Trent
What a cock-sucking cunt!
Just because she wants to lay claim to this land, which we purchased fair and square. How much more will she ruin before we can catch her?
Strumming my fingers on the table after Kelly has been sharing what she has found out, I am both excited, but angry as well. I hired her! But how was I supposed to know that she’s all about taking revenge? I couldn’t have.
Remembering that day, she comes in all high and mighty, touting all of her experience as a livestock expert. Her grayish-brown scraggly hair sticks out from under a white kerchief that morning, just after we had taken over.
“So, what’s the plan, Kelly?” I hear Owen ask her, pulling my thoughts back into the conversation.
“I thought that maybe the two of you could be discussing something pertinent about the fire and the other things. Maybe like, Trent is cleaning a barn, and you,” she points a finger at Owen, “Could come in all fed up?”
“Well, we are fed up!” Owen says. “But how do we set her up in order to get her on camera?”
“Yeah, and where did you put the cameras?” I ask her wondering about their locations.
She thinks for a minute, looking down at her notes. “You said a couple of cows have gone missing, right?” Kelly looks at me with excitement looming in her eyes. She’s finally going to get her man.
The bad guy. Woman.
Elizabeth.
“Yes, but at different times,” I tell her. “By the way, the cameras are in each of the remaining barns and one is capturing the field.”
“And they coincide with when she stays here at the ranch,” she says. “By the way, do you have a schedule of sorts that shows when she stays and when she goes to her home?”
I nod my head and go to my office to rummage through some drawers. When I return, I hand her the schedule. “Elizabeth came up with this schedule because she says she’s taking care of her sick mother,”
“Yeah, right,” Owen says sarcastically. “Her mom’s more than likely dead and in the ground.”
I place the schedule in my stack of papers. “We’re going to do this tonight. No sense in waiting any longer and she’ll be here overnight.”
I smile and start to get excited about getting Elizabeth. I want more than that, I want to catch her red-handed. I rub my hands together quickly and say, “Let the games begin!”
Owen and Kelly laugh as she walks from the door. “I’ll get the cameras ready and you two figure out the words to the plan. Sound good?”
I look at her and say, “More than good! See you in a bit.”
Later, I traipse into the temporary stable where Elizabeth is, and start to clean up some stuff. I’m pretending to be huffy and grumpy as I clean, but it really isn’t so much of an act as I’m angry with her in reality. I start to mutter under my breath, “Goddamned shit. I can’t handle all of it.”
“Are you okay, Mr. Hawk?” Elizabeth asks and comes closer. “Just ranch stuff,” I tell her, not even looking at her. “And I don’t want to talk about it either.”
Owen walks in all huffy and angry as well and pulls me to the corner of the barn. “Trent, he tells me, frustrated, but loud enough for Elizabeth to hear, “I’m not sure how much more I can take of this stuff, Trent. I mean we’re losing our asses right now!”
“I know, I am pissed off as well, not knowing when it all will end,” I huff out staring at him. Inside I want to smile about the ruse as we’re playing it off very well. “The barn exploding was my absolute last straw.”
I take a quick glance over at Elizabeth, who’s pretending not to listen, but she has an ear facing in our direction. “I swear,” I begin, but Owen cuts me off.
“If one more cow goes missing or another crop dies again,” Owen bellows, raising a finger, pointing at me.
“We’re just going to have to sell the ranch and let someone else deal with the chaos,” I tell him, lowering my head to the ground.
“Just so we’re on the same page,” Owen says, stomping out of the barn.
But then he curtails and comes back to me, “How did the cows get out anyway?”
I shrug my shoulders and answer, “It’s not like they went through the fence, cause I’ve searched it for holes. Nothing turned up.”