In all the time she’d been on the ranch, they’d never asked her if she was enjoying living in Arizona. They still didn’t ask. Maybe they didn’t want to hear that answer.
“You’ve had a trying day,” her father said. “It’s best if we talk about this later when you’ve calmed down.”
She didn’t contradict them, so they said their goodbyes and hung up.
Calming down was going to take a long time. She didn’t plan on talking to them for quite a while.
She slumped onto the couch and peered out the windows. At night, the mountains formed a dark silhouette on the horizon against the stars. Such a different sky than the one she saw in Seattle. In the city, a person could barely see the stars at all. Here they were brighter than scattered diamonds.
If Kate’s parents had asked her if she wanted to stay in Arizona, she wouldn’t have known how to answer. She loved being outside in the sunshine every day. And horseback riding. And the sunsets. But another part of her wanted to quit ranching all together. The smell of manure. The ever-present flies. The early mornings. And the cows had pushed into her, head butted her, stepped on her feet, and knocked her over.
Could you love and hate a thing at the same time?
Then there was Landon. He seemed to be as much a part of Arizona as the palo verde trees and ocotillo that dotted the landscape. Her feelings for him, despite her best attempts, hadn’t dimmed at all. At church, she’d barely heard a word the pastor had spoken since she and Landon broke up. She spent the entire sermon stealing glances at him.
What would she be doing right now if she’d never mistrusted Landon? He’d be over here, comforting her about her lost cattle. His arm would be around her shoulder, and she’d rest her head against his chest. She’d tell him her worries that someone in the community had stolen her cattle because they disliked her. And Landon would say something to make her laugh like, “Don’t be silly. There are easier ways to snub you. The folks at church are managing just fine without risking jail time.”
He wasn’t here, though.
The Wyle Away was close by. A person could walk the distance easily enough. And yet Landon seemed so very, very far away.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
On Friday,Kate placed Coyote Glen ads on online destination wedding sites and then drove to town with flyers and put them everywhere she could. She’d already checked out caterers, knew where to rent tables, and had bought strings of lights, table clothes, and vases. One of the caterers was quite friendly when Kate asked for estimates. “I’m so glad you’re doing weddings,” the woman said. “That’s a much better idea than a western-themed golf course.”
Either the woman was a friend of the Wyles, or people in Bisbee just hated golf. Kate didn’t clarify that her wedding venue plans were a temporary venture. If people eased up on their dislike of her, she wasn’t about to set them straight.
She got a call from an interested bride the next afternoon. A woman named Cassie Coleman set up a time to look at the ranch the next Monday with her mother. Kate had meant to take photos of the wedding arches with floral garlands for her website and decided that Monday would be a perfect day to do that. The Colemans would not only see the gazebo and the lighting, they’d see beautiful garlands too. The place would be irresistible.
She mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, trimmed bushes, and strung lights from the trees to the back patio. They looked like a canopy of stars.
In between those chores, she called her insurance agent to find out how long it usually took to settle a claim. Judging by the breed and age of her missing cattle, Kate estimated the check would be between thirty-five and fifty thousand, but she couldn’t start looking for new cattle until she knew her budget.
Her agent gave her a vague answer about waiting on details from the police report to start processing the claim. In other words, they weren’t in a hurry.
She called Officer Kahale to see how long the police report would take.
“I’ll look into it for you,” he said.
“I appreciate that.” Since she had him on the phone, she added, “Has Jake given you the name of his accomplice?”
“I don’t have any new information I can share with you at this time.”
So probably not.
He paused. “However, just a word to the wise. The next time you hire a foreman, you really ought to run a background check.”
That sounded ominous. What had Gary done? “Thanks,” she said. Wasthankseven the right response? She wasn’t sure. She was too busy wondering about Gary’s past.
After Kate hung up with Officer Kahale, she googled Gary’s name. She came up with two hundred and twenty-three million links of every Gary Williams on the planet. She spent several minutes searching through Gary’s employment contract for a middle name but only came up with the letter T. Though she wasn’t sure why, that addition made the number of links go up. She added a few other search terms including “criminal record.” That one got pages of ads for services that did background searches.
Before she paid for one of those, she probably needed Gary’s middle name. He’d gone to Bisbee High, so she might be able to find that information in an old yearbook. The school must keep copies of those somewhere. She glanced at the clock. Four-thirty. The schools were closed.
She wasn’t patient enough to wait until Monday to find out about his background. He’d lived in Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming, so if he’d committed any crimes, they’d probably happened in those states. Although, he’d mentioned another place in Texas, once: the Pico Rio Ranch. She remembered the name because she’d thought it should be the Pico Rio Ranchero. Really, if you were going to use Spanish in a name, you should commit to it all the way.
Her father hadn’t mentioned Texas when he’d been extolling Gary’s expertise. Perhaps Gary hadn’t included that ranch in his resume on purpose. Perhaps he’d gotten in trouble in Texas.
Aa internet search revealed the Pico Rio’s number and the name of the owner, Earle Hooper. Kate could pretend to be a prospective employer, ask Mr. Hooper what he knew of Gary, and see what he told her.