Vetted

by K'Anne Meinel

  Allyssa fixed up a packet of food for their dinner and breakfast, and they took along a bag of dog food for Rex. These fit in the saddle bags that Fiona put on the back of the saddles. She took her rifle and put it in the boot that was attached to the saddle, and since her rifle was so small she slipped the shotgun in next to it. They were armed to the teeth, and she hoped they wouldn’t have to use any of it.

  They set out just before the sun went down over the horizon. It was light enough to see, but there were long shadows from the hills and bluffs as they set out onto the range. Rex’s tail waved madly above his back as he led the way.

  Allyssa knew she would have been lost long before. Fiona led them on trails only she could see or sense as the sun finally set and it got dark. Her heart was thumping hard as she kept an eye on her wife, but she didn’t stare directly at her. Fiona had taught her to always look from the sides of her eyes in the dark if she wanted to see something, even a shadow, or she wouldn’t see it. She was pleased to be able to see at all as the sun set and total darkness enveloped them. As they rode along seemingly endless trails in the shadows of pines, bluffs, and hills, she was surprised how much she could actually see when the moon came up. In fact, they were drawn to a fire that could be seen for miles. She drew her horse up beside Fiona’s when she stopped on the trail they were following.

  “Do not talk from now on. Sound carries far on a night like this,” Fiona nearly whispered. “I’m glad we didn’t bring the ATVs; their lights and the noise of them would have given us away.”

  “What do you think they are doing?” she pointed with her chin towards the far-off fire.

  “Camping,” came the reply, but it lacked conviction and Allyssa wondered.

  “What are we going to do?” she wondered aloud.

  “We’re going to see what they are up to. It’s our land and I don’t recall giving anyone but Toby permission to run cattle on it.”

  “You aren’t going to confront them, are you?” she asked, worried after the warning her wife had received that day. She had no idea of the threat to herself Fiona had also received.

  Slowly they made their way along, the horses sure-footed and the trail free of rocks. It was Rex who alerted them they were getting close when his posture changed and he growled low.

  “Here, boy,” Fiona called as she got off her horse quickly. “Rex, come,” she whispered urgently.

  The good-natured dog looked back at her and came on command, his tail wagging happily at the attention. He looked repeatedly over his shoulder and Fiona knew something was going on that she had to investigate. She quickly snapped a lead on the dog and handed it to Allyssa.

  “You stay here with the horses and–” she began, but Allyssa interrupted.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” she protested, keeping her voice above a whisper, but barely. “I’m going with you.”

  Fiona considered, but knew an argument at this point was not going to win anyone any time or favors. Sighing, she led her horse to a tree and tied it off, attaching Rex’s lead to the pommel of her saddle. She watched as her wife got off her horse to do the same. “Got your rifle?” she suggested as she removed her own. Hers had a scope on it while the .22 was just the basics. Still, she wanted her wife armed for whatever they might find. Leaving an anxious Rex behind with the horses, they continued down the path they had been following, which only Fiona could see apparently. Allyssa kept looking away, looking at her wife’s back out of the corners of her eyes to keep an eye on her. It was she who saw the shadow that moved. She put her hand on her wife’s shoulder to stop her forward momentum.

  “There’s something or someone over there,” she breathed in her ear, grateful she was taller for a change.

  “Where?” Fiona asked in the same breathy whisper.

  Rather than point, which was not going to work in the dark she slowly turned her wife’s head with her hand to where she had seen the movement. It took a moment, but someone shifted again, giving away his position.

  “Stay here,” Fiona whispered, and not giving Allyssa any time to argue she began to move away towards the shadow.

  Allyssa could really appreciate that her wife was raised out here because she didn’t hear her moving at all and after a moment, couldn’t see her in the darkness. She stayed where she was until she nearly jumped out of her skin when Fiona returned.

  “Come with me,” she whispered and led her to the top of a hill that overlooked the fire. The moon made more of the area visible than the path through the trees had.

  “What did you do with him?” she asked, picturing her wife tying up someone like in an old western movie.

  “I threw pebbles beyond him so he heard a lot of noise and went to investigate,” she whispered back as she watched down below. It was worth watching too. The fire had a couple of men around it and there were cattle lowing in protest as they were brought up into the firelight and branded, one by one. Others were whistling, calling low, and herding horses into a cattle carrier that was parked nearby.

  “What’s going on?” Allyssa asked low.

  “I think they are rebranding cattle they may have stolen, to release them while they heal on our land,” she whispered back.

  “But what about the horses?” she pointed and then gasped. She recognized one of them from the small herd she had seen with Carmen.

  “What?” her wife whispered back, wondering if Allyssa had seen something she hadn’t.

  “I know that horse. I saw it out on the range. Carmen and I noticed a small band that looked sickly.”

  Allyssa watched in horror as her wife brought her rifle up and aimed it at the camp. “Are you going to shoot them?”

  “No, I’m just using the scope to see better.” She pulled back to point out, “See, my finger isn’t even on the trigger.”

  Allyssa subsided, relieved. She didn’t think her wife would do something like that. Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity as an off-road Bronco truck with big, high tires pulled into the area. They were greeted heartily, and from their position on the hill the two women could hear the laughter as they spoke.

  “Come on, I’ve seen enough,” Fiona whispered in her ear.

  They pulled back from the edge and went to get up, but Fiona stopped her wife, “Wait,” she whispered. Then Allyssa could also see that the watcher was returning along the very path they were about to head for. “Sit still,” she breathed in her wife’s ear and then disappeared in the dark, heading into a shadow cast by one of the pines. Allyssa sat there feeling very exposed as the walking shadow came closer and closer.

  She couldn’t tell exactly what happened, but he turned suddenly and said, “Who’s there?” which sounded very loud in the dark, and then things happened very quickly and he went down.

  Suddenly, Fiona was there and she said, “Come! Quick!” and grabbed Allyssa’s hand.

  “What’s going on?” she gasped as they hurried along the trail, not running, but nearly so.

  “Later,” Fiona whispered back, looking frantically for anyone else who might be watching for them and trying not to get lost in the darkness.

  Rex greeted them enthusiastically once they made it back to the horses, but Fiona shushed him rather harshly and he tucked his tail between his legs. They mounted up and Fiona rushed them down the trail on the backs of the two horses. It was a while before they could ride side by side, and by then Fiona had leaned down and unsnapped the lead she had put on Rex’s collar, so he could run freely.

  “Care to explain?” Allyssa asked dryly.

  “What?” Fiona asked, looking up as though suddenly realizing Allyssa was even there. “I’m sorry. I was concentrating on getting us back.”

  “Okay, but you want to explain what happened back there?” she indicated the direction they had come.

  “He was about to discover you and my pebble trick didn’t work twice, so I hit him and he went down,” she shrugged. “That’s all.”

  “You hit him?” she asked, astonished that her wife wo
uld resort to violence.

  She nodded, which was clear despite the darkness. “Well, my rifle butt hit him,” she clarified.

  Surprised, Allyssa stayed silent, wondering what she had gotten herself into here. She trusted Fiona absolutely, but this whole situation was making her uneasy. Trying not to think too much about it she asked, “Where would you like to camp?”

  “What?” she asked again, obviously thinking about something else. Then, realizing what Allyssa had asked she said, “Would you mind if we didn’t stay out? I really want to get back to a phone.”

  “I don’t mind, but I think we should stop and eat something.”

  “Mind if we eat on horseback?” she modified.

  Trying to get at the food she had packed, Allyssa wondered why her wife was in such a hurry. Sure, she understood that they needed to report what they had seen, but that would and could wait until morning. The attitude of the sheriff the previous time was that they were overreacting. She wasn’t anxious to repeat that.

  The food made them both sleepy and when one of the horses threw a shoe, it slowed them even more. The sun was coming up by the time they finally made it back to the ranch yard. It was then they realized someone had been there while they were away.

  “Holy shit! Do you believe this mess?” Fiona said as she turned on the light in the cabin. Every cabinet door had been smashed and all her medical supplies were on the floor. If the way it was hanging by its hinges was any indication, the computer had been thrown against the wall.

  “Oh, no. Oh, no. Not our beautiful cabinets,” Allyssa began to cry at the devastation.

  “Wait here,” Fiona instructed as she cautiously went up the stairs, her rifle leading the way. They had destroyed the loft area too and there were familiar large knife slash marks in the mattress. The mess was incredible. “Okay, you can come up,” she said sadly to her wife, who picked her way through the mess and came upstairs.

  “Oh, nooo,” she moaned, still crying as Fiona took her in her arms. It took a while before she stopped crying and could keep it under control. “We better check the barn, the sheds, and the mobile home, as well as the vehicles.”

  Fiona nodded, having wanted to do that immediately, but knowing she had to comfort her wife first. They did exactly that and found none of the damage they had found in the cabin. “That was a warning,” she decided.

  “A warning? A warning of what?” she asked, horrified at the destruction of the beautiful cabinets and reaching to pick up some of the mess.

  “Leave it. We are going to want pictures for the insurance and the troopers,” Fiona ordered, glancing at the sun coming up and wondering when there would be enough light.

  “You mean the sheriff?” she went to correct her.

  Fiona shook her head. “We are going to report this to the state police, the hell with the local sheriff. He thinks we are just being hysterical females anyway. This is a big deal. Not only this,” she indicated the mess she had started snapping pictures of on her cell phone, “but those animals. I’m going to call the Bureau of Land Management too,” she declared.

  “What did you mean this was a warning?”

  “They wanted to scare us. Since we weren’t here to scare in person, this is sending a very clear message. I’m just grateful they didn’t touch the truck or the SUV or the barn.”

  Allyssa was grateful too. No amount of money could replace that old barn and she nearly had the Cherokee paid off. She’d only taken a one-year loan out and it was nearly due. She’d hate to have to make an insurance claim or replace the secondhand vehicle.

  The state police promised to send an investigator out immediately when Fiona called. She only got a recording when she called the Bureau of Land Management, but she left a message.

  “We should try to get some sleep before they get here,” she said sadly, looking at the beautiful cabin and the mess they would have to clean up later.

  “You think I can sleep after this?” her hands took it all in.

  “I understand,” she admitted, putting her arm around her wife and leaning into her for comfort. “Come on, let’s get out of here and...” she trailed off, seeing the large, knobby tire tracks left in the dust of their driveway and yard. She took several pictures of those as well, from far away and close up.

  “What are you doing?” Allyssa asked, trying to see what her wife saw.

  “Remember those guys that showed up with the huge off-road vehicle? I think I know where they were before they showed up at that party.”

  “They were the ones that caused this?”

  Fiona nodded and then looked toward the house site. It didn’t look like it had been touched, but she wanted to be sure. Allyssa saw beyond the house site before Fiona. Someone had driven through the garden that was just finally giving them fresh greens and vegetables.

  “Oh nooo,” she said sadly, bursting into tears again.

  “They did that just to be mean!” Fiona exclaimed, glancing at the house site and seeing no damage. She wondered at that.

  “Those bastards! They better pay!” Allyssa said, angrier about the garden than her beautiful cabinets that she had so admired as she worked.

  Fiona knew how hard her wife had worked on the garden and how devastated she was. She hadn’t had a green thumb and the few things she had gotten to grow and been able to say, “I grew this,” had given her such pride. She steered her away from the garden and headed down to remove the saddles from the horses, Allyssa mechanically helping her, but saying nothing.

  They went into the mobile home to get a couple hours of sleep, both certain that they wouldn’t, but willing to try anyway. They woke up a few hours later with Rex announcing a visitor. Hurriedly, they dressed and found two state police officers inspecting the cabin.

  “Hello,” Fiona called and nearly laughed as they stuck their heads out. Wearing the trooper hat made them look like Barney Fife. It had always affected her this way and she was hard-pressed not to laugh.

  “Is your husband around?” the one officer inquired.

  “I don’t have a husband,” she said, almost testily, all thoughts of laughing at their stupid hat now gone.

  “Oh, we have a call that Doctor Herriot called to report...” she began, reading from her notes.

  “I’m Doctor Herriot,” she informed the female officer and then saw the woman’s partner was male.

  “I see you had some visitors,” he indicated the mess.

  Fiona nodded as Allyssa came running up, tucking her shirt in her waist band. She’d had to stop and pee and sent Fiona on ahead. “Hi,” she said as she came up.

  “This is my wife, Allyssa,” she said by way of introduction.

  “Wife?” the female officer inquired, a tone in her voice.

  “Yes, she’s my wife. It’s legal nowadays,” she answered defensively.

  “Hi. I’m Officer Seiling and this is Officer Glenn,” the male officer introduced them cheerfully. He then began to ask Fiona and Allyssa questions and make out his report. Fiona was glad he was handling this as she didn’t like the female officer and sensed she might be a homophobe, or one of those women who wasn’t out and resented others that could be. She wasn’t sure, but she ignored her as the woman listened and put in only an occasional question. When asked why they hadn’t just called their sheriff, she explained what had happened the last time they tried. “So, you think they are running a cattle operation on your land that changes the cattle’s brands?”

  “Yes, and stealing mustangs to sell or something,” she repeated herself from her statement.

  “Can you show us where?”

  “Yes. Do you want to go in your vehicle or follow us?” she indicated herself and Allyssa.

  “I should really start cleaning this up and get to work,” Allyssa hedged, not feeling comfortable about all this and not sure she wanted to see the scene of last night’s adventure. She was upset and all she wanted to do was clean it up and make it better. She wanted it past them and behind them. She wanted i
t over.

  “Toby Colbert, you say?” the woman asked, going over Fiona’s statement again.

  “That’s right. Heard of him?” she asked, a trifle stiff with the woman.

  “Name rings a bell, but I can’t place it,” she answered.

  “That happened to us too. And anyone I asked about him said the same thing. No one really knows him and yet he’s personable and the kind of guy you would remember.”

  “I’ll run his name and we shall see.”

  As they were getting ready to go out in the state police SUV another vehicle came up over that rise followed by the sheriff. A different officer got out of the SUV than had been there before.

  “Hi there,” he said and came up holding out his hand. “I’m Sheriff Bradley, and you are…?”

  After introductions all around, including Cecily Fremont, the Bureau of Land Management agent, they waited while the two newcomers looked inside the cabin before deciding to head out to the spot where Allyssa and Fiona had seen the men the night before.

  They took the road that wound through the ranch. Obviously tracks of big trucks had made it, pounded it into submission, really. Dust rose behind the three vehicles, announcing their presence to any who saw the cloud.

  The sight that greeted them showed the obvious telltale signs of a fire and many animals milling about, but there was no sign of animals or men now. It was obvious by the tracks that a couple of trucks, including the big rig, had taken the horses out of here. Fiona took several pictures for comparison to the tracks that were in their yard.

  “Could I get copies of those?” Officer Glenn asked, her tone sounding belligerent.

  Fiona decided it was just the woman’s way and not really a reflection of her feelings towards her and her wife. She nodded stiffly. “If you’ll give me your email address, I’ll send them all to you when I get a signal.”