Betrayal at the Buffalo Ranch Page 22

  the ranch and shot through it without hesitation. She needed to hurry.

  She’d have to get to the highway in order to elude anyone trying to in-

  tercept her. They probably didn’t have enough cops in this insignificant

  county to catch her anyway. They were all busy trying to figure out what

  to do with her dead husband.

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  The Cadillac handled the deserted road well as she skidded around two curves. She laughed hysterically, caring nothing for her own safety

  or that of anyone else who might come along.

  She rounded another curve and saw three deer standing in the road.

  “Get out of the road,” she screamed, but the buck and two does stood

  frozen in her headlights. She slammed on the brakes and slid to the edge

  of the road. The guardrail crumpled but held as she twisted the steering

  wheel in the opposite direction, where she hit a concrete abutment and

  careened into the creek below. When the Cadillac rolled and landed on

  its roof, Camilla thought for a split second that she should have put on

  her seat belt. Then the absurdity of it all washed over her as cold water covered her face and took her breath away.

  ★

  Sadie sat on her back porch watching the moon climb into the sky, wait-

  ing for Becky to return. Earlier in the day, Becky had said she had some-

  thing to take care of and that Sadie should not hold up dinner for her;

  she’d get a bite to eat before she came home. It was Sadie’s nature to

  worry anyway.

  Becky’s recovery from her appendix surgery had gone well, but

  Sadie knew it would take a long time to recover from being raped by

  Angus. Sadie also knew Becky had tried hard to hide her anger, but it

  didn’t appear to be an easy task. Becky didn’t want to talk about it, and Sadie reluctantly agreed to respect her new friend’s request even though

  she knew Becky would eventually have to talk it out in order to deal with it. She made a mental note to check into finding a counselor who dealt

  with that sort of thing.

  Her thoughts drifted to Lance. She thought she’d like to see him

  give up working for the sheriff. Maybe if he had a regular job and wasn’t always running off to take care of some emergency, they could spend

  more time together. It seemed like the whole department would fold

  without him there to take care of every crisis.

  The distant sound of metal scraping metal, followed by a thud, in-

  terrupted her thoughts. Someone had crashed into something. She ran

  into the house and grabbed her keys. In a few short minutes, she and

  Sonny were on their way to the bridge.

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  When they got there, she could see where a vehicle had left the road.

  It didn’t look good. With flashlight in hand, she and Sonny jumped out

  of her car, ran to the bridge, and looked over the edge. The vehicle, a

  dark sedan, had landed upside down in the creek. Water rushed through

  an open window.

  Thinking maybe someone had already climbed out of the vehicle

  and was hurt, she shouted. “Hello? Anyone there? Where are you?”

  When no one answered, Sadie hurriedly climbed down the steep

  embankment and into the bone- chilling water. Sonny jumped in and

  followed. Holding the flashlight on the car, Sadie made her way to

  the driver’s-side window. No one. She pushed her way around the ve-

  hicle and shined the flashlight through all the windows. The car was

  empty. Either someone had climbed out or they had been thrown clear.

  She hoped whoever the driver had been, that they had found a way to

  safety, but her gut told her it would have taken a miracle for that to

  happen. She could either keep looking for the driver or get help. She

  opted for help.

  She and Sonny climbed out of the water, ran back to her car, and

  drove back home with Sonny dripping water all over the front seat.

  Once there, she quickly dialed 911 and reported the accident. The

  dispatcher took her information and told her she’d send someone out

  right away.

  Lance, Sadie thought. She needed to let him know. She dialed his

  number and the call went immediately to voice mail. Wherever he was,

  probably still at the Buffalo Ranch, he was out of cell phone range. She

  left a message. He’d get it eventually.

  As Sadie hung up, she saw headlights turning off the road toward

  her house. She walked back outside and watched as Becky parked next

  to Sadie’s car and got out.

  “What’s wrong?” Becky asked. “Why are you all wet?”

  “Someone just took a nosedive off the bridge into the creek,” she said.

  “I tried to see if I could find the driver, but no one was in the car. I don’t know what happened to them, so I came back here to call it in.”

  Panic crossed Becky’s face. “You want to go back and look? They

  might be hurt.”

  Sadie nodded. “Yes, let’s go.”

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  Sadie got in the car with Becky and headed back toward the road, leaving Sonny behind this time. With emergency personnel on the way,

  a wolfdog would only be in the way.

  When they got back to the bridge, Becky turned on her flashers so

  anyone driving along would see her car. They both got out and started

  shouting, hoping to get a response this time. Nothing.

  “Sadie!” Becky screamed. “That looks like a car I saw at Angus’s

  place!”

  A truck sped toward the bridge and parked facing Becky’s car.

  “What happened?” Lance yelled, as he climbed out of his vehicle.

  “Someone crashed,” answered Sadie, who had already climbed

  back down to the edge of the creek, “but there’s no one in the vehicle.”

  Lance swung his spotlight toward the vehicle and into the creek be-

  yond, then retrieved his binoculars. By then, Sadie had climbed back up

  to the road and jogged over to him. Becky stood frozen on the bridge,

  staring at the creek below.

  “Lance, Becky says it might be one of Angus’s cars.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Do you think it’s Angus?”

  “Nope, I think it is Angus’s wife.”

  “How do you know that?” Sadie said, stunned.

  Lance threw his binoculars back into his vehicle. “Because Angus

  is dead, and from the looks of that body floating against the edge of the creek down there,” he pointed with his head, “I’d say, so is his wife.”

  Sadie gasped. “Oh, no.”

  “She got away before I could stop her. . . . I was hoping the high-

  way patrol would intercept her before something like this happened,”

  he added.

  Becky began to retch. Sadie ran to her friend and put a hand on her

  shoulder.

  “Are you okay, Becky?”

  “No.” She began to sob between gags. “I can’t take this.”

  Sadie helped Becky into the passenger’s side of her car, and then

  watched while Lance waded into the water and pulled the body onto the

  bank. When he returned to his vehicle, he grabbed the radio and barked

  orders at the dispatcher.

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  Sadie knew he was going to be busy for most of the night, so she walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “We’re going back to the

  house. Call me when you can.”

  “I will,” he said.

  She climb
ed into Becky’s car, made a U-turn, and headed home.

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  Chapter 29

  “Sadie, I can’t stay,” Becky said after she and Sadie had returned from

  Camilla’s accident scene. “I just came back to pick up my things. I need

  to go take care of Daddy. He fell and, somehow, I’ve got to convince him

  to go to the doctor in the morning to make sure he’s okay.”

  “Oh, how awful,” Sadie exclaimed. “Is he hurt?”

  “I’m not sure. He fell in the corral, and then managed to drag him-

  self into his trailer. He can hardly walk without pain. And, you know

  Sadie, he acts like he’s well, but he’s not. He was diagnosed with leuke-

  mia a while back. He refused treatment, won’t have anything to do with

  doctors, said when it was his time to go, he’d do it on his own terms.”

  Sadie let out long sigh. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “You’ve already done more than I can ever repay you for.” She

  walked over and hugged Sadie. “He needed me and I didn’t even know

  it. When I came home from California, I thought I was coming home for

  him to take care of me.” She sniffed and a tear rolled down her cheek.

  “I’ve been gone too long.”

  Sadie helped Becky gather her things, put together a care package of

  cold meatloaf and brownies, and sent her on her way.

  ★

  By the time the first responders had recovered Camilla Clyborn’s body

  and Junior Casey had winched her water- soaked Cadillac onto the back

  of his tow truck, streaks of pale pink and blue had emerged in the east-

  ern sky and exhaustion settled in Lance’s limbs. The ambulance drove

  toward Sycamore Springs and the tow truck followed.

  Lance realized he had hours of paperwork to do, a part of the job

  he detested. First, the murder of Angus, and now the death of Camilla.

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  He guessed no one would ever know whether her dive into the creek was a successful suicide, an accident caused by animals on the road, or the

  result of drunk driving. He didn’t think her earlier demeanor exactly fit that of an overly distraught widow, but she had been drinking heavily.

  He removed his Stetson, rubbed the sleepiness from his face and

  forehead, and replaced his hat. He was tired and hungry. He had his

  notes; the reports could wait until he got a couple hours of sleep. He

  climbed into his vehicle and headed up the road to Sadie’s, hoping she

  had saved the rest of his uneaten dinner.

  ★

  Sonny whimpered and touched his cold nose to Sadie’s hand. She

  roused from an unsettling dream and heard the door of a vehicle close.

  She pulled on the jeans and tee shirt she had tossed on the floor the

  night before and walked into the kitchen. Sonny sat on his haunches in

  his normal sentry spot by the back door, and Sadie knew by his behavior

  it was a friendly visitor. She peeked through the curtains, saw Lance’s

  truck, and released Sonny through the back door. The wolfdog ignored

  Lance and ran into the coolness of the early morning.

  Lance stopped at the threshold, gave Sadie a kiss, and said, “Got

  any of that meatloaf left?”

  “Yes, and I have so much to tell you,” she said. “And, I want to

  know everything,” she added, as she closed the door behind him and

  went to work in the kitchen. “I saved your plate. I knew you’d be back.

  What in the world happened to Angus?” She retrieved his plate from

  the refrigerator, shoved it into the microwave, and hit the reheat button.

  “You know I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” he said and

  gave her a mischievous smile.

  Sadie pulled the plate out of the microwave, waved it in front of his

  face, and then held it high in the air. “Oh, yeah? If you can’t share your information, then I guess I can’t share my meatloaf.”

  “Woman, you drive a hard bargain.” Lance sounded tired. “I give.”

  “That’s more like it.” She slid the plate in front of him and took a

  seat. “Okay, what happened?”

  “Someone pinned Angus up against the side of his barn with a high-

  powered rifle.”

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  “Someone shot him?” Sadie couldn’t hide her surprise. “With a rifle? From far away? What kind of rifle?”

  “Yes, yes, yes, and, I have no idea. We’ll have to wait for the med-

  ical examiner to report on the caliber of the round. There was no exit

  wound.”

  “Wow,” Sadie said quietly as her mind raced.

  “And so far I’ve got a list of suspects a mile long,” he said as he con-

  tinued to eat. “It appears everyone in Delaware County will be dancing

  on his grave.”

  “That’s a terrible thing to say, Lance.”

  “Well, it’s the truth,” he said. He wiped some of the gravy on his

  plate with a piece of bread and placed it in his mouth.

  “Who do you think did it?”

  Lance leaned back in his chair. “Let’s see, first off there’s Roy Carter.

  He’s convinced Angus infected his cattle with Bang’s. He threatened to

  kill Angus at the sale barn on Saturday.”

  “Really?”

  “Then, I’d like to see the list of people you think he stole property

  from. It could’ve been one of them. And after the incident with the mail-

  box, your Uncle Eli could make the short list, too.”

  “Lance, stop being silly.”

  “Could’ve been an irate woman. He raped Becky; I doubt she’s the

  only one.” Lance looked around. “Where is Becky, anyway?”

  “Her dad fell. She went to take care of him.”

  “According to Angus’s wife, a woman from the COWA group

  threatened to do whatever it took to stop his hunt- for- profit business.

  I guess you could call that a death threat.” He poured some Pepsi

  into his glass and took a drink. “And then there’s Camilla herself. She

  seemed to be more than happy Angus was dead. Plus, she had some

  pretty harsh words for Eugene Hawk.” He rose from the table and

  headed toward the living room. “And now I’ve got to figure out what

  happened to her.”

  “I’ll get my paperwork on the land deals and be there in a minute.”

  Sadie carried his dirty dishes to the sink, rinsed them off, and placed

  them in the dishwasher. A few minutes later, carrying a folder full of

  copied forged deeds and quiet titles, she walked into the living room

  where Lance had disappeared a few minutes before. She stopped short

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  when she found him sound asleep on the couch. She placed the folder on the coffee table, covered him with a Pendleton blanket, and tiptoed back

  into the kitchen. There would be plenty of time to talk when he woke

  up. In the meantime, she had a lot of thinking to do, which included

  the white buffalo calf, now that she knew it was not a figment of her

  imagination.

  ★

  An hour later, Sadie emerged from the shower and heard Lance talking.

  She quickly toweled off, and confident that what she heard was one side

  of a phone conversation, she slipped into the bedroom and dressed. By

  the time she’d poured him a cup of coffee, he had already strapped on

  his gun belt.

  “Wait,” she exclaimed. “You can’t just take off before we
’ve had

  time to talk. I need to tell you about the white buffalo calf.”

  Lance walked over to the kitchen sink, splashed water on his hands

  and face, and dried with a paper towel. “I’m sorry, Sadie. I’ve got to get going.”

  Sadie shoved a cup of coffee into his hand. “Here, at least drink this

  first.”

  Lance blew across the top of the steaming liquid and took a sip.

  “Oh, thank you, hon. This is what I needed. Can I take this with me?”

  Sadie pulled an insulated travel mug from the top shelf, filled it to

  the top with black coffee, and snapped the lid in place. “Well, I just want you to know I’m not crazy. There really is a white calf, only it’s likely half-French.”

  Lance took the travel mug from Sadie’s hand and wrinkled his fore-

  head. “French?”

  “Charolais. I spoke to the owner yesterday. Charolais are white, you

  know, which could explain the white calf.”

  “Sounds interesting, but I don’t have time to worry about the buf-

  falo calf right now. I’m on my way to pick up a search warrant so I can

  get into the Clyborn house, not to mention I’ve got a ton of reports to

  fill out, and then I’ve got to see if I can run down Roy Carter and find

  out where he was yesterday. And, let’s just hope he can convince me it

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  wasn’t shooting Angus Clyborn. I’ve still got to turn in the arrow you found, too.”

  “Go get ’em,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek right before he

  disappeared out the door.

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  Chapter 30

  When his cell phone rang, Eugene Hawk turned and looked past Ginny’s

  head at the clock on the dresser. It read 5:15 a.m. He untangled his legs from hers, picked up the phone, and tried to focus enough to identify

  the caller. Ginny opened her eyes for a moment, rolled over, and began

  snoring again.

  It was Dorothy. Why would she be calling at this hour of the morn-

  ing? He waited for the voice mail icon to light up and then accessed the

  message. He listened for a moment and then sat straight up in bed. He

  cleared the sleep from his voice and quickly returned the call.

  “You want to elaborate on that?” he said into the phone.

  Ginny began to stir. She slid the sheets up over her naked body and

  pushed herself up on one elbow. “Who is it?”

  “Are you sure?” Hawk held the phone to his ear, pushed the cov-