiet meal, as everyone was afraid to say much, not wanting to upset her.

  After supper he took her out for a walk. When they were away from the house he asked, “What's up, Sunshine?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “I said nothing.”

  “Then why the attitude?”

  “What attitude?”

  He just looked at her. She looked away. “Nothing.”

  “Sunshine, I want to help you.”

  “Then leave me the hell alone,” she said as she tried to pull away from him.

  He grabbed her arm, stopping her from going anywhere. He reached around and gave her five quick swats. “I've talked to you before about swearing. I know what you're going through, Sunshine, but I also know you aren't happy with yourself when you're like this. Now, you need to settle down and stop taking your anger out on the rest of us and swearing. I'll help you however I can. If you want to talk, we'll talk. It helped last night, I think it will help again.”

  “You think you know everything, don't you?” she snarled.

  She'd barely gotten the words out of her mouth when she found herself over his knee. “What the hell? What happened? Let me up!” She looked around and realized Bryce had bent down on one knee and she was laying over the other one.

  He reached underneath her to unfasten her blue jeans. As soon as they were down to her knees he started spanking her. He didn't start talking until after he'd given her at least a dozen whacks. “No,” he said in an eerily calm voice, “I don't think I know everything. I do know, though, that you're not happy like this. I also know a good spanking will settle you right down. I said I'd help you any way I can, and I meant that.”