Samantha put her phone back into her pocket. “I thought she was yourex-girlfriend.” Jaxon or Preston must have filled their cousin in on Landon’s love life—or in this case, lack of it.
“Girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. It’s the same thing.” Landon meant that either way, he wasn’t putting up with rustlers.
“It’s not the same thing at all,” Samantha said, amused. “For most people anyway.” To Jake she added, “Your bad luck, dude. Next time you steal someone’s cattle, make sure you don’t run into the guy who’s trying to win the owner back.”
Landon would have chased a rustler regardless. Granted, he might not have flung himself onto the pavement quite so recklessly, but he would have still tried to apprehend the guy.
Landon shifted his weight because his knee was stinging again. “Did this jerk hurt you earlier?”
Samantha brushed dust off her jeans. “I took my eyes off him for a second, and he shoved me to the ground and took off.” To Jake, she added, “I guess your lawyer can talk over those assault charges with mine.”
“Who’s your accomplice?” Landon asked the man.
Jake started struggling again, trying to push Landon away. “I don’t have to say nothing to you. Let me go or I’ll scream for help! You want people videoing this assault?”
“Go ahead and scream,” Landon said. “See how much sympathy a cattle thief gets from a crowd of ranchers. I think videoing you is the last thing that would occur to them.”
Jake stopped struggling. Maybe he figured he was safer not drawing attention to himself.
A couple minutes later, a police car pulled up. Two officers climbed out, put Jake in handcuffs, and took statements. Then the entire group headed back to the trailer so the officers could check the cattle and take photographs. A phone call to the Department of Agriculture was enough to confirm that the brand was in fact registered to Coyote Glen.
Jake kept insisting he’d bought the cattle from someone else—a man whose description he had trouble remembering. He didn’t have an answer when the officer asked why he’d shoved Samantha and run away.
One of the policemen, a Polynesian guy named Hoapili Kahale, had gone to school in Bisbee with Landon. Even as a teenager, he’d been able to stare down anyone, and that look had only grown more intense as he’d grown older. “Are you going to take the entire rap for this?” he asked Jake. “Or are you going to be smart and tell us who you’re working with? I guarantee it will go better for you if you cooperate.”
Jake kept his gaze on the ground. “I ain’t saying nothing ‘til I talk to a lawyer.”
“If that’s what you want.” Hoapili gestured for his partner to escort Jake to the back of the squad car.
While Jake made that walk of shame, Hoapili handed some paperwork to Landon to sign.
“What’s this for?” Landon asked.
“In case we need to talk to you again.”
As Landon signed, Hoapili smiled and was suddenly the old high school friend instead of the officer. “What did you think I wanted your autograph for? My yearbook?”
Landon handed Hoapili the form. “Oh. Then I guess I should cross out: Have a great summer and don’t ever change.”
Hoapili cast a look at Jake who was slumped in the back seat of the squad car. “Back in high school, I never saw a point to all the time you spent wrestling steers to the ground, but I gotta say, it came in handy today.”
“I wish I could have gotten his partner too.”
“Jake will talk eventually. If my partner, Mr. Good Cop, doesn’t get the information out of him now, his lawyer will make him see sense. It’s always better to cut a deal.” He gestured to the trailer. “We’ll need to dust for prints and check the VIN number, but we can’t keep livestock. Do you have Ms. Benton’s phone number?”
Samantha smirked. “Yeah, he’s got it.”
Landon opened his phone contacts and handed the phone to Hoapili. “She and I dated.”
Hoapili wrote down the number. “I guess that explains the heart emojis after her name.”
Landon had forgotten about those. Preston added them because he thought it was funny to hear the car’s blue tooth announce that Kittyheart heart heartwas calling.
“Her first name is Kitty?” Hoapili tapped her number into his phone.
“Kate,” Landon said. “Kitty is a nickname.”
Hoapili’s eyebrows lifted. He clearly thought it was a term of endearment like Sugar or Pumpkin.