by Becky McGraw
Gabe remembered that Karlie had told him Jake had access to her bank account, had stolen all her money, and now he was using that to track her. If the computer system was up and running in the office, he could do the same thing, but it wasn't. He needed to get Cole to speed up the contractors. Pushing up from his desk, Gabe walked down the hall to Cole's office and sat down in front of his desk. He was on the phone, so Gabe waited impatiently for him to finish.
"Hey, buddy, what's up?" Cole asked when he hung up.
"Karlie and Katie are in trouble now," Gabe told him flatly.
Concern filled Cole's eyes then he asked, "What happened?"
"I just got a call from Kate...she's with Jake Johnson trying to find Karlie. I know she's probably just leading him on a merry chase, because there's no way she's going to lead him to her sister, but he's forced her to go with him. They were in Bowie, now they're headed to Amarillo, because Karlie used her debit card and he saw the transaction."
"He let her call you?" Cole asked with a confused look on his face.
"Not exactly...she called to see if I'd heard from Karlie, and gave me some hidden information in the conversation. I think he might have hurt her too, because when I asked she said, yes. Then she told me they were headed to Amarillo, and the phone was disconnected. I have no fucking idea who Karlie could know there, do you?"
"No, but maybe Cassie does...I'll give her a call. She could have just been getting gas when she passed through there..."
"That's true, but do you think we should notify the police department there, since Katie has basically been kidnapped by that moron," Gabe asked Cole with a clenched jaw.
"Can you prove she's been kidnapped?"
Gabe couldn't prove shit from the phone call from Katie, she'd been evasive on purpose, and although she'd given him the information he needed to find her, it didn't prove she was in danger. Technically, Karlie wasn't a missing person either, because she'd left on her own, and she was an adult, and neither was Katie for the same reason. He couldn't even prove Katie had gone with Johnson under duress from her phone call.
Gabe shook his head then asked Cole, "I don't even know what kind of vehicle he drives to notify anyone, do you?"
"That's another good question for Cassie...she was too upset for us to get good information out of her the other day, but now that she's settled down..."
"Did Carl or Bud press charges against Johnson the other day?" Gabe asked, hoping they had, because it would sure make things easier now. The kidnapping was going to be hard to prove to get a warrant sworn out for him, but he had committed assault on Bud and trespassed on Carl's property.
Shoving a hand through his hair, Cole huffed out a frustrated breath then told Gabe, "I wanted Carl and Bud to file trespassing and assault charges, but they didn't want to get into it the other day. They thought it would just cause more trouble, and bring the guy back to town. Since it looks like he came back anyway, maybe they'll change their mind and we can put out a bulletin on him with the state."
"When's our computer system going to be up and running? I'd be interested to know if Johnson has priors."
"A couple of days...I'd call the state, but trying to get the info will probably take that long too, if we can get it at all, with the limited information we have on him. There are probably thousands of Jake Johnson's in Texas."
Cole was right, they didn't have much to go on at all where Jake Johnson was concerned. It seemed like all they were hitting was brick walls. Even with the computer system, he would still have the needle in a haystack problem, because the guy had a common name.
"You have time to take a ride out to the Double B?" Cole asked him.
Gabe had nothing but time, since he didn't have any leads to finding Jake Johnson without more information. Starting at the Double B was probably their best bet. "Yeah, let's go..."
Cassie and Luke were out in the barn when they stopped at the house, so they headed back there to find them. She had Titan in cross ties and was grooming him and Luke was walking down the aisle with a saddle over his shoulder.
"Hey, guys," he said with a distracted half-smile.
"Hey, Luke...Cassie," Gabe said and tipped his hat at her.
When Luke set the saddle down beside the crossties, Cole slapped him on the back and they shared a 'man hug'. "Looks like ya'll are busy, Slick..."
"You have no idea, buddy...I've got a new bull coming in this evening. Bought him at the auction, he's amazing."
"That good huh?" Cole grinned. "It's gonna be a while before you can breed the heifers, we kept. We've still got months, until the cows we kept can be re-bred too."
"Too good to pass up. He was good enough to buy now, so he's here and ready when they are."
"I know we lost a little selling some of the cow-calf pairs before they were fully weaned, but we did fine...you did good. Thanks for handling that...I'm sorry I couldn't be here for it," Cole told him and Luke shrugged.
"It was a good sale...next one will be even better," Luke told him and grinned. "You'll be here for that one right?"
"Yup, plan to...unless my beautiful wife asks me to go to another rodeo or something...I have this problem where I can't seem to say no to her."
Luke looked over at Cassie and winked, then said, "I seem to have that problem too, so I understand where you're coming from."
Gabe snorted, then said, "You guys are just whipped, man...not happening to me."
Cassie looked up from grooming Titan and said, "Luke, remind me to buy some ketchup, will ya?" She spoke to Luke, but her gaze never left Gabe.
He wondered what the hell she was talking about and raised an eyebrow, then told her with a grin, "Wow, Cassie that was pretty random."
"You'll be asking me for it when you have to eat those words, stud."
They all laughed then Cole's face sobered. "We need to talk to Cassie about what happened the other day...." he told Luke then looked at Cassie.
"That bastard has an ass whooping coming, if I ever see him," Luke growled, then said, "If he ever comes back here, he's gonna have more than that."
Cassie gave Luke a warning glance, then went back to grooming the big buckskin stallion and said flatly, "Shoot, I'm listening...I'll tell you what I can."
"Did you see what he was driving? Maybe get the license plate number?" Cole asked her.
"Saw a big black truck, Ford, not jacked up...dual cab...only thing unusual was the custom chrome grill. It had a bucking bull on it, and his name under it. No, I didn't get the license plate, sorry," she told them, while brushing Titan's underside.
"You know if Karlie knows anyone in Amarillo?" Gabe asked Cassie and he saw her hand still.
She stood up, then looked at him, a thoughtful expression on her face, then surprise, before she said, "Surely, not..." and shook her head.
"What?" Hope sprung up inside of Gabe and his fists clenched as he waited for her to finish.
"We were out here the other day, and I mentioned that I wanted to buy some lesson ponies for the little ones, and told her I might check with Tommy Tucker to see if he had any. I told her that's where we got Titan and the mares, and how nice his place was...if she was looking for work, she may have gone there."
Gabe ran over to her and picked her up in a big hug, and he said, "Thank you, darlin'," then he set her down and kissed her cheek. Gabe heard Luke growl as he took two steps forward, and he chuckled then backed off with his palms up. "Sorry, Luke, but you have to let other guys to appreciate your wife's brilliance, and envy what a lucky man you are..."
"Appreciate with your eyes," Luke said then stepped beside her and put his arm around her waist, before kissing her hair, "She is pretty brilliant, isn't she?"
"Damned brilliant...can you give us directions, sugar?" Gabe asked her with a wink and grin.
***
Karlie was grateful that Tommy Tucker had hired her, even though he had a full staff. He'd said no thank you at first, but after he heard her background and figured out who she was, he
hired her to train cutting horses for him.
Tommy wanted to expand his breeding operation to include cutters, he had some horses with cutter bloodlines that he thought would be good, and figured her experience made her the right person for that job. Mentioning that she'd trained JoJo from the ground up had sealed the deal. Anyone in the cutting horse industry worth their salt, had heard of Joe's Hot Rod Lincoln.
Because she was female and all his other hands were male, he'd put her up in the house. And what a house it was...it reminded her of the house on that TV show Dallas. That show had been Uncle Jerry's favorite show, and he must've watched ever rerun, and she and Katie had to watch too.
Karlie had been at the Rockin' D four days now, and she liked it here, and she liked Tommy Tucker. He was a mild-mannered man, but knew his horses, and was a horse nut just like her. Some of the stock he had on this farm was beyond exceptional. Cassie hadn't lied about his operation...and Karlie was thankful she'd mentioned the Rockin' D to her.
Tommy had introduced her to his daughter, Dixie a few nights ago at dinner. He told her he was having some problems with Dixie, and she'd been punished to her room the night Karlie had arrived there. From what he said, the little girl sounded a lot like her when she was little. Some boy had pulled her hair at the summer camp he'd sent her to for a week, and she'd wound up taking him down and giving him a black eye. Needless to say, they had called her daddy to come get her.
He said he was at his wits end with her shenanigans, because he was a single parent, and a man too boot. His wife had died giving birth to Dixie, and he didn't know how to get through to a ten-year old girl. Karlie knew what was wrong with her...she was angry at the world and bored. She felt out of control, and getting into trouble, got her the attention she needed, and let her control her little universe, because at least she wasn't sitting back letting it give her black eyes.
Everyone dealt with grief different ways, but she felt sure that's what was going on here. Dixie missed her mama, and even though her daddy was trying, she didn't know how to communicate with him any more than he did with her. At least she'd had Katie to talk to...Dixie didn't have anyone who understood her.
The problems with Dixie and Tommy weren't her business, but she had decided to try and help him some. Her fix-it tendencies wouldn't let her ignore it. She had to make sure the little girl didn't get too attached to her though, because Karlie didn't know when she'd have to move on. If Jake showed up here, she'd have to hit the road again.
Karlie opened the stall of the horse Tommy had told her he wanted to start training to rope and cut, and clipped a lead onto the leather harness. Leading the gelding down the long aisle of the main barn, she took him into the tacking area and clipped him into the crossties, then went to get her saddle, and a longe line. The Paint gelding was pretty young, so she needed to wear him down a little, so he could focus on what she was trying to teach him.
She was pulling down her saddle when a small voice behind her said, "Whatcha doing?"
Turning around with a smile, she faced Dixie, who stood there cute-as-a-button with her blond pigtails, and pink cowboy hat. Karlie told her, "About to work on Apache's training...you wanna help me?"
Dixie's pretty little face lit up then she nodded enthusiastically, then said seeming a little unsure, "You gonna show me what to do?"
"You bet...grab that saddle blanket, and a longe line. You know what that is?" Karlie asked her.
"Nope," Dixie told her with a pop of her lips on the 'p', then folded her arms across her chest.
Karlie pointed to a long rope with a metal clip on the end looped on a nail on the wall. "That's a longe line...grab one of those long whips too," she said and the little girl ran over there and got them, then came to stand beside her, her shoulders a little higher and her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Hefting her saddle off of the rack, Karlie put it over her shoulder and grabbed her spurs and Apache's bridle, then said, "Okay, let's go get Apache tacked up, then we're going to train him to be the best cutting and roping horse in Texas."
She laughed when Dixie let out a whoop that rang through the barn. Yep, she was a helluva lot like her when she was young. "Okay you stand back there." Karlie pointed to the rail, then set to brushing Apache, so she could saddle him. The horse's markings really were beautiful, he was black and white and had a black face with a white blaze. When he was trained, he was going to be flashy in the rodeo arena, if that's where he wound up, and cowboys would pay big bucks for him.
After she had Apache tacked up, she held out her hand to Dixie, "Longe line, please assistant." The little girl put the rope in her hand and then Karlie told her, "You go out in front and hold that whip level to the ground, don't wiggle it around, or it'll scare him. We're going to the round pen."
Dixie looked up at her with serious brown eyes and nodded. Good, Karlie thought, she was serious about what they were doing, what she was teaching her. That's the frame of mind she needed to be in so she didn't get hurt around the big animal. "Okay, sugar, you go into the pen and stand right in the center, and lay the whip on the ground."
With a nod, she opened the gate then walked inside and did what Karlie had told her to, then Karlie led Apache inside and latched the gate, and unclipped the lead rope to attach the longe line. She lifted the stirrups and clipped them to the saddle, so they bounce against Apache's sides and confuse him.
Raising her hands, she shooed the fiery horse and his eyes widened, then he reared a little before he took off in a circle around the pen. Feeding out the line, she walked to the center of the pen where Dixie was standing, then told her, "Now, you stay right there, and don't move, okay?" Picking up the whip, Karlie held it at waist level and pointed it at Apache's hindquarters, following him around the ring to urge him forward. His ears flicked back a little, but he didn't pin them to his skull, which meant he was listening to her, waiting for her to tell him what to do.
"See his ears, Dixie?" Karlie said and Dixie nodded. "That means he's listening to see what I want him to do, he's paying attention...horses can't talk, but their body can. You just have to watch the signs they give you."
Karlie pushed the horse around the ring a few more rounds, then said, "Whoa," and he stopped on a dime, his ears perked forward now to listen. Walking over to him, she patted his neck and praised him, then turned him the other direction then moved back to the middle of the ring and repeated the process.
She dropped the whip and then replaced it with a click of her tongue to move him from a trot to a cantor, then stopped him again with a voice command and he stood patiently waiting for her to give him instructions. She walked over and praised him again then took off the longe line, and went back to the middle. She looked down at Dixie and told her, "Okay your turn assistant. Get him going with a click, when I say stop him, you say 'whoa' like I did. Think you can do that?"
Karlie saw her swallow and her eyes widen, but then Dixie smiled and nodded. She took a deep breath then let it out, and clicked to Apache. The horse hesitated a moment, but then started walking around the ring, right on the rail. "Good job, Dixie, now bring him up a notch, click again." She did and Apache moved into a faster walk trot on the rail. After he'd gone around a few times, she said, "Now move him to a trot."
Dixie's click was more confident this time, and she held Apache's eyes when she did it and he responded immediately moving into a trot. She glanced up at Karlie with a smile then after he went a few rounds, she said in a mock deep voice, "Whoa!" and he stopped waiting for her next command.
"Wow, that was awesome..." the little girl said in an awe-filled voice. "What do we do next?"
"You're going to sit on the rail and I'm going to work with him a little now, then we're going to the outdoor arena and putting a calf in with him to see how he reacts."
"How long is it going to take to train him?" Dixie asked her brown eyes sparkling with interest.
"Eighteen months probably...he's a pretty smart guy though, maybe a little less," she tol
d her. Apache really seemed to be a good fit for a cutting horse, but she'd reserve judgment until she saw how he reacted to a calf. He hadn't been around cattle yet...that would tell the tale. JoJo was a very alpha horse, and he'd done well because from the time he was started, it was obvious he was going to let the calf know who was boss.
Karlie sat Dixie up on the top rail to watch, then she worked with Apache, keeping his gaze and moving from side to side making him react to her motions, seeing how he moved, gauging his athleticism. That was another thing that was important, if he was sluggish, or slow on the turns, he'd never make it as a cutter.
By the time she finished in the round pen, she was hot and sweaty, and Apache was lathered, but it was good he was hot, his muscles would work better. He still had a lot of 'go' left in him. She clipped on the lead then picked up the bridle and helped Dixie down then they walked to the outdoor arena.
