Bodine smiled at Jessica. “I’m surprised he hasn’t lassoed you yet. He’ll make excuses, but I’ll have Mom put the pressure on there. If the others agree—and we’ve got Thad at the ranch who’s done the rodeo—we can put together an hour to fill the gap, keep your family reunion happy.”
“I’ll head down to the BAC, lay out the plan.”
“You’ve got a meeting in five minutes,” Chelsea reminded Jessica. “And you wanted to talk to the kitchen about today’s lunch. I’ll run down. I can have the program written up in about an hour.”
“Don’t ever leave me,” Jessica told her.
*
Jessica’s faith in her always gave Chelsea a boost. She loved the work, the people, the place. And really loved having someone she admired give her opportunities to create, even take charge.
Still formulating how to pitch the alternate program, she drove to the BAC. If time wasn’t so tight, she’d have loved the walk. To her mind, nothing beat spring in Montana.
Halfway there, one of the maintenance trucks hailed her. The driver leaned out.
“I heard somebody shot Cal Skinner’s horse right out from under him!”
Chelsea repeated the basic line Bodine had given her before she’d left the office. “They’re okay. Somebody was shooting, and they were both grazed, but they’re okay.”
“I heard that horse had to be put down.”
“Oh, no. The vet already fixed him up. He just needs a couple days off.”
The guy—what was his name?… Vance!—gave her a beady eye. “You sure about that, girl?”
“I talked to Rory, and to Bodine just a minute ago. We’re even doing a donation pool to get Sundown a get-well gift.”
“Who’s got that going? Sal?”
“That’s right.”
“I’ll put my money in that. Damn good horse. People oughtn’t to go around shooting unless they know what the hell they’re aiming at. Buncha greenhorn dentists from back East. Bet that’s what it was. You have a good one, girl.”
“You, too.”
She drove on wishing it had been some greenhorn. But Rory, spitting mad, had been sure about Clintok. And sure it had been deliberate.
As upsetting as it was, she didn’t see Rory being that wrong.
She pulled up, saw Easy leading a couple of horses to the near paddock.
“Hey, Easy.”
“Hey there, Chelsea.”
“Is Ben around?”
“Just went in to get us a couple Cokes.”
“How about Carol?”
“Early trail ride. She’ll be back in…” He looked up, squinted, gauged the angle of the sun. “Oh, about a half hour maybe. Something I can do for you?”
“Yeah, actually. You, Ben, Carol. We need to replace Sundown and Cal’s program this afternoon.”
“Cal take sick? Got a text from the big boss asking if I’d come in today. Just figured we were extra busy.”
“You haven’t heard?”
He tethered the horses, turned. “Heard what?”
“Well, you’re going to hear, and the story’s getting bigger so it’s better to hear it straight. Somebody was up in the woods above Black Angus Road yesterday, and took a shot. Cal and Sundown were both hit.”
“What?” He grabbed her arm. “Shot?”
“Wait. I should’ve said ‘grazed.’ Both of them were grazed and they’re going to be fine.”
“Jesus H. Christ. How bad? Cal’s a damn good boss, and that horse is something special.”
“Grazed Cal’s leg, Sundown’s belly.”
Easy’s face hardened. “It was that damn deputy.”
He’d released her arm, and now Chelsea took his. “Why do you say that?”
“I was right here when he came after Cal the one time. Went at him hard, too. And I saw him riding around on an ATV yesterday when I was bringing in a trail ride. Out of uniform, like, but I knew who he was. Didn’t see he had any business on resort property, but I had guests in line and couldn’t go after him to say so.”
“You saw him,” Chelsea repeated, “on property, on an ATV?”
“I did. About four, I’d say. Right around then.”
“You might need to tell the sheriff.”
“I sure as hell will if it means anything.”
“And maybe nobody else right now? Bodine wants to keep it from getting, well, too hot.”
“I’m feeling pretty hot. That’s bushwhacking. Shooting a horse,” Easy muttered, stroking the bay mare. “What kind of son of a bitch does that?”
“A heartless one, I think.”
He looked back at her. “Me, too.”
“I’ve got to get back, but we could really use your help this afternoon.”
“You got it. I’m mad enough to spit.”
“The program,” she began, explaining what they had in mind.
“It’ll be fun. We’ll put that together, you bet. I’ll talk to Ben and Carol. I don’t know Chase so much, or this other one.”
“We’ve got that. If you could figure out what you’d do, who goes when, that kind of thing. And if there’s anything you’d need. If you could do that by noon, I think we could pull this off.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. I’m right pleased to be part of it.”
“Great. I’ve got to get back and start working on it.”
He looked over as Ben came running, shouting as he did.
“Holy shit! Holy shit, somebody shot Cal and Sundown!”
Easy tipped his hat back. “Go on ahead. I’ll tell him.”
“Not about Clintok, okay? Not yet.”
Easy winked, put a finger to his lips. He admired the way she looked walking away, then shifted to the breathless Ben.
“Hold on, Ben. I’ve got the full story.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Easy puzzled on what to do. He’d never had so much on his plate at one time and, along with Ben, was almost, sort of, in charge of things.
He had to load up the horses for the lesson down at the center, cull out more for another trail ride, and figure out how to put on a show.
He liked the show part of things, the fun of it, the being back in front of people like during his rodeo time.
And he had to think about Cal. He sure liked Cal—there was a man who knew horses and men and how to keep things running smooth. Somebody had shot at his boss, and that was bad enough. But that somebody had shot at a damn fine horse, too, and that couldn’t be borne.
The fact he’d likely seen that somebody, knew that somebody made him proud. And made him plenty nervous along with it.
That pretty Chelsea said he needed to talk to the sheriff about it, and Ben said just the same. So he guessed he had to do that. He just didn’t know how to go about it, especially with all the work and the show.
He sure didn’t know how to go about being in charge.
He didn’t know whether to feel relief or worry when Chase Longbow rode up, leading a second horse. Ben took the lead there, rushing right up before Chase had so much as dismounted.
“Have you seen Cal? Cal’s really okay? How’s Sundown?”
“They’re both doing fine. Doc Bickers was giving them both another look when I left. Word is you boys have your hands full here, and my sister’s signed us up for some damn show later today. I can give you a hand for now, and Thad and Zeke’ll be along later.”
“You going to do some fancy rope tricks?”