“That sounds a little extreme, don’t you think?” Mercy asked, hoping she was right.
“If they want me off the property, burning down that old barn isn’t the way to do it. I don’t miss that barn one bit. But try it on my house and they’ll be in for a surprise.” Tilda patted something in the baggy pocket of her overalls, and Mercy realized she’d been drinking tea with an armed woman.
Way to be on your toes, Kilpatrick.
Several sets of tires crunched on the gravel outside, and Cade stopped to listen. It was nearly 9:00 p.m. and he’d never worked so late before, but there was no point in rushing home, because Kaylie couldn’t meet him later anyway. Twice he’d had to pull apart work he’d completed because he’d made stupid mistakes. Both incidents were a result of him thinking about Kaylie’s aunt’s visit instead of focusing on his job. He’d decided he wasn’t going home until he had the damn thing right.
Multiple voices sounded outside, and he picked out Tom’s distinctive low rumble. The other voices sounded concerned and upset. Cade moved against the wall right next to the door of his bunkhouse and listened. Chip was mouthing off. Cade couldn’t make out the words, but his tone was higher-pitched than usual. He thought he heard “FBI” mentioned a few times. And Joshua Pence’s name. Tom answered in a soothing rumble, and footsteps sounded as the group headed toward the growing mess hall.
Cade exhaled, suddenly aware he’d been holding his breath as he tried to listen. No doubt Chip had conveyed the news of the FBI agents’ visit. Cade had nearly fallen over when Kaylie’s aunt showed up at his job. Finding his tongue to speak to her had been a hundred times harder than he’d imagined. It’d felt as if she knew all his secrets as she spoke to him, her green eyes penetrating his brain. He’d wanted to tell her that he knew Josh Pence. That the man had been working at the ranch before Cade was hired, and that he’d been kind and jolly but had gotten into arguments with some of the other men.
Then one day he hadn’t shown up for work. No one seemed concerned. Cade had asked Mitch, who’d simply shrugged and said, “Guess he found something better.” He’d noticed the quick exchange of glances between Mitch and Chip after the reply.
But now Josh had been murdered?
Cade tried to Google Josh’s name, wanting the details about his death, but the cellular service out at the ranch was temperamental. Tonight there was none. Nada. Zip. It’d have to wait until he got home. Wondering over and over what had happened to Josh had added to his distraction and faulty work.
Go eavesdrop.
He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
Something happened to Josh, and they know about it.
Cade opened the bunkhouse door and spotted the men still walking toward the mess hall. The sun had set hours before, and the light was poor. In the weak light above the mess hall door, they were a group of silhouettes in the dark night. The two guys who had taken to going everywhere with Tom walked right beside him. Cade never saw Tom without them anymore. They seemed like guards.
Is Tom at risk like Josh?
Is that why he never goes anywhere alone?
His feet were moving before his brain acknowledged that he was following the group. Cade scooted to the far edge of the gravel lot, preferring to walk on the silent dirt. His breath hung in the air as his eyes adjusted to the bad light. He broke into a slow jog, keeping his steps as quiet as possible. He reached the mess hall and slunk around to the back, where Mitch and Chip hadn’t finished the back door that led directly to the kitchen. If he bumped into one of the kitchen women, he’d say he was looking for something to eat on his way home. The unfinished door easily swung open, and Cade stepped into an empty, dark kitchen. Relief made his knees weak. Voices sounded from the other side of the wall between the kitchen and the larger seating area.
He dug through one of the cupboards and grabbed two pieces of bread and slathered some peanut butter on them, squinting in the dim light.
A sandwich for my alibi.
He bent down and followed the long counter to the pass-through, which let some light into the kitchen from the mess hall. It was a large window at the far end of the kitchen where the cooks could put up food to be easily grabbed from the seating area. Cade crouched below the raised counter of the pass-through and listened.
“The Davidsons can’t stay in town anymore. They fucked up and caught the notice of the cops.”
I’m not sure who’s speaking.
“What were they thinking?” asked Tom McDonald.
“Dunno,” said the first voice. “Kimberly did something that set Wayne off.”
“Ten straight days’ KP for her,” ordered McDonald. “All meals.”
What’s KP?
“Where are they going to sleep? We’re currently full.”
“They can stay in the bunkhouse that’s nearly finished and spread out some sleeping bags in there. The cold will be good for them,” declared McDonald.
Murmuring voices agreed.
“Now, Chip. Explain to me how we caught the notice of the FBI,” said McDonald.
There were a pause and a few boot steps as, Cade assumed, Chip stepped forward. From the volume of the voices, it sounded as if McDonald was a few feet from the pass-through while the other men stood in a group and faced him.
Except for his two shadows. Cade imagined them standing to the right and left of McDonald.
“I don’t know, sir.” Cade had never heard such a polite tone from Chip. “Somehow they connected Pence with the ranch. They had his picture and asked if we knew him.”
“What’d you say?”
“Mitch and I said we didn’t recognize him. Cade said he was unsure and then proceeded to mention that a lot of men come and go from the ranch.”
McDonald cursed, and another assenting murmur sounded from the small group. Cade wiped the sweat that had formed on his upper lip.
“The kid did okay.”
Cade perked up at Mitch’s words.
“For someone with two FBI agents staring at him, Cade played it cool,” continued Mitch. “I thought he seemed genuine. He acted how you would expect from someone who knows nothing but is trying to be helpful to the cops.”
The room was silent, and Cade hoped Mitch wouldn’t regret sticking his neck out in his defense.
“Watch him,” McDonald ordered. “I’m holding you responsible for keeping him out of sight and his mouth shut if they show up here again.”
“Yes, sir,” Mitch replied.
Cade’s spine relaxed a fraction.
“What about their questions about Pence?” asked the first voice.
“Answer them. We know nothing about him,” said McDonald. “And figure out why they think we do. Someone had to say something that led them here.”
“Are you going to call them?” Chip asked.
“What for?”
Silence.
“This is my property and I don’t owe them anything. Pretty soon we won’t have to put up with them anymore.”