Green Calder Grass (Calder Saga 6)

“Toward Blue Moon?”

“Maybe.” Then Ballard asked the question that was on Ty’s mind. “Does Dy-Corp have a helicopter here?”

“I don’t know.” But he knew it wouldn’t be hard to find out.

“Do you really think Dy-Corp has a helicopter?” Excited by the thought, Emily turned to Ballard. “I know a guy who works there. Maybe he could get me a ride on it. Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Really something,” Ballard assured her, then turned her back around. “We’re headed for the dance floor, remember.”

“Right.” But as she moved past Ty, she was already craning her head trying to see above the crowd. “I wonder if Rick’s here tonight.”

By the time Ty worked his way through the crowd to the corner table, the others were already seated. After he had Trey buckled in the high chair, Ty relayed the information about the helicopter.

“Even if it wasn’t military, it still might have been a government helicopter, state or federal,” Sally suggested in an attempt to chase away the cloud that suddenly hung over their table.

“It’s possible,” Chase conceded. “But logic tells me differently. I can only think of one person with reason to fly over that section of the ranch, and that would be the new owner of it. They were bound to show up sooner or later. And I certainly didn’t expect them to drive up to The Homestead and introduce themselves.”

“You keep saying ‘they,’” Jessy inserted. “You are convinced it’s Dy-Corp, aren’t you?”

“Let’s put it this way,” Chase replied. “Dy-Corp knows we aren’t going to let them cross our land to get to the Wolf Meadow range. Their only access to it is by air. And nobody else in the area is likely to have a helicopter other than the government or military.”

“I know they want the coal on that land, but what good is it to them?” That was the part Jessy had trouble understanding. “They can’t get their mining equipment in, or the coal out.”

“They have something up their sleeves. You can bet on it.” Chase opened the plastic-covered menu and squinted at the small type.

Ty spoke up. “I’ll pass the word tomorrow for everybody to keep a lookout for any more helicopters in the area. Maybe next time we’ll get lucky and get an aircraft identification number—assuming there is a next time. Meanwhile we need to find out whether Dy-Corp owns a helicopter.”

“Or leases one,” Chase added, then frowned and looked up. “Aren’t there any barbeque ribs on this menu?”

“Right there.” Sally pointed to them, relieved by the change of subject.

“That’s what I’ll have.” He folded the menu shut and pushed it onto the table. “Although I doubt they will be as tasty and tender as the ones you make.”

It was the warm look he gave her more than the praise for her cooking that had Sally glowing like a schoolgirl. But Jessy had little time to dwell on it as Trey let out a gleeful shriek and struggled to get out of the high chair. She reached to push him back in his seat just as the cause of excitement ran up to the chair.

“Hi, Trey. I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight,” Quint declared.

Cat and Logan were only a few steps behind him. Chase leaned back in his chair, his surprise quickly giving way to pleasure at the sight of his daughter and her family.

“Look who’s here,” he declared and immediately began issuing orders. “Pull that table over here and join us. We might as well make this a night out for the whole family.”

After the initial confusion of moving tables and chairs, shifting positions, and everyone sitting down, Ty wasted no time mentioning the helicopter to Logan and their suspicion that it belonged to Dy-Corp.

“Unless it flew in today, Dy-Corp doesn’t have a helicopter based here in Blue Moon,” Logan stated. “But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have chartered one from the copter service in Miles City. I’ll ask around and see what I can find out. Unofficially, of course.”

“I would appreciate that,” Chase acknowledged.

“No more ranch talk,” Cat decreed then grinned. “At least not the business end.” Green eyes twinkling, she glanced at Jessy. “I planned to call you later tonight. I’m flying to Dallas next weekend and I thought you might like to come with me.”

“Dallas?” Jessy wasn’t sure which surprised her more—that Cat was going to Dallas or that she wanted her to go along.

“What’s in Dallas?” Chase frowned at his daughter.

Logan inserted dryly, “Out of two closets full of clothes, she can’t find a thing to wear.”

“That’s not true. I have plenty of clothes. I just don’t have a knock-’em-out-of-their-boots outfit to wear to the auction,” Cat explained to all then redirected her attention to Jessy. “I know you plan on buying something new for it. I thought we could shop together. It’s a lot more fun that way.”

“Yes, but—I was just going to pick something up in Miles City.” The idea of flying all the way to Dallas to shop struck Jessy as totally unnecessary.