by D C Young
“Well that changes things doesn’t it?”
“Very much so, but it also explains a lot.”
“Yeah,” Bjorn said scratching one side of his Mohawk-shaved head. “I’ve been trying to figure out how six experienced ranch hands just sat there and let one hundred and eighty cows walk through a fence and away into the wilderness.”
“You and me both, Bjorn. You and me both.”
***
“Is it just me or is there absolutely nothing happening down there?”
“Not a damn thing, darling,” Bjorn replied rolling off his elbows onto his back to look up at the stars.
“I mean since ‘Madam raven hair’ left and dinner wound down, no one’s so much as come out to take a piss.”
“I think it’s safe to say there isn’t a thing happening at Caldera Ranch… not tonight, anyway. Got any better ideas?”
“Other than going to find a couple drunk cowboys to feed on?” Bjorn raised his eyebrows. “None. Not yet anyway.”
“Didn’t we pass by a city council building on our way through Blanchard?”
“Sure did. It was hard to miss. That was the only place in town that looked like it was built this side of the 1950’s.”
“Did you read the sign out front?”
“Can’t say I did, but from your line of questioning I can tell you have an idea, clever Viking.”
“The Cattle Rancher’s Association has an office there as well as the City Archives. I think we could find out a whole lot more about ‘Madam raven hair’ and the Caldera Ranch there than we could from up here looking out for pissing cowboys.”
To Veronica, the idea of searching through the written records in the council building seemed like a great place to get some substantial evidence of what they were dealing with. “Bjorn Ironside, I like the way you think.”
Chapter Fourteen
I sat in complete disbelief listening to Bjorn and Veronica tell me that instead of keeping an eye on the ranch like I’d asked them to, they’d gone into Blanchard, fed on and glamoured a couple of local drunks then broken into the city archives.
I’m sure my jaw had dropped down to my chest as they told their story because I had to make a conscious effort to close my mouth several times during their ridiculous narrative.
“Well. I hope you at least found something I can use because I can’t imagine how things would have gone down if you two had been caught snooping around in there.”
“Oh, I glamoured the security guard.”
“It was crazy,” Bjorn said excitedly. “He turned off the surveillance cameras on all the corridors and everything!”
Of course, he did.
Veronica knew well enough she wouldn’t appear on camera but a walking suit of clothes with Bjorn beside it would have. Just then, Bjorn produced a stack of photocopies they’d taken the time to make during their escapade. I wanted to stay mad at them but as I sorted through the papers they’d stolen, I couldn’t be.
There was a police report log from the cattle Rancher Association documenting every recorded cattle theft in the area for the last five years. I noticed quickly that there hadn’t been that many until about three years ago at which point they became quite a frequent event. It seemed the area’s farms had become plagued by disappearances of groups of 6 to 10 cows at a time.
I sifted further and then Veronica brought my attention to a registration log for Caldera Ranch. I was shocked. It seemed that anywhere between one week and a month after each theft was reported, the Caldera Ranch was registered as purchasing the same amount of animals at auction. The deliveries were all made by the same contractor… Oscar Valencia.
A building permit showed that someone named Bill Kellerman had applied on behalf of Juanita Esperanza, owner of Caldera Ranch, for permission to erect a temporary corral in the valley and a new housing shed on the farm. It was dated six months prior to the disappearance of the Silver Blue Hermosa cattle and had been approved by the city.
I knew that shed was too new looking and that’s the same damn structure I saw on the valley floor.
The Caldera Ranch logs from the Cattle Rancher’s Association put the final nail in the coffin for me. According to the livestock registrations, over the past few weeks, Caldera Ranch had acquired one hundred and twenty head of cows on the open market. They’d been shipped in from just over the Nevada border by no one else but Mr. Oscar Valencia.
Even though I was mad as hell at them, I realized Veronica and Bjorn just might have blown the case wide open… All I needed now was a confirmation of what I’d seen in that shed at Caldera Ranch… you know; real, actual evidence. I took my phone from the pocket of my jeans and quickly dialed Earnie’s number.
***
An hour later, I was seated at the table in the main hall at Silver Creek ranch. The room had been cleared from breakfast and there was still a couple hours before the cooks and stewards would be needing it to serve lunch.
I spread out a few of Veronica and Bjorn’s stolen pages on the table in front of Earnest, Fred and Greg. I let the information sink in for a little and it only took them a few minutes to see where I was headed. Greg lost his temper and immediately started yelling at the top of his voice about what he was going to do to that bitch across the canyon.
“Whatever you three do now, it’s important to keep your cool and work completely within the parameters of the law. None of you want those cattle impounded pending a lengthy investigation, do you? It could mean losing your calves.”
Greg stopped and looked squarely at me. After a few minutes studying my face, he took a seat with us at the table again.
“I need you three to do me a huge favor.” The three men looked up at me with hope in their eyes. “Get me one of the branding pokers from your ranches; the same one you would have used on these co-op cows.”
“It’s just one that we use on those animals. I’d have one here. Let me get Randal to bring it in.”
“Thanks, Earnie. Please do, but don’t tell anyone anything yet, okay?” He nodded and walked out towards the yard.
I grabbed a blank sheet of paper and carefully drew the symbol I had seen branded on the rear ends of the cows that were laying in the new shed on Caldera Ranch. When Earnie returned with the branding iron, I put its business end into the ashes of the fireplace and pressed it to the paper to make an imprint. Then I stepped back.
“Gentlemen, tell me what do you see?” The three men were in shock. They stood over the paper shaking their heads unable to find the word they were looking for until I offered it to them. “Forgery. Earnie, would you be kind enough to call the Sheriff?”
Chapter Fifteen
As soon as Earnie, Fred and Greg were finished presenting their case to Detective Massey, we were out in the stable yard saddling up our horses. I led the group through the stockade gates and out to where the section of fence had been cut and repaired.
“There’s no way that was cut out of the fence without my guys noticing,” Earnie said defensively.
“It is what it is, Earnie. But it wasn’t their fault. Someone slipped them something and they weren’t themselves that night,” I replied, offering the best explanation I could without outright telling those men that someone put a spell on the cowboys that night.
Honestly, I don’t even know for sure what happened to those men that night myself.
I tried not to make too much of a show of it as I delivered a swift kick to a post in the fence. Both Earnie and the detective’s mouths fell open as the post and a whole section of fence fell flat onto the ground revealing the opening the cows had been led through.
I remounted my horse and walked him through the opening out into the grassland until I found the trampled trail that led to the temporary corral and then on to the Caldera Ranch. There was so much more I could have told Detective Massey at that point… about the new shed, Oscar Valencia and the re-branding… but I’d worked with the police enough to know that the physical evidence I was showing him would be mor
e effective in getting the man the search warrant he would need to find everything I had already seen for myself.
In an instant, Detective Massey knew exactly what he was looking at. He pulled out his phone and called for backup. Within an hour, there was a crime scene investigation team in the valley gathering as much evidence of the rustling as they could find.
***
“Goddammitt!” Bill cursed as he pulled the binoculars from his eyes. “It’s the fucking Sheriff’s department.”
From the top of the ridge, he could see everything up and down the valley floor for miles. Nothing moved down there without him spotting it. He’d been on the lookout for coyote hanging around to hassle the herd coming in from pasture but instead he’d found the police and Earnest Cumber hot on his and Juanita’s trail. He jumped onto the back of his horse and made a beeline for the ranch to warn her of what was happening.
When he arrived at the stable, Juanita was in Ivory’s stall brushing the horse down.
“Juanita, I gotta talk to you urgently!” Bill cried as he came through the barn doors.
“Why? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I was just up on the ridge looking out for those wild dogs that have been hassling the herd when I saw the sheriff’s department poking around in the valley.” His eyes were wild and he was flailing his hands all over the place. “They’re on to us! You gotta get outta here. Quick!”
“Don’t be silly, Bill. There’s nothing for them to find down there. And if they do, we’ll just have Analisa sing them a lovely song whenever they do get here.”
“Goddammitt, Juanita. This is serious shit. You have got to get gone quick before they get up here and lock us all up.”
Juanita smiled a coy smile as she thought of how Bill seemed to have very little concern about his own well being. “Sorry to disappoint you, Bill,” she replied nonchalantly. “But I’m not going anywhere. If they come, so be it.”
Bill grabbed the hat off his head and threw it to the ground in anger. He stormed out of the barn, got on his horse and tore out of the stable yard. That was the point at which Juanita lost her cool.
“Once a traitorous coward, always a traitorous coward,” she snarled under her breath. “Keith! Jason! Eric! Get your lazy asses in here!”
The three ranch hands came tumbling over themselves into the barn to see what their boss wanted.
“Yes boss?” they said in unison.
“You three get on out after Bill and make sure he doesn’t leave this valley. I don’t care what you do just bring him back here.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Fifteen minutes later, the three men had Bill Kellerman in their sights. The sun was starting to set and there was no time to lose; if he made it out of the valley there was no telling what Miss Esperanza would do to them.
“Get him, boys! Yaaaah!” Keith cried as he urged his horse forward even faster. The other two followed suit. A few minutes later, they were astride with Bill’s horse and the ranch manager knew he was done for. Eric grabbed his reins and began to slow the horses. As soon as his horse was moving slow enough, Bill jumped from the saddle and ran like crazy bull for the canyon walls. He knew if he got there he could easily lose the inexperienced ranch hands on the twisting, winding paths up the ridge. But within seconds, Jason tackled him to the ground and delivered a punch square to his jaw. The other two came running up as mad as wasps and started kicking Bill in the ribs and stomping on him with their boots.
They were so busy working a number over on the man they didn’t notice the two vampires who’d landed quietly on the ground behind them.
When Bill Kellerman regained consciousness it was already dark and he didn’t remember much about what had happened to him.
“Wake up, Bill,” Veronica said slapping his cheek with her open palm.
“Hey!” he cried. “Easy now. That hurts!”
“Wuss!” Bjorn scoffed.
Bill stood up and wavered a moment. Bjorn caught him before he could fall down on his ass again.
“We’re taking you to Silver Creek. There’s a nice detective there who’ll be interested in hearing what you’ve got to tell him.”
“Oh, hell naw!” Bill said swinging his arms to get out of Bjorn’s grip. “I ain’t talking to the law about nothing.”
Bjorn tightened his grip and Bill screamed in pain.
Veronica laughed and pointed over at a tree. “It’s either you come with us or I’ll untie these three and let them get back to what they were doing to you before we came along and saved your sorry ass.”
Bill looked up at the tree and saw Jason, Eric and Keith tied neatly to the trunk, unconscious.
Bjorn took one look at Bill’s face and asked, “So, what’s it gonna be, big boy?”
“Shit! Come on then,” Bill finally replied. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Ma’am,” Danny said, coming into the barn while Juanita was feeding Ivory.
She was in good spirits and responded in a musical tone. “What you need, Danny?”
“Have you seen or talked to Bill? He was supposed to be back an hour or so ago. We started a new colt and he was supposed to help me with him today.”
“I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” Juanita responded.
“That’s not all,” Danny continued after a short pause. “There’s been a lot of strange stuff going on around the place.”
“What sort of strange stuff?”
“Something or someone has been snooping around the place,” Danny responded. “Several actually.”
“Are you getting spooked by ghosts, Danny?” Juanita laughed.
“I’m serious, ma’am,” he replied. “Even Analisa says…”
“What are you doing talking to Analisa?” Juanita snapped. She was very protective of the girl.
“She came out to pet Rex and I helped get some oats for her to feed to him, that’s all.”
Immediately, Juanita’s chipper mood vanished. “Finish here!” she snapped and rushed toward the house.
“Analisa?” she called out when she stepped through the patio doors. The girl usually came running whenever she called, but there was no response. She rushed to the kitchen. “Martha, have you seen Analisa?”
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen or heard from her since she came running in from the corral and rushed up to her room. I hadn’t thought anything of it until now.”
With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Juanita rushed out of the kitchen and to the steps two at a time as she rushed up stairs. “Analisa? Analisa where are you?” She called out several times, but got no answer. She searched under the bed and in the closets. She went from room to room calling out and looking under the beds and in the closets. Then it struck her that there was a trunk in the closet of the room, which Katie used when she stayed over. Analisa used to hide in it when she’d first come to live at Caldera. She went in the room and pulled open the lid.
“No! No! No! Close it! They’ll find me!” Analisa screamed.
“Who will find you?”
“The vampires.”
“What vampires?”
“The ones that were out at the barn.”
“There are vampires out at the barn?”
“Not now, but I think they’re coming back.”
“How do you know that?”
“They said they were going to get Detective Massey and come back for the cows.”
“Who is Detective Massey?”
“I don’t know, but he’s going to bring a warrant to search the premises and then the vampires will find me.”
“A warrant?” Juanita asked. As the words came out of her mouth, she began to panic. She wasn’t sure about vampires, but she did trust Analisa’s psychic abilities. It didn’t matter who she had heard or seen, if someone was talking about a warrant, then she needed to start getting rid of evidence. “She pressed the speed dial button on her phone and connected with Oscar after two rings.
“Bueno,” Oscar’s voice rang out.
“Get some semi-trucks here just as fast as you can. We’ve got to get the cattle out of here.”
“Nita, a semi-truck only hold about 60 cows. It would take a lot of trucks to get all your cattle out of there. That will take several trips.”
“Send me three trucks then and send them fast.” She disconnected the call and started back to the barn to find Danny and the other two hands. They had to get the one hundred and eighty head of Silver Blue Hermosa cows on those trucks. They had to do it pronto.
***
“We’re almost too late,” Detective Massey announced. “Look.”
I followed the line of his outstretched finger. In the ranch yard below us, two semi-trucks were parked one behind the other and waiting to pull out onto the road to leave, while a third truck was backed up to the dock. Three men and a woman were scurrying around trying to cram the last truck full of cows. The three truck drivers sat on the top rail of the fence and watched.
“We better hurry then,” Earnest responded.
I wanted very badly to transform and fly down the hill to stop them, but I couldn’t risk revealing my true nature to them.
Where are Bjorn and Veronica?
Earnest, Massey and I along with the three deputies accompanying us spurred our horses into action, racing off the hill toward the ranch. We weren’t quite into the ranch yard when we saw the tailgate come down on the last truck and the three drivers scrambling to get their trucks rolling down the road. The trucks were already out the gate when the six of us rode into the yard, surprising the three ranch hands.
“Stay right where you are and don’t move a muscle,” Massey ordered. “And keep your hands where we can see them too.”
“Danny, where’s Miss Esperanza?” Earnest asked.
The three hands shrugged and stared at us with wide eyes.
“We’ll stick here with these three,” Massey ordered.
