Tory shrugged. “I doubt it. The hands are too smart to be conned. They know when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes and can see through lies, just about any lie. Though they don’t go poking around in my business, it’s hard to ignore the fact that a United States senator showed up here, sporting a rather ugly cut on his chin. Especially since there was a scandal he was involved in a few years ago.” She looked pointedly at Trask. “It hasn’t helped that the rumors and gossip are already flying around Sinclair like vultures over a dying animal. So you see, it’s really too much to expect the hands to think that the only reason a detective is on the ranch is to protect the cattle.”
“I suppose so.” He looked down at the letter again. “I don’t like this, Tory.”
She shuddered and took a sip of her coffee. “Neither do I.”
Trask wearily pushed the hair from his face and began to pace across the kitchen floor.
“Cut that out,” Tory admonished softly and then explained. “Pacing drives me nuts.”
“You really are on edge aren’t you?”
“I think we both are. Why don’t you call Neva and let her know that you’re all right? Then you can sit down and tell me everything that happened yesterday with the judge and his accomplice.”
Trask reluctantly agreed and while he was on the phone to Neva and Paul Barnett, Tory fixed him a breakfast of muffins, fresh fruit and scrambled eggs. She was just placing the eggs on a platter when Trask walked back into the kitchen.
“You’re spoiling me,” he accused with a devilish twinkle in his eyes.
“And you love it.” She looked up and pointed at a chair near the table. “Now, sit, senator, and tell me everything there is to know about Linn Benton.”
Trask slid into his chair and began eating. “Benton seemed to think it was a joke that I was there, but Henderson was scared spitless. I think Henderson would have talked, but he was afraid that Linn Benton would find out.”
“So you didn’t learn anything you didn’t already know?”
“Nothing specific,” Trask admitted. “But I’ve got a gut feeling that somehow Linn Benton is involved in what’s happening here. He was so amused by the whole thing, especially the fact that someone had beat the hell out of me.” Puzzled lines etched across Trask’s forehead.
“But you can’t figure out exactly what he’s doing or with whom, right?”
He looked away from her and his blue eyes grew as cold as the morning sky in winter. “I’m working on it. John Davis is checking out Benton’s friends and the people that still work for him on his ranch near Bend, and after I was through at the penitentiary, I drove to Portland and did some research.”
“What kind of research?”
“I made copies of all the newspaper accounts of what happened five years ago. Everything I could find on Jason’s murder as well as the Quarter Horses and the swindle.”
Tory felt her back stiffen. “But you were at the trial, heard and gave testimony. You already knew what happened; at least you thought you did.”
“But I wanted to get a new perspective on the scam. I thought I could find it in the press accounts of the investigation and the trial.”
“You must have read all those articles a hundred times,” she whispered.
“I did five years ago under…a lot of stress and conflicting emotions,” he said quietly. He finished his breakfast and again noticed the threatening letter. “So who do you think sent you this?” He pointed to the single white sheet of paper.
“I don’t know.”
“But surely you could hazard a guess,” he coaxed.
“The only people I can think of are Linn Benton and George Henderson because we already know that they were involved. Benton has powerful allies outside of the penitentiary, people who are still on his payroll or owe him favors—”
The front door opened with a bang. “Tory?” Keith’s anxious voice echoed through the house.
“In the kitchen,” she called out to him.
“Thank God you’re here,” he said, striding to the back of the house and stopping short when he met Trask’s cool stare. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, McFadden.”
Trask smiled wryly. “Another one?”
“Rex found another calf—shot just like the last one,” Keith said, his face twisted with worry. He jerked his hat off his head, tossed it carelessly onto the counter and slid into the chair facing Trask.
Tory’s slim shoulders slumped. Yesterday the note, today another calf…when would it end. “Where is it?” she asked.