Chapter Seven
Monday morning came way too soon, Wilder thought as he strode across the yard and entered the milking parlor. He saw Bernie talking with Duane. They both looked his way then split up. Bernie walked toward him.
“Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yeah, but it ended too soon. You worked, didn’t you?”
“Yep. I’m off this coming weekend.”
Wilder stepped a little closer to him.
“Is anything going on I should know? I mean, am I in or not?”
“I’m still talking with… the boss.”
“Okay. Tell him I’ll do anything to get out of this debt.”
“I’ll talk to him later.”
“Is Duane in on this?”
“No.”
Wilder nodded as Bernie stared at him and then walked away. This was getting damn ridiculous. He should just arrest Bernie. Then maybe he’d talk. There was always the chance that he wouldn’t, though, and Wilder would be right back where he started. At square one, and he couldn’t afford to let that happen. He was too damn close, and he knew it. He could feel it.
“Wilder, you’ll be with Duane today,” Buster said as he walked past him.
“All right.”
Wilder watched him walk to where Duane stood, talked with him, and then left the barn. He wasn’t sure Bernie was telling the truth about Duane not being involved. Those two seemed close, but Wilder couldn’t assume anything. This could look one way and be another altogether. Hell, just because he saw the men talking didn’t mean anything, and it could be about work. He had his work cut out for him, but at least he knew he was on the right track.
Later in the afternoon, Wilder strode down the aisle of the milking parlor and saw Bernie talking with Hal. Both men looked his way as he walked toward them.
“Damn hot in here today. I’m going to get some water. I’ll be right back.”
“No problem, Wilder. We’ll be here,” Hal said.
“I’ll only be a minute.” They kept bottled water in the middle barn in a refrigerator.
When he stepped out of the barn, the heat hit him and had him wondering why in the hell he was doing this. He needed to get Bernie to talk about who else was involved.
Since Rory had some cows moved to the west pasture, he knew he had to pay attention to the men and their actions. Bernie played it cool, and the others must be doing the same because other than Hal and Duane, Wilder had no clue who else it could be.
As Wilder twisted the cap off the bottle, he clenched his jaw, thinking about Rory’s employees doing this to her. She seemed to have a good rapport with them, and they were stealing from her. Why?
It always amazed him at some reasons for rustling, but it usually came down to money. Some people never had enough and would go to whatever extreme it took to get it.
He drank the water down, threw the empty bottle into a recycle bin so hard that it bounced out and onto the floor. Taking a deep breath, he picked it up, tossed it back into the bin, then headed back to the milking parlor. But he knew he’d be keeping an eye on everyone around him.
****
Rory entered the milking parlor and glanced around. She wondered where Wilder was, then mentally shook her head. They had agreed to stay away from each other for a while, but she knew it would be an uphill battle because all she had to do was look at the man, and she wanted him.
Blowing out a breath, she continued down the aisle but stopped when she heard voices coming from the storage room. She tried to listen to them, but they talked so low that she couldn’t understand who it was or what they were saying. She also knew that she couldn’t jump to conclusions just because two of her workers were talking.
Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat, and the men stopped talking. She waited and blew out a sigh of relief when Wilder stepped out of the room.
“Hey,” he said.