Colton 911: Caught In The Crossfire. Linda O. Johnston
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be passing the area where she found it soon, which he thought about now. If it turned out that the charm belonged to one of the perpetrators, it might be useful as evidence, but that remained to be determined.
And something about the charm was still tugging at his mind, though he remained unsure why.
“How are you doing?” Melody’s voice came from beside him. She looked great on that horse, sitting tall, the reins held in her right hand, her jeans-clad legs hugging Cal’s sides and her black boots in the stirrups. Her ponytail waved beneath her cap in the breeze as they moved forward.
Of course, Casey recognized that she looked great when not on horseback, too.
And despite knowing full well and even vocalizing that they were both there on business and would remain professional, he knew he’d have to be careful if they spent nights out here together to keep it that way.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Wish I’d learned to ride a horse this way before.”
“So you’re having fun.” Her words were a statement, and her smile was one of the biggest Casey had ever seen.
One of the prettiest, too.
Okay, he told himself sternly. You like this woman. You like her appearance—and more. But keep it all to yourself.
“Yeah,” he responded. “Definitely fun.”
“So here we are,” Melody said as they arrived at the fence. “Our starting point, sort of. We’ll head in the direction those hoofprints lead us.”
“Let’s check the GPS app.”
Just before they’d headed out to the pasture, she had helped Casey download the GPS app, then shown him what the GPS portion of the tags attached to the cattle had looked like on her phone’s map—a group of small, overlaid dots in one location. But without streets or even an indication as to what part of the open land the dots were located in, other than a rough idea of the terrain if the right part of the app was on, it didn’t seem to Casey as if the GPS would be of much help except maybe to provide a general direction. But as with a lot around here, Melody was much more experienced and skilled in such things than he. He’d looked on his own phone and found the map, too.
“Good idea,” she responded. “Let’s do it before we head any further.”
She’d apparently put her phone in her pocket, too, and pulled it out now. As she did, something else fell from her pocket—her wallet.
“Damn.” She started to dismount.
“Here, let me,” Casey said. “I’ll pick it up while you check the GPS.”
“Thanks.” She nodded at him. “That’ll save us a small bit of time. I assume you’re skilled enough now to get on and off Witchy without my guidance.”
“I assume so, too.” He pulled his right foot from the stirrup, then lifted his right leg to move it around to the same side of the horse as his left one. Mounting and dismounting hadn’t been that hard to start with, but he did feel as if the little bit of practice he’d been getting made him somewhat of a pro, like Melody.
Her wallet was in some grass just off to Cal’s right side, and Melody’s horse stomped a little as if he was uneasy to have Casey walking around. “It’s okay.” Casey stroked the brown quarter horse’s side in front of Melody’s leg, enjoying the feel of the soft coat. Cal seemed to quiet down immediately, and Casey bent to pick up the beige leather case.
As he did so, he noticed that the strap that normally held the two sides together was unsnapped, and before he could get it back together he saw Melody’s driver’s license inside. He barely glanced at it at first, but did a double take when he saw that it was a Texas license—the address wasn’t in Cactus Creek, it was in Dallas. Understandable. Though she’d been here for six months, she must not have gotten herself a new one yet since moving here for this job.
But the more startling thing was…well, did this belong to this Melody’? The picture was hers, and so was the first name, but the last name wasn’t Hayworth, it was Ellison. Was she married? Using an alias for some reason? What was going on?
And how was he going to ask her?
He wouldn’t. Not now. Whoever she was, and whatever her name, she clearly worked for OverHerd Ranch. The name situation was personal, since he’d no reason to suspect her of any crime—
None of his business, despite his curiosity.
“Here we are,” he said brightly, holding out the now-fastened wallet to her.
“Thanks,” she said. “And better get back up on Witchy. We’re going to have a long day still, out here following the missing herd.”
“Why? Are they on the move?”
“Looks that way,” Melody affirmed. “And they’re heading even farther from this area. The ranch is five hundred acres, a lot of it in that direction.” She waved in front of them as he mounted Witchy once more. “But my suspicion is that those missing cattle are beyond that far end already or will get there soon.”
Melody found herself looking away immediately as Casey handed back her wallet. Had he opened it? Was he that nosy?
Of course, it could have opened by itself when it fell from her pocket.
Maybe she should have shoved it into her saddlebag back at the stable, but she liked having a couple of things on her—her phone and her wallet.
She hadn’t noticed whether he’d snooped into it or not, of course. She’d been studying the GPS map on her phone app, as much as she could, at least. The map sort of indicated major differences in the terrain such as deep ravines, moderate hills and high mountains, but not minor things like the usual rolling hillsides, waterways like streams, or any landmarks, although she wasn’t aware of any out here. But it did provide the general direction of where the cattle were heading, and the distance of maybe fifteen or more miles from her current location with Casey.
Now she knew the cattle were farther away than they’d been, as well as the direction they’d gone, but whether Casey and she could follow directly would depend on that unfamiliar terrain. And if she was correct in her interpretation, they’d at least come to steep hills on the way that they’d navigate.
Melody now felt certain they would be spending at least this night out in a pasture on the way to catching up with the missing herd. She’d ridden out this way several times before since beginning work here, just to get the lay of the land, with one or more of the other hands with her. But she was far from knowledgeable with regard to the actual topography.
“I’m not really sure how difficult our route will be,” she told Casey when he was back in the saddle and they were moving again. “Although the direction we’re taking still looks right.”
“Guess we’ll just have to figure the rest out as it comes.” His tone was somewhat curt, and she wondered why.
If he had been nosy enough to look in her wallet, he might have questions he wasn’t asking aloud. Just as well. Since she had just finalized her divorce six months ago, her old Texas license still had her married name—Ellison. Thanks to the nasty, cheating jerk she’d been married to.
Which was dumb on her part, in many ways. She never should have married him in the first place. And once she had, she should have ended it faster. She’d had a sense sometimes that Travis was cheating on her, and it had hurt.
Well, at least being called a “country girl” had helped her make that final decision, and now she appreciated that, as a ranch hand here, she really was a country girl.
But one of the first things she should have done upon moving to Arizona was to at least get a new driver’s license, so she’d never have to look at that old, unwanted name again.
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