Each cow was worth over a thousand dollars. Some were worth several thousand. If more of her herd was missing, she would have to make a police report and file an insurance claim.
Once while Kate lived in Seattle, she’d had her purse stolen at an outdoor cafe. A guy strolled by her chair and snatched her purse. By the time Kate processed what had happened, he was sprinting down the block. She’d felt violated and powerless.
This theft felt so much worse. She couldn’t help but wonder if the accomplice was someone she knew in the community. She was an easy target: the outsider, the woman who was only ranching because she had to, the woman who would cut off the Wyle Away’s water supply. Or maybe Dewayne had done it as revenge for firing him. This theft might be personal.
She was so focused on considering suspects that she almost missed the spot where the barbed wire had been cut. She’d been expecting a trailer-sized hole. Instead, the fence almost looked normal. This was because someone had taken the trouble to bend the barbed wire back into place and had even duct taped the cut pieces together.
The good news was that Kate wouldn’t have to search I-80 for wandering cattle. The bad news was she could think of only one reason thieves would take the trouble to camouflage their cut. They meant to come back and steal from her again in this same spot. Perhaps they’d already done it many times.
She wouldn’t know until the cattle were counted. Spread across different sections of thirty-eight thousand acres, that wasn’t going to be a quick and easy task.
The next morning,Kate, Gary, and a few hired hands set out to roundup the cattle into the front and back corrals. Kate didn’t have much confidence in her ability to motivate cows to run anywhere, let alone in the right direction, but Missy proved that she was worth the large amounts of dog food she consumed every day. She trotted behind the cattle, happily nipping at their heels despite their attempts to kick her. If any veered the wrong direction, she flew toward their flanks to steer them toward the corral. The dog seemed to think it was all a great game.
Marigold also knew what to do without being told. Every time a cow considered sneaking away, she cut off its path—thus the term cutter. Sitting atop Marigold made Kate feel rather authoritative, like she actually knew what she was doing and belonged out here rounding up cattle. Maybe the trick to successful ranching was having a good horse and dog.
Gathering the cattle took most of the day. Then Kate stood by the front corral gate with a clipboard and recorded the ear tags of each animal as it was let go. Gary was stationed at the back corral doing the same thing.
When Kate had released about two thirds, her chest began a painful, disbelieving clench. Gary had already called her with his headcount and was riding her way so they could compare lists. She’d expected that the thieves had taken more than just the six that Landon had recovered. She’d feared as many as a dozen could be gone. But the quantity of remaining slots on her printout and the dwindling number of cows in the coral told her the number was more than two dozen. Selling branded cattle was supposed to be risky and difficult. Obviously not difficult enough.
With each ear tag number Kate checked off, her mind turned to other calculations. The insurance company would reimburse her for the price of cattle, but she would incur expenses buying them. Gary would have to take time off work to evaluate, purchase, and transport them. They’d need to be vaccinated, dewormed, de-liced, and de-anything else.
New cattle couldn’t graze with the rest of the herd until she was sure they were disease-free, so they’d have to be penned and given feed for their first month. Time and money she couldn’t afford.
The last cow trotted through the gate. Kate counted up the slots on her printout. Twenty-six. More than ten percent of her herd. Was that number a coincidence or was it proof someone in the community disliked her enough to try and ensure she didn’t succeed? The thought made her feel nauseous. Whatever the motivation, the number of stolen head was doubly damaging because her cows were all pregnant. She’d not only lost them, but twenty-six calves as well.
Unless the thief had taken some bulls. Kate brought up Gary’s text to check his list. If any bulls were gone, along with everything else on her plate, she’d have to research breeding bulls to make sure Gary didn’t ruin her herd by purchasing subpar animals. He was bound to buy whatever replacements were easiest because he knew she couldn’t tell the difference.
It took her several moments to remember she didn’t have to worry about next year’s breeding. She’d be gone. That thought brought a pang to her chest she hadn’t felt before.
After a half hour, Gary arrived. He got out of his truck and sauntered up to her, his hands tucked underneath his armpits. He looked at the empty corral, not at her. He seemed to already know the news was bad. “How many did we lose?”
The cattle weren’t lost. They’d been stolen. “Twenty-six.” Her voice sounded strange, detached. “I only have one hundred and thirty-six pregnant cows left. So even after calving season, I’ll only have two-hundred and seventy-two head, plus the bulls, but that’s only if all the calves survive, which they won’t. I’ve either got to replace the stolen ones with cow-calf pairs or buy about forty head to ensure I have a buffer for any who die.”
“This is why you’ve got insurance.” Gary cut a glance to her. “You won’t lose the ranch.”
“How do we make sure others don’t get stolen?” She couldn’t afford any more losses.
“I’ll spend extra time patrolling the fences.”
That wouldn’t be enough. One person couldn’t keep an eye on miles and miles of fences. And what was to keep a thief from coming in the dead of night? “Can we set up cameras?”
Gary took off his hat and ran his fingers through his mussed hair. “Covering the entire fence line would take a lot of cameras—probably run thousands of dollars.”
More money she didn’t have. “I know I can’t afford it, but I can’t afford to have my cattle stolen either.” A theft right before September second would be especially disastrous. “I need cameras. I’ll have to figure out how to get the money.”
He put his hat back on. “Don’t worry. Once the insurance reimburses you, I’ll find some cheap cattle. I bet I can even talk some sellers into waiting for half their payment until after September.”
She automatically shook her head. “I can’t have outstanding debts on the books.”
He raised a hand to quiet her protests. “We’ll do it off the books. No one needs to know.”
Very few legal activities included the phrase, “No one needs to know.” So yeah, that idea wasn’t going to work.
One of Gary’s men made his way over. “Anything else for us, boss?”
“Nothing today.” Gary pulled a wad of money from his pocket and counted out bills. The sight of them was a reminder that this roundup was another additional expense she hadn’t budgeted for. “I’ve got to drive my men back to town,” Gary said. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Kate nodded. She’d already texted her parents the results of the roundup. Hopefully, her father would have suggestions for safeguarding the cattle. She thanked Gary’s men and trudged to the house to finish the paperwork. Once that was done, she scanned the forms into the computer and sent them to both her insurance agent and the police.