by Stone, Ciana
“Poison?” she asked, looking at Jed.
“My gut says yes but my head says no. No way poison got into the feed. Besides, if it was poison or bad feed there’d be others sick.”
That statement had Mik’s head whipping around. “Oh hell!”
Jed followed the direction of her gaze. Another horse lay on the far side of the corral.
“Shit,” he hissed. “Come on, we need to figure how where this started.”
“You go. I’ll stay here with them,” she replied. “Try and keep them calm until the vet arrives.”
Jed nodded and headed for the barn where all the feed was stored. Mik looked at the horse on the ground in front of her then placed her hands on it. She’d never tried this on such a sick animal but she had to do something.
Closing her eyes, she willed her energy into it, projecting images of health and strength. Light pure and bright swelled in her mind. Within moments the world around her faded and she was lost in light.
*****
Jed cursed as the vet climbed in his truck. The last two days had been the stuff of nightmares. They’d lost fifteen horses, had more than a dozen that might not make it and more than thirty head of cattle were dead with that many more down.
To make matters worse, nine of the horses belonged to people paying to have them boarded at the ranch. No way would the liability insurance Jed paid through the nose for every year cover the cost. The ranch was in serious trouble.
He turned and saw Mik leaning against the fence. She looked pale and there was sadness in her eyes that wrenched at his gut. “He said he’d know more after they autopsy one of the bodies and run tox screens but it was definitely some kind of poison.”
She turned away, but not before he saw tears gather in her eyes. That sight cut him deeper than the loss they’d suffered. Jed wrapped his arms around her and she leaned her head back against his chest.
“I thought I could save them,” she whispered.
“You did save two.”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“Mik, this isn’t your fault.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I just…”
“Just what, honey?”
“I just hated watching them die. So confused and frightened. It hurts.”
“You did everything you could, baby.”
She didn’t respond, just turned, wound her arms around his body and buried her face against his chest. Jed held her as she cried silently, sobs shaking her body.
He had never seen anyone work as hard as Mik had the last two days. She’d not slept or eaten, refusing to stop trying even as one animal after another died under her touch. He’d been afraid for her, afraid she’d give all her life energy in a futile attempt to save them.
It’d taken calling her sister Teddy to get her to stop and even then, it was a hard sell. She’d only agreed under the condition that Jed and his brothers help her calm the dying animals, ease their confusion and fear so that they died peacefully.
Jed had never attempted anything like that and even now he hoped he’d never have to do anything like it ever again. To feel that fear, that horrible confusion. It seeped into your soul and left a mark that wasn’t easily erased. He knew they’d helped. He could feel the fear of the animal leave under his efforts. But damn if it didn’t exact a toll. He felt ten years older than he had two days ago.
He could only imagine how Mik felt. She’d worked harder than the rest of them combined.
She pulled back and looked up at him with swollen, tear-reddened eyes. “I have an idea how to find out where the poison came from.”
“I’m listening.”
“The horses we saved. Maybe they can tell us.”
“Honey, I know we can communicate with them, but they can’t talk.”
“Yes they can.”
“Mik.” Jed didn’t want to argue. Not with her in such a tired and vulnerable state, but she was pushing the limits of what he could accept.
“Not so much in words,” she added. “But images. They can communicate in feelings and images, Jed. Please, we have to try.”
He couldn’t have said no to her if he’d wanted to. Right now, he’d do anything she asked. Like it or not, Mik had not only wormed her way into his heart, she owned it.
“Okay, let’s do it, darlin’.”
The look of gratitude on her face nearly undid him. She grabbed his hand and started in a run toward the smallest of the three stables where they’d quarantined the sick animals.
The smell of death hit him in the face like a stiff punch the moment they entered. Jed saw Mik’s face pale but she just gripped his hand tighter, clenched her jaw, and plowed ahead.
She stopped at a stall halfway down the length of the stable. A deep brown mare lay in the clean straw. She looked up as Mik and he entered.
“Hey pretty lady,” Mik crooned and knelt beside the mare. “We need your help.”
The mare blew softly and Mik reached out to rub her. Jed stayed silent, taking a seat beside Mik.
“I know you don’t feel good,” Mik spoke soothingly. “But I need you to try and remember if anything you ate or drank in the last few days tasted strange or made you feel bad. We need to find what made you sick and can’t do it without your help.”
Again, the mare blew softly. Mik smiled and placed her hands on the mare’s head, fingers moving lightly. She closed her eyes and to Jed’s surprise, so did the mare.
*****
Blinding rage ripped through Dalton as he scanned the printed pages. “I’ll kill her!”
His aunt, Henrietta put her hand on his shoulder, leaning down close to his ear. “Quietly, my dear. The walls may still have ears.”
He cut a look at her. “I have my office swept every morning.”
“And the reception area?”
His eyes darted to the massive double doors separating his lavish office from the reception area beyond. “Good point. I’ll include that in the daily sweeps as well.”
“Excellent.” Henrietta gave his shoulder a squeeze then rounded the desk to settle into one of the leather wing-back chairs before it.
“You know what she’d doing here,” Dalton shook the pages in his hand.
“Indeed, I do.”
“I’m going to bury that bitch!”
“In time,” Henrietta agreed. “But for now, we need to reverse what she’s done.”
Dalton nodded, considering the options. Deidre had not only gone behind his back and had private meetings on her own with Franklin, but she’d put into motion things that could implicate him in the events taking place on the Nash ranch.
The documents Henrietta had provided him with were shipping manifests and accounting records from one of the pharmaceutical companies they owned. Documents that showed Dalton authorizing a large shipment of fluoride to himself at a warehouse in Mineral Springs, North Carolina; a town less than twenty miles from the Nash ranch.
The accounting documents showed that the shipment had been written off as tainted product that had been destroyed, thus setting up a discrepancy that would not fail to be noticed.
It was brilliant. Dalton had to give her that. But the bitch was trying to maneuver him into taking the fall if she chose to point a finger. He couldn’t allow that. The problem was, now that she’d removed him from that aspect of the business he had no access to go in and have the evidence removed.
“Any suggestions on how to eliminate this?” he asked.
Henrietta pursed her lips, tapping one finger against them thoughtfully. “Perhaps the wisest course of action would be to not reveal that we know what’s she’s done. I do have a contact in the company and believe with some—incentive, I can have the entries changed so that her name is substituted for yours. We will need to encourage whoever owns the warehouse facility to change the name on the lease to Manning Enterprises under Deidre’s authority, and contact whoever delivered the shipment to make sure there is no reference to you.”
“In other words, it’s g
oing to cost.”
“The price of success, my dear. And if it helps brings Deidre down, a sound investment, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Indeed.” Dalton’s frown suddenly vanished. “And I may know a way to reinforce the idea that she is behind the unfortunate luck the Nash ranch is experiencing.”
“Oh?”
Dalton’s sly smile blossomed to an excited grin. Yes, he did, indeed have the seed of a brilliant plan germinating in his mind. Not only could he cast Deidre in a bad light, but he could hurt Jed Nash with the same blow. What had started out as a terrible day was getting better by the moment.
*****
“Jake!” Jed’s shout rang through the stable, prompting a wave of nervous whinnies and agitated movements from the horses in the stalls.
He had Mik in his arms and was hurrying from the barn in mere seconds. When she’d suddenly gone pale and keeled over on top of the sick horse his heart had nearly jumped out of his chest.
“Jake!”
Jake met him at the door, took one look at Mik unconscious in Jed’s arms and whipped out his phone. “I’m calling 911!”
“Call her sister, Teddy.”
“It’ll take too long for her to get here, I’m calling—“
“Just do it, Jake! I’m taking Mik to the main house.”
Jake nodded, placing the call as he followed Jed.
“Come on, honey,” Jed pleaded. “You need to wake up for me. Mik, can you hear me?”
There was no response. Not even a twitch of her eyelids. Jed made it to the house, kicked open the back door and marched in.
“If that’s the sound of muddy boots on my clear floor there’s gonna be—“ Ellen’s words choked off as she saw Jed carry Mik in. “What happened? Get her to the couch and I’ll call for an ambulance.”
“No ambulance!” Jed barked, striding past her.
“We’ve got it under control,” Jake added, still on the phone. “I hope.”
“You hope?” Ellen shrieked, hurrying after them. “You hope? Who’s that on the phone? Jed this girl needs a doctor! You need to call—“
“Shut up!” Jed didn’t have time for manners. He put Mik on the couch and stuck out a hand towards Jake. “Is she on the line?”
“Yeah,” Jake replied and handed him the phone.
“I’m putting it to her ear,” Jed said into the phone then placed it against Mik’s ear.
He watched in anxious silence. He couldn’t tell what Teddy was saying but could hear the murmur of her voice. A minute turned into two and two into five. This wasn’t working.
He snatched the phone away from Mik’s head. Maybe he should call for an ambulance after all. Unless…
He put the phone to his own ear. “I’m going to try.”
“Try what?” Jake asked as Jed handed him the phone.
“To reach her.”
He gathered Mik in his arms and lay down with her, his lips close to her ear. “Mik, honey? I need you to hear me. Listen to my voice, darlin’. Listen to my voice and come back to me. You’ve done all you can do and it’s time to come back. I need you, honey. I need you to come back to me.”
“Five minutes,” Jake announced, breaking into Jed’s repeated pleas. “Maybe I should call—“
“Jed?” Mik’s voice had them all jumping.
“Mik!” Jed hugged her tightly.
“Can’t breathe,” she gasped in protest and squirmed in his arms.
Jed eased up his hold on her. “You scared the hell outta me, woman.”
“Kinda scared myself,” she admitted. “Thanks for throwing me a line. I need to sit.”
Jed sat up with her, keeping one arm around her. His heart rate was finally easing back to normal but his stomach still felt like he’d been kicked by a bull.
Mik looked around. Ellen was standing at the door to the den, wringing her hands, her face pale and mouth tight. Jake was yammering into his phone.
“Is that Teddy?” Mik asked.
“Yeah.”
“Tell her I’m fine and will call her later.”
“Okay.”
Mik looked at Jed. “I know how they were poisoned.”
Nothing she could have said at that moment would have surprised him more. “Say what?”
“I know how they were poisoned. Get someone to saddle Apache and Cherokee. I can show you.”
Jed looked from her to Jake. Jake shrugged and headed out the door. “You sure you’re up to riding?” he asked Mik.
“I’m fine. And we have to make sure there’s no access to the contamination and get samples to send to the authorities.”
“Honey, I’m all for that, but you just—“
“It was just overload,” Mik assured him. “I’m fine. Really. And we need to do this now.”
He nodded and stood when she did.
“You shouldn’t let that girl get on a horse,” Ellen said as they walked by her. “She was white as the dead and hardly breathing. She should see a doctor.”
“She’ll be okay,” Jed assured her. “I’ll keep an eye on her and at the first sign that she’s not fine I’ll haul her to the hospital.”
“Promise?”
“I’m not ever going to let anything happen to her,” he promised.
The surprise that registered on her face caused a flush to work over his skin. He knew he’d given himself away, pretty much come out and admitted he was in love with Mik. Three months ago, he’d have sworn he’d eat his hat before ever admitting to being in love. Today it felt good.
And he wasn’t about to let anything happen to change that feeling. Now that he’d had a taste of it, he was going to do everything it took to hold onto it.
Chapter Thirteen
Jed headed straight for his office in the main house when he and Mik returned. She’d led him to a pond in the northeastern quadrant of the ranch. Creek fed, it was a favorite watering spot for the cattle and horses alike as there was plenty of shade and lush grazing in the area. And an area they’d used more of late.
He’d taken water samples but didn’t need an analysis to prove it was the source of the poison. The water stunk to high heaven of chemicals.
Mik wandered in behind him with two glasses of iced tea. She placed one on the desk and took a seat on the old worn, leather couch across the room as Jed placed a call to his brother, Jesse.
To everyone’s great surprise, Jesse had announced last week that he was taking a job with the County Sheriff’s Department as a detective. Jed was stunned. Proud but stunned. He’d figured Jesse would stick with the rodeo until he was either too old or too broken up to compete.
Having Jesse put his education to use made Jed proud. He just hoped for Jesse’s sake that the decision was the right one. Right now, it was a good one for him. No one he’d trust more to investigate the poisonings than Jesse.
“Hey. We found something,” he said as soon as Jesse answered. “The pond in the northeast pasture stinks of chemicals. We have samples. How do we go about getting them analyzed?”
“I’ll swing by later and pick them up. And I’ll want to have a look at the site.”
“Sounds like a plan. Call when you’re on your way and I’ll be waiting.”
“Will do.”
Jed hung up and turned to look at Mik. She was still a little pale which worried him. “Honey why don’t you go upstairs and crawl in my bed and get some rest.”
Mik’s smile gave him cause to curse himself. Even knowing she had to be weak, all he could think of was joining her in bed. To sleep? Yeah, at some point.
“You gonna share your bed with me, handsome?”
“Much as I want to say yes, I don’t know that’d be too smart right now. You look worn out, Mik.”
“Wow, talk about getting shot down,” she replied then quickly added, “Hey, just teasing. Don’t get riled up. And you’re right. I am a little tired. But I think I’d be more comfortable in my own bed.”
“Long as you get some rest.”
“Okay.”
She stood and walked over to stand between his legs, looping her arms around his neck. “You should try and chill out, too. This thing isn’t over and it’s going to be stressful dealing with all the insurance people and owners of the horses.”
“I’ll be fine,” he promised. He would. Somehow, he’d find a way to make things work. How he was going to do that, he hadn’t a clue. Hopefully the solution would present itself. If they could prove it was foul play maybe it would ease the liability of the ranch.
Mik leaned down and kissed him softly. “Come join me when you’re done?”
“You can count on it.”
She gave him another kiss and left. Jed watched her go then turned and logged onto his computer. He needed to get an idea of what kind of financial hit they were going to take and now was as good a time as any.
*****
“I’ll let you know when and if I want you to release the information,” Deidre spoke into the cell phone. “Until then do nothing. Your fee has been transferred into the account you designated.”
She ended the call and put the phone into a padded envelope. She’d have to remember to have it delivered. She wouldn’t need it again except as further evidence against Dalton.
The phone was registered in his name. It was one of those “pay as you go” plans. She’d had it purchased to use for communication with the people they used to have the fluoride delivered to the Nash ranch.
Now that all applicable parties had been paid, she intended to have it planted in Dalton’s penthouse, in a place he’d not think to look. Everyone had those places in their homes; closets and drawers they rarely opened. The phone would find its way into such a place at Dalton’s.
Then, should the need arise, the authorities could find it and add another nail to the coffin that would transport Dalton to jail.
Deidre smiled to herself. Sometimes she was beyond brilliant. She had Dalton right where she wanted him. The little worm. And soon she would have Jed Nash and his brothers right where she wanted them.
