storm.”
Dad harrumphed as though he didn’t buy Brett’s pat response. Brett just smiled serenely at him.
“Losing one pregnant cow was enough for a lifetime,” Jack grouched.
“She wasn’t pregnant when she was swept away in the flash flood,” Brett corrected.
“Yeah, what’d you name that calf you birthed in the gully?”
“Twister, and she’s doing just fine, thank you very much. And now that you mention it, what do you say we focus on Twister and the five pregnant cows I saved, rather than the one we lost, Jack? Maybe you could take a hiatus from busting my chops all the damn time.”
Jack scowled at him. “Maybe you could start giving me reason to trust you.”
“All right you two, that’s enough. Don’t forget that your mother is lying unconscious in a hospital bed,” Dad barked. “Ryan, let’s get to it. What’s the latest on the investigation into her attacker?”
“Right, okay,” Ryan said, scooting to the edge of the sofa. With his elbows propped on his knees, he flipped through the small notebook that was an ever-present accessory of his shirt pocket. “I don’t know an easy way to break this to y’all, but you know how some of you were doubting that the hit man who tried to kill Tracy last month was the same perp who attacked Abra and robbed her room? Well, those same doubts have arisen among my investigative team. And we have some proof of that.”
Brett had been among the earliest to voice his doubt that the hit man had also targeted their mom, but convincing the police to drop that lead and concentrate their efforts on an unknown perpetrator had been like trying to herd a group of pregnant cows in a thunderstorm—which he knew since he’d had the honor of attempting both feats. “What kind of proof?”
Ryan gave a look around, as though some interloper might be eavesdropping on their meeting. Not that there were interlopers to be found, but he still lowered his voice. “The gold locket with Greta’s picture in it that was stolen on the night of Abra’s attack turned up at a pawnshop. Greta’s picture had the eyes gouged out, making her likeness unrecognizable, but the inscription on the back was a dead match.”
Dad cursed under his breath. Jack scrubbed a hand over his chin, his eyes narrow and his expression distant.
“Pawnshops have security cameras, right? So this is great news,” Brett said.
“Yes and no. We were, indeed, able to identify the suspect using the pawnshop’s external security camera to identify the man’s car’s license plate, and we brought him in for questioning last night.”
“And this is the first we’re hearing about it?” Dad grumbled.
“Who is he?” Eric asked.
“A dead end. The guy’s name is Dell Cortaline, a small-time oxy addict we’ve seen before. He’s not our guy, though. There’s no way. He’s not smart enough to get in and out of this house without leaving fingerprints or some other trail of evidence.”
“Then how did he get the locket?” Brett asked.
Ryan rolled his tongue around the inside of his bottom lip. His gaze locked onto Dad. “He claimed to have found it in the bushes outside Tulsa General Hospital.”
Brett leaped to his feet before he knew what he was doing. “What? That’s...”
Jack stood and joined Brett behind the sofa to pace. “What that is is a new threat. Someone’s trying to get at Mother in the hospital.”
“That was my thought, too,” Ryan said grimly.
“I’m assuming your boss agreed to put an armed guard outside her room? To make sure she’s safe?” Dad said.
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s easier said than done. This isn’t a big enough red flag to justify putting an armed guard outside her hospital room door 24/7, but I have put the hospital on alert. Abra’s in intensive care, which is highly monitored by the staff, anyway, both with door locks and cameras. Visitors don’t have easy access to the rooms in the ICU. I really believe she’s safe in there.”
“I’m there a lot, too,” Eric said. “I’ll keep a closer eye. But I agree with Ryan. The ICU is practically impenetrable.”
Dad shook his head. “I don’t understand. Abra wasn’t the kind of person who’d have a target on her back. But if her attacker went to the hospital where she’s at, then that makes it personal, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe, maybe not. It’s possible that Abra saw the perp’s face and he’s afraid she’ll be able to identify him. Could be that when he discovered how difficult it would be to get to her inside the ICU, he abandoned his plan and tossed the jewelry. That theory leaves me with more questions, but that’s one of the more solid theories we’re considering at this point.”
“Any news about the possible DNA the police tech found under Mom’s fingernails from the attacker?”
“Detective Howard is doing her best to expedite the results, but DNA testing is notoriously slow. As soon I know, I’ll let y’all know, and that’s a promise.”
“This is an attempted murder case,” Dad said. “It’s got to count for something that we might have an attempted murderer on the loose in Tulsa. Can’t you push them harder?”
Ryan pocketed the notepad again. “No, I can’t. I know we’re all in a hurry, but this isn’t the only unsolved violent crime the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is running DNA tests on. I’m doing the best I can. As far as we can tell, the ranch is safe.”
“It is if you don’t count the downed fence lines. Last week was the third occurrence since Mother’s attack of our fences being tampered with.”
“Maybe that’s the ghost that Maria keeps swearing she sees walking the fields at night,” Jack said, a gallows humor grin on his face.
With a huff, Dad shook his head. “I swear, Maria is the most superstitious person I’ve ever met.”
“Even still,” Daniel said, “I think Brett’s right. And I think we need to take action.”
Being that this was the first time Daniel had seen fit to open his mouth that day, the chatter in the room died instantly as everyone gave him their full attention.
Jack dropped back down to the sofa. “What do you propose?”
“While the police do their thing, we circle the wagons. No more vandalism. No more hit men or violent robberies. We need to protect the ranch and the people in it.”
“Agreed,” Brett said. He’d promised Hannah that she’d be safe here, and he planned on delivering. “I vote for nightly patrols in groups of two.”
“That works for me,” Daniel said. “And we should consider installing alarm systems to every house and motion sensor lights in the yard, and running background checks of every Lucky C employee.”
“This ranch employs a lot of people,” Dad said. “We can’t account for everyone, all the time.”
“Well,
