Losing Ladd (6 page)

But Travis understood. Felicity was a
woman, and women tended toward the emotional. They worried and
fretted and worked themselves up over stuff that hadn’t even
happened yet. Not him. He dealt in facts. “Okay, we’ve covered the
river banks by the swimming hole, made the hike around the hotel,
the old stables, the original homestead. The staff covered the back
side of the stables and reported no sighting. What’s
left?”

“
We haven’t gone to the
gold site,” Felicity offered.

“
Way over there?” Troy
asked. “Don’t you think that’s a bit far?”

“
Not at all.” She looked
between the two brothers, gaining momentum as she said, “Blue knows
the way. We’ve walked through there a hundred times. Why wouldn’t
she go that way?”

“
I guess Spirit could have
ended up over there, too,” Troy said, gloom coating his
tone.

“
It’s a possibility,”
Travis agreed. At this point, he’d take any suggestions. The second
day of searching needed to be successful. Leading the trio out of
the stables and into open morning air, he cut around toward the
back end. “We need to split up. Felicity and I will search the
opposite side of the bridge, the forest along the lower river banks
while you take the trail up to Zack’s Falls,” he told Troy. “Check
the woods in and around the excavating sight.”

He nodded. “I’ll go all the way to the
property line and into the USFS if I have to.”

Travis hoped he didn’t have to go that
far. The USFS was public land. If one of the horses ventured into
that area, they could have run into hikers, squatters... There were
people who hid and lived in the forest and would like nothing
better than to stumble across a horse and for any number of
reasons. Several had been stolen of late; a fact that didn’t bode
well, under the circumstances. “Okay, it’s settled then. We’ll meet
somewhere in the middle. You have your cell?”

Troy tapped his front pocket. “Got
it.”

“
Okay. If you see anything
before then, give us call. You might need help.”

“
Spirit ain’t comin’ to no
one but me,” Troy said, irritating Travis with his cockiness.
Whatever. Troy wanted to run solo, let him. “C’mon, Felicity. Let’s
go.” Setting off on their separate ways, Travis took two steps and
stopped, his attention snagged by a shiny flash on the
ground.

“
What’s the matter?”
Felicity asked. Troy hung back, waiting for a response.

Travis walked over to the spot and
bent over. Scrutinizing the grassy ground, clumps of hay here and
there, he picked up the object. It was a lighter. Flipping it
backward and forward in his hand, he turned to the others. “Someone
lost a lighter.” The slim silver body was rimmed in gold where the
top part opened. “An expensive lighter.”

Felicity zeroed in on it and burst,
“That’s my father’s lighter!” She yanked it from Travis’ grasp and
scrutinized it more closely. “It is, I’m sure of it.” Her eyes
rounded. “What would it be doing here?”

Troy was by their side in an instant.
“Maybe Jeremiah wasn't the one who let the horses free. Maybe it
was Jack.”

“
Don’t you think it’s more
feasible that he lost it that night?” Travis posed, then directed
to Felicity, “He hasn’t been around here lately, has
he?”

“
No. He wouldn’t dare come
around here.”

“
Unless he was tryin’ to
cause trouble,” Troy interjected.

Felicity looked to Troy
and her gaze sharpened, as though she were connecting the dots. “It
is
our
horses
that are missing. Do you think he did it? To get back at you and
me?”

“
How would he know
anything about Troy’s training Spirit?” Travis asked.

Felicity became defensive. “I don’t
know what he knows, but it’s possible. Who else?”

“
Jeremiah?” Travis
proposed. “That’s who your momma thinks is responsible.”

“
Why would Jeremiah care
anything about my horse?” She slanted a glance to Troy and said,
“Troy’s maybe, but not mine.”

Travis took the lighter from Felicity
and shoved it in his front pocket. “Jeremiah has a motive for
revenge against you, your momma, the hotel...”

“
So does her father,” Troy
snapped.

Travis didn’t like the way Troy was
taking Felicity’s side when it made no sense. He was only doing so
to cause trouble between Travis and her. “Yes,” Travis said
pointedly, “but he’s already pursuing his revenge. You have a court
date in less than two weeks, remember?” Glancing between the two,
avoiding the obvious displeasure radiating from Felicity, he
continued, “Jeremiah is the more reasonable assumption.”

“
Don’t give me that
‘reasonable assumption’ business,” Troy shot back. “Jack Foster is
here and has plenty of motive. When I find those horses, I’m gonna
show him exactly what he can do with that motive, too.”

Travis stared at his brother. The
bulge of his neck vein was a sure sign Troy was going down his
usual path. If he wasn’t careful, the hothead was going to land
himself in even more trouble.

“
Really?” Travis mocked.
“Your answer is to add to his list of charges? Why don’t you learn
to use the proper channels and bring the perpetrator to justice
instead of settling everything with your fists? You might not be in
the predicament you’re in if you’d learned your lesson the first
time.”

“
I didn’t have a choice
but how would you know? You weren’t there. As usual, I was solving
problems in the real world instead of throwin’ fancy words around
like I was already some kind of lawyer man—which you aren’t. You’re
just a—”

“
Guys, stop it!” Felicity
exclaimed. “This isn't a competition!”

Travis and Troy retreated
to their respective imaginary corners. Troy’s nostrils were flaring
and Travis knew he wanted nothing more than to punch him in the
face. Well, go ahead.
Bring it on,
brother
.
I’m in
the mood to belt you one back and good
.

“
It could be Jack or
Jeremiah,” Felicity insisted, her aggravation thinly veiled. “Both
have reason and both could have done this. But at the moment it’s
irrelevant. We need to find those horses.”

Travis clenched his jaw.
“Agreed.”

Troy gritted his teeth and
put as much space as possible between himself and Travis, storming
down the mountain to the trailhead that led into the forest and up
to Zack’s Falls. Located across a grassy meadow, it was a good
forty-five minute hike from here to the rock, a time he would cut
in half, his pace fueled by anger. Travis was a jerk. Everything
had to be his way, like he knew best. He always had to be in
charge, always had to be right. Well, he
wasn’t
. Troy knew a thing or two
when it came to people, and Jack Foster could easily have been
responsible for letting the horses free. He was the one with motive
to hurt Felicity, hurt him. Those horses that were missing were
theirs, weren’t they? They were, which should be proof
enough.

Stomping over a field littered with
purple and yellow blossoms, Troy needed to forget Travis and focus
on Spirit. The animal would respond to him and him alone. Not
Travis, not Felicity—not even Miss Delaney. Spirit would come to
him because he was the one who’d invested the time and energy, the
only one qualified to do so. Travis might know how to ride but he
didn’t know nothin’ about working a horse. He was too busy sticking
his nose in books.

Entering the shaded trail, Troy
scanned the forest around him. Roughly a car width wide, the
clay-packed terrain was burnt orange in color with grooves carved
out in various sections by fast-flowing water racing down from the
mountaintop. The ground was layered with rocks and roots, fallen
twigs and decomposing leaves, the air laced with musky earth. If
Spirit was around here, he’d have to be on the trail. There wasn’t
enough room for him otherwise.

Up ahead was a different story. In
about hundred feet the trail would narrow, opening into a valley to
his right. If Spirit had wandered off the trail and hung by a tree,
he’d be hard to spot. Dark brown, the horse would blend in with
black trunks, the mass of branches and the occasional boulder. Troy
cupped his hands to his mouth and called, “Spirit! Spirit, you
here?” Watching for signs of movement—response—Troy sharpened his
gaze and slowed his step. If he wasn’t careful, he might miss the
animal. “Spirit!”

Troy continued the process for the
next fifteen minutes, passing a flat wall of rock, a sure sign that
he was nearing the excavation site. Nick and Delaney had authorized
an outfit out of Johnson City to come in and cut the gold from the
rock, mine as much as they possibly could so they could have gold
pendants made. Wishing wells. They’d hired the local jeweler to
make them and sold them in the hotel gift shop as souvenirs.
Felicity said they were supposed to represent eternal hope and
spiritual fulfillment. Crazy, if you asked him. Wishing wells were
supposed to represent wishes for dreams to come true. Where did
they get spiritual fulfillment out of that?

Troy froze. Glimpsing movement up
ahead, he stopped, but rather than call out, he simply searched for
the source. No sense in spooking Spirit into bolting. He was
already out of sorts in unfamiliar territory. Troy needed the
animal to remain calm if he was going to be successful in
retrieving him. At the moment, he saw no sign of him.

Inching closer to the trail’s edge,
Troy narrowed in on the landscape, specifically the midway point on
the forest floor. Setting a hand to a nearby stone, the surface
cold and grainy beneath his skin, Troy slowed his
breathing.

“
Those greedy bastards
took it all!”

“
What?”

“
That ain’t no horse,”
Troy muttered to himself.
That’s a
man
!

Troy crouched behind the boulder,
noting there were three men, not one. Two black-haired men with
beards dressed in jeans and T-shirts next to a lighter brown-haired
guy dressed in a red button-down.

“
But you said there was
enough gold here to pay us for the rest of our lives!” one of them
scowled. “We was relyin' on you.”

The second dark-haired man spoke up,
“We took a big risk for you cuz you promised!”

“
Shut your pie hole. I
need time to think.”

“
Think? Think about
what—it’s gone!”

Instinct scissored through Troy’s
lungs as the third man came into full view. It was Jeremiah
Ladd.

“
You better think,” said
one of the strangers. “And you better figure a way to pay us
back.”

“
I’ll get you your money,”
Jeremiah growled.

Surprise,
surprise
, Troy mused. The man was back and
seemingly up to his old tricks. He was here to steal the gold, only
there was one problem. Nick and Delaney had already removed most of
it. Troy suppressed the urge to reveal himself and rub it in the
man’s face.
That’s right,
Jerry
.
The rightful owners actually secured their
fortune before you could come and steal it.

The taller stranger straightened and
poked a finger in Jeremiah’s chest, surprising Troy with his
authority over Jeremiah. “You’d better find a way. This here gold
belonged to us and it’s gone. Stolen right out from under
us.”

Mighty presumptive, Troy thought,
savoring the defeat in their voices. Just because a man owes you a
“gold mine” doesn’t mean it was his to give. Troy chuckled. Maybe
Jeremiah would get another beating. Seemed tall man had no fear of
Mr. Ladd. Delight streamed in like sunshine on a cloudy day. Oh,
wouldn’t Troy enjoy watching a good payback beating.

“
Don’t worry. I will,”
Jeremiah declared, then stalked off through the brush in the
opposite direction. Troy looked beyond the men, through a mass of
tree trunks and leaves. The other side of this area was the Ladd
property line with the USFS. The men were leaving via public land,
most likely the same way they’d arrived. Depositing his gaze on the
exiting trio, Troy decided a call to Cal was warranted. He’d know
exactly what to do with the news of Jeremiah’s appearance on Ladd
land. Felicity’s land.

A low whinny erupted behind him. Troy
whipped his head around, his heart slamming against his ribcage.
Spirit! Pleasure swamped him. Tossing a final glance toward the
departing men, Troy focused his energy on the horse several yards
away. “How’d you find me, Spirit?”

The horse raised its head and shook
its mane, dark eyes honed in on Troy. Course, just because he’d
found him didn’t mean he would leave these woods willingly. Troy
grinned. Spirit was a determined one. But then again, Troy could be
pretty determined, too. Turning a shoulder to the horse, Troy took
a slow step backward onto the trail. Spirit watched, wary, but
didn’t move. “How’ve you been, boy?” Troy asked pleasantly,
casually, adopting a submissive stance to the animal. Troy stood at
a slight angle, not facing the horse head on or turning away in
passivity. He already had a relationship with the horse as a
leader, a comfortable figure for the animal, but after being on the
run, Spirit might need reminding.