Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (13 page)

Gabe shook his head then asked Cole, "
I don't
even
know what kind of vehicle he drives
to notify anyone
,
do
you?"

"That's another good question for Cassie...
she was too upset for us to get good information out of her the other day, but now that she's settled down...
"

"Did
Carl or Bud
press charges against Johnson the other day?" Gabe asked, hoping they had, because it woul
d sure make things easier now.
The kidnapping was going to be hard to prove to get a warrant sworn out for him
, but he had committed assault on Bud and trespassed on Carl's property
.

Shoving a hand through his hair,
Cole
huffed out a frustrated breath then told Gabe, "
I wanted Carl and Bud to file trespassing and assault charges, but they didn't want to get into it the other day.  They thought it would just cause more trouble, and bring the guy back to town.  Since it looks like he came back anyway, maybe they'll change their mind and we can put out
a bulletin
on him
with the state
.
"

"When's our computer system going to be up and running?  I'd be interested to know if Johnson has priors."

"A couple of days...I'd call the state, but
trying to get
the info will probably take that long too
, if we can get it at all
,
with the limited information we have on him
.  There are probably thousands of Jake Johnson's in
Texas
."

Cole was right, they didn't have much to go on at all where Jake Johnson was concerned.  It seemed like all they were hitting was brick walls.  Even with the computer system, he would still have the needle in a haystack problem, because the guy had a common name.

"You have time to take a ride out to the Double B?" Cole asked him.

Gabe had nothing but time, since he didn't have any leads to finding Jake Johnson without more information.  Starting at the Double B was probably their best bet.  "Yeah, let's go..."

Cassie and Luke were out in the barn when they stopped at the house, so they headed back there to find them.  She had Titan in cross ties and was grooming him and Luke was walking down the aisle with a saddle over his shoulder.  \

"Hey, guys," he said with a distracted half-smile.

"Hey, Luke...Cassie," Gabe said and tipped his hat at her.

When Luke set the saddle down beside the crossties, Cole slapped him on the back and they shared a 'man hug'.  "Looks like ya'll are busy, Slick..."

"You have no idea, buddy...I've got a new bull coming in this evenin
g.  Bought him at the auction
, he's amazing."

"That good huh?" Cole grinned.  "It's gonna be a while before you can breed the heifers, we kept.  We've still got months, until the cows we kept can be re-bred too."

"
Too good to pass up
. 
He was good enough to buy now, so he's here and ready when they are."

"
I know we lost a little selling some of the cow
-
calf pairs before they were fully weaned, but we did fine
.
..
you
did good
.  Thanks for handling that...I'm sorry I couldn't be here for it," Cole told him and Luke
shrugged
.

"
I
t was a good sale.
..next one will be even better,
"
Luke told him and grinned.
"You'll be here for that one right?"

"Yup, plan to...unless my beautiful wife asks me to go to another rodeo or something...I have this problem where I can't seem to say no to her."

Luke looked over at Cassie and winked, then said, "I seem to have that problem too, so I understand where you're coming from."

Gabe snorted, then said, "Y
ou guys are
just whipped
,
man...not happening to me."

Cassie looked up from grooming Titan and said, "Luke, remind me to buy some ketchup, will ya?"
She spoke to Luke, but her gaze never left
Gabe. 

He wondered what the hell she was talking about and raised an eyebrow, then
told her with a grin
, "Wow, Cassie that was pretty random."

"You'll be
asking me for it
when you have to eat those words, stud."

They all laughed then Cole's face sobered. "We need to talk to Cassie about what happened the other day...." he told Luke then looked at Cassie.

"That bastard has an ass whooping coming, if I ever see him," Luke growled, then said, "If he ever comes back here, he's gonna have more than that."

Cassie gave Luke a warning glance, then
went back to grooming the big buckskin stallion
and
said flatly, "Shoot, I'm listening...I'll tell you what I can."

"Did you see what he was driving?  Maybe get the license plate number?"
Cole asked her.

"Saw a big black truck, Ford, not jacked up...dual cab...only thing unusual was the custom chrome grill.  It had a
bucking
bull
on it, and his name under it.  No, I didn't get the license plate, sorry," she told them, while brushing Titan's underside.

"You know if
Karlie
knows anyone in
Amarillo
?"
Gabe asked
Cassie
and he saw her hand still
.

She stood up
, then looked at him, a thoughtful expression on her face
, then surprise, before she said, "Surely, not..." and shook her head.

"What?" Hope sprung up inside of Gabe and his fists clenched as he waited for her to finish.

"We were out her
e
the other day, and I mentioned that I wanted to buy some lesson ponies for the little ones, and
told her
I might check with Tommy Tucker to see if he had any.  I told her that's where we got Titan and the mares
, and
how nice his place was...if she was looking for work, she may have gone there.
"

Gabe ran over to her and picked her up in a big hug
, and he said,
"Thank you, darlin'," then he set her down and kissed her cheek. 
Gabe heard Luke growl
as he took two steps forward, and
he chuckled then backed off with his palms up.
  "Sorry, Luke, but you have to
let
other guys to appreciate your wife's brilliance, and envy what a lucky man you are..."

"Appreciate with
your eyes
,"
Luke
said then stepped beside her and put his arm around her waist, before kissing her hair, "She is pretty brilliant, isn't she?"

"Damned brilliant...can you give us directions, sugar?"
Gabe asked her with a wink and grin.

***

Karlie was grateful that Tommy Tucker had hired her, even though he had a full staff.  He'd said no thank you at first, but after he heard her background and figured out who she was, he hired her to train cutting horses for him. 

Tommy
wanted to expand his breeding operation to include cutters,
he had some horses with cutter bloodlines that he thought would be good,
and figured her experience made her the right person for that job. 
Mentioning that she'd trained
JoJo
from the ground up
had sealed the deal
.
  Anyone in the
cutting horse
industry worth their salt, had heard of Joe's Hot Rod Lincoln.

Because she was female and all his other hands were male, he'd put her up in the house.  And what a house it was...it reminded her of the house on that TV show
Dallas
.
  That show
had been Uncle Jerry's favorite show, and he must've watched ever rerun
, and she and Katie had to watch too
.
 

Karlie had
been at the Rockin' D
four
days now, and she
liked it here, and she liked Tommy Tucker.  He was a mild-mannered man, but knew his horses
, and was a
horse
nut just like her
.  Some of the stock he had on this farm was
beyond
exceptional.  Cassie hadn't lied
about his operation
...and Karlie was thankful she'd m
entioned the Rockin' D to her.

Tommy had introduced her to his daughter,
Dixie
a few
night
s ago
at dinner.  He told her he was having some problems with
Dixie
, and she'd been punished to her room the night
Karlie had arrived
there.  From what he said, the little girl sounded a lot like her when she was little.  Some boy had pulled her hair
at the summer camp he'd sent her to for a week
, and she'd wound up taking him down and giving him a black eye.
  Needless to say, they
had
called
her daddy t
o come get her.
 

He said he was
at his wits end
with her shenanigans
, because he was a single parent
, and a man too boot
.  His wife had died giving birth to
Dixie
, and he
didn't know how to get through to a ten-year old girl. 
Karlie knew what was wrong with her...she was angry at the world and bored.  She felt out of control, and getting into trouble, got her the attention she needed, and let her control her little universe, because at least she wasn't sitting back letting it give
her
black eyes.
 

Everyone dealt with grief different ways, but she felt sure that's what was going on here. 
Dixie
missed her mama, and even though her daddy was trying, she didn't know how to communicate with him any more than he did with her.
  At least she'd had Katie to talk to...
Dixie
didn't have anyone who understood her.
 

The problems with
Dixie
and Tommy weren't her business, but she had decided to try and help him some. 
Her fix-it tendencies wouldn't let her ignore it.  She
had to make sure the little girl didn't get too attached to her though, because Karlie didn't know when she'd have to move on.  If Jake showed up here, she'd
have to
hit the road again.

Karlie opened the stall of the horse Tommy had told  her he wanted to start training to rope and cut, and clipped a lead onto the leather harness.  Leading the gelding down the long aisle of the main barn, she took him into the tacking area and clipped him into the crossties, then went to get her saddle, and a longe line.
  The
P
aint
gelding was pretty young, so she needed to wear him down a little, so he could focus on what she was trying to teach him.

She was pulling down her saddle when a small voice behind her said, "Whatcha doing?" 

Turning around with a smile, she faced
Dixie
, who stood there cute
-
as
-
a
-
button with her blond pigtails, and pink cowboy hat.  Karlie told her,
"About to work on Apache's training...you wanna help me?"