“What about the cow—the mother of the calf?”
“I took care of her,” Rex stated. “She’s with the rest of the herd in the south pasture.”
Tory nodded thoughtfully and cocked her head toward the dead calf. “Let’s cover her up,” she whispered. “I’ve got a tarp in the back of the truck.”
“Why?” Rex asked, but Trask was already returning to the pickup for the tarp.
“I want someone from the sheriff’s office to see the calf and I don’t want to take a chance that some scavenger finds her. A coyote could clean the carcass by morning,” Tory replied, as she stood and dusted off her skirt. In the darkness, her eyes glinted with determination. “Someone did this—” she pointed to the calf “—deliberately. I want that person found.”
Rex sucked in his breath and shook his head. “Might not be that easy,” he thought aloud.
“Well, we’ve got to do something. We can’t just sit by and let it happen again.”
Rex shook his head. “You’re right, Tory. I can’t argue with that. Whoever did this should have to pay, but I doubt if having someone from the sheriff’s office come out will do any good.”
“Maybe not, but at least we’ll find out if any of the other ranchers have had similar problems.”
Rex forced his hands into the pockets of his lightweight jacket and pulled his shoulders closer to his neck as the rain began to shower in earnest. “I’ll check all the fields tomorrow, just to make sure that there are no other surprises.”
“Good.”
Rex glanced uneasily toward the trucks, where Trask was fetching the tarp. “There’s something else you should know,” the foreman said. His voice was low, as if he didn’t want to be overheard.
Tory followed Rex’s gaze. “What?”
“The fence…someone snipped it. Whoever did this—” he motioned toward the dead calf “—didn’t bother to climb through the fence, or use the gate. No, sir. They clipped all four wires clean open.”
Tory’s heart froze. Whoever had killed the calf had done it blatantly, almost tauntingly. She felt her stomach quiver with premonition. Things had gone from bad to worse in the span of a few short hours.
“I patched it up as best I could,” Rex was saying with a frown. “I’ll need a couple of the hands out here tomorrow to do a decent job of it.”
“You don’t think this is the work of kids out for a few kicks,” Tory guessed.
Rex shrugged and even in the darkness Tory could see him scowl distractedly. “I don’t rightly know, but I doubt it.”
“Great.”
“You don’t have anyone who bears you a grudge, do you?” Rex asked uncomfortably.
“Not that I know of.”
“How about someone who still has it in for your pop? Now that he’s gone, you’d be the most likely target.” He thought for a minute, as if he was hesitant to bring up a sore subject. “Maybe someone who’s out to make trouble because of the horse swindle?”
“I don’t think so,” Tory murmured. “It’s been a long time…over five years.”
“But McFadden is back. Stirring up trouble…” If Rex meant to say anything more, he didn’t. Trask reappeared with the heavy tarp slung over his shoulder. Without a word the two men covered the small calf and lashed the tarp down with rope and metal stakes that Trask had brought from the truck.
“That about does it,” Rex said, wiping the accumulation of rain from the back of his neck once the unpleasant job had been completed. “It would take a grizzly to rip that open.” He stretched his shoulders before adding, “Like I said, I’ll check all the fences and the livestock myself, in the morning. I’ll let you know if anything looks suspicious.” Rex’s concerned gaze studied Trask for a tense second and Tory saw the muscles in Trask’s face tighten a bit.
“I’ll talk to you in the morning,” Tory replied.
“’Night,” Rex mumbled as he turned toward his truck.
“Thanks for checking it out, Rex.”
“No problem.” Rex pushed his hat squarely over his head. “All part of the job.”
“Above and beyond the call of duty at ten o’clock at night.”