“Alright.”
“Sheriff, this is happening. And I know I’m not the only barn that’s experienced these issues over the past couple of weeks. Something needs to be done,” Colt said.
I could hear the agitation in his voice, and I was poised and ready to calm him down if necessary. If he lost his cool with the sheriff, someone like him—with his stature and strength—could easily be arrested for attempting to intimidate an officer.
The last thing we needed was this idiot to successfully dismantle this barn and the man who ran it.
“Colt, I’m sorry. I mean, it’s obvious that someone lit a match in here, but without a description or even a boot print to go on, there isn’t much I can do.”
“Are you serious?” he asked.
“Keep your barn locked up better and keep an eye out. It’s what I tell everyone around here, and it’s what I’ll tell you.”
“Someone just tried to burn down my damn barn! How in the hell do you think—”
I put my hand on Colt’s arm, and I could feel the veins pulsing underneath my touch. I knew he was angry, and I understood; I had been absolutely furious myself. Tears rose to my eyes thinking about all the crap I’d endured when my barn burned to the ground, and I was thankful Colt didn’t have to go through those same emotions.
“Colt, he’s right,” I said. “Take some deep breaths.”
“Cheyenne. Someone burned your damn barn down, killed one of your horses, and just tried to do it with mine. You mean to tell me no one’s paying a price for that?”
A tear trickled down my cheek at the thought of my perished horse, and that ripped Colt from his trance.
“Cheyenne, I’m so—”
“Thank you for your time, sheriff,” I said breathlessly. “If we have anything else, we’ll call you.”
I stuck out my hand for him to shake, and I could tell how remorseful he was. I knew he wanted to catch this person just as much as we did, but his hands were tied if he didn’t have any real leads. I’d had to come to terms with that over the past few weeks, and now it was Colt’s turn to do the same.
But I knew what I had to do to keep everyone safe, and Colt wasn’t going to like what I had in mind.
“Keep the barn locked up and keep an eye out,” he said. “Your animals deserve it.”
“Our animals deserve justice,” Colt said hotly.
“He’s right. More horses could have died, Sheriff, and at this point that would’ve been on the department’s head,” I said.
“And I’m not arguing with you on either of those points. But justice requires a certain amount of information, and there are too many holes that need to be filled before we can open an investigation.”
“Like what the guy looked like? I thought it was your job to figure that out,” Colt said.
“Yeah, but we need starting markers. A tattoo on his neck. A scar on his right pinky. Something to set him apart from everybody else in town,” the sheriff said.
I could tell from the look on Colt’s face that he was disgusted with the entire situation. The sheriff was an intelligent person, but even he had his limits, and Colt was finally realizing that.
“I might as well just install some fucking security cameras,” Colt said.
“That’s actually not a bad idea, if you can afford it. Most people around here can’t, but video of whatever this person was doing would open an investigation, whether or not he looked at the camera,” the sheriff said.
“Then that’s what’ll be done,” I said. “Thank you for your time, Sheriff.”
“The two of you stay safe, alright? I’m with you when I say I’m not sure these are pranks anymore, but without evidence to open this thing, it’s out of my hands.”
I walked behind the two men, checking on each of the horses and kissing them on their muzzles as was my custom. I was so relieved they were alright and not hurt in any way, but I knew my presence here was putting them in danger. Someone was targeting the people attempting to help me, and that meant I had to remove myself from the equation altogether. I knew that other places were being targeted, but it made me wonder if it was still connected to me. Like the other places were just to throw people off someone targeting just me. I needed to get out of here before anyone else got hurt.
But Colt wasn’t going to like that one bit.
We saw the sheriff off, and as he rolled down Colt’s driveway, that’s when I realized I was still trembling. Colt threaded his arm around me and pulled my body into his, when all of a sudden, my tears were unleashed. He held me close to him, and his warmth radiated throughout my entire body, but I knew I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t stay underneath his watchful eye any longer.