Chasing McCree (24 page)

“
Hi honey!” my mom’s voice
came cheerily over the line. “I just wanted to call before your day
got too busy.”

I smiled, “How are you?”

“
Oh, fine. Todd’s going to
use your room as a gym. Hope you don’t mind.”

“
Nope, tell him to have at
it.” I knew she was still hoping I’d come back, but she hoped in
vain. I loved this place too much. “Miss you.”

“
I miss you too. How is
Briar doing? Is she liking it there?”

I sat at the kitchen table and watched
the coffee percolate. “She’s doing great, and she loves
it.”

My mom was quiet for a beat.
“Really?”

I let out a breath. “I know we’ve
talked about things, and that you didn’t like it here…but Briar’s
staying. She doesn’t want to go back home.”

“
Chase,” she gasped. “You
can’t keep that girl from her family. She doesn’t belong
there.”

“
Mom, it’s not my decision.
If Briar leaves it’s her choice, I’m not asking her to
stay.”

“
I don’t understand. Do you
want her to stay?”

“
Yes.”

She sighed, “But…”

“
If she goes back, I may go
with her.” I added, “I don’t want you to get your hopes
up.”

“
Oh, Chase…this is a big
deal.” She said. “But I can’t make you do the right thing, so I
guess I’ll just tell you to be careful. How is Millie?”

I was glad for the subject change.
“Good, she and Jerry are out of town for a family emergency, but
both are fine.”

“
I was talking to her on
the phone the other night. She likes Briar.”

I rolled my eyes. What wasn’t to like
about her? “Mom, I love Briar.”

Dead silence.

“
Mom?”

“
Uh, I think we’ll finish
this conversation later.” She sounded uncomfortable. “I am going to
be late for work. I love you.”

“
Bye, love you too.” The
phone clicked in my ear. I hung up, thinking she was going to have
a hard time getting used to the idea of Briar and me. No telling
how she’d act when she came to visit.

I went to grab a cup of coffee, now
that it was ready, and the damn phone rang again.

“
Chase,” Jerry’s voice
wavered over the line. “I heard what happened. You guys
okay?”

“
We’re fine. The Sherriff
is coming.” I added sugar and took a sip of the steaming liquid.
“How’s your brother?”

“
Not good. We’re in Helena.
They’ve taken him in for surgery after he had a heart attack in the
night, not sure if he’ll come out of it.”

“
Damn,” Briar and I were
really on our own now. “We’ll be okay Jerry. Try not to worry too
much. We’ve got the hands and plenty of protection.”

He chuckled. “I’ll try, but I love you.
And I love that little city girl too. Be safe, and we’ll see you
soon.”

After some breakfast in the quiet, I
was refilling my mug at the counter when I heard bare feet
shuffling behind me.

I turned. Briar was wearing purple
pajamas with blue clouds on them. Her hair was wild and her green
eyes were red and a little puffy. “Hey, beautiful.”

She growled. “Shut up.”

I laughed, holding my arms open and she
came right to me, plopping her head against my chest. “How you
doing?”

She lifted a shoulder and sighed,
hugging my waist. “My head hurts a little.”

I smiled, and leaned back against the
counter. “That’s something I haven’t heard in a while.”

“
What?” she glanced up at
me, confused.

“
Nothing, never mind.” We
stood like that for a few minutes, and I wondered if she had fallen
asleep when she commandeered my coffee cup and took a
sip.

“
Needs milk,” she wrinkled
her nose and gave it back to me. “How much sugar did you put in
it?”

“
Not enough for you.” I
added a little more sugar and some milk and gave it back to
her.

My cell phone rang. I pulled it off my
belt and glanced at the screen before answering. “Hey, Grant.
What’s up?”

“
Chase, I need you to come
to the family memorial, now.”

I went on full alert at the tone of his
voice. There was a place hidden in the trees on the other side of
the lake where every McCree was buried, including my father. “What
happened?”

“
We lost four
heifers.”

“
How?”

“
Gunshot wounds.” He
cussed, spitting. “They were left on the memorial site. I’m sorry,
man.”

“
I’m on my way.” I shut the
phone and Briar eyed me over the rim of the mug. “What
happened?”

“
Someone shot our cattle.”
I took the mug from her and set it in the sink, barley holding onto
my anger. It was one thing to shoot someone’s livestock, another
entirely to leave them in a sacred place. “Go get dressed. We have
to meet Grant. And Briar?”

“
What?” she glanced
back.

“
This isn’t going to be
pretty.”

She nodded solemnly and raced upstairs.
I went into the storeroom off the kitchen and took one of Jerry’s
shotguns. On my way out, just for good measure, I grabbed extra
bullets and a revolver. I put the revolver in my pocket and made
sure the shotgun was loaded and ready.

I opened the kitchen door and called
out into the yard. An older man named, Mac, who fed and groomed the
horses heard me and got Ash ready to ride. I’d have done it myself,
but I wasn’t going to leave Briar. Truth was, we didn’t know who
shot the heifers, who started the fire, or who had been in the
house last night. It could very well be someone we employed and
trusted.

So when Mac brought Ash around I
checked him over, made sure the saddle was secure, and went back
into the kitchen. Briar was in jeans and a t-shirt, hopping into
her boots.

“
Ready?” I
asked.

She nodded, “I think so.”

I smiled, telling her not to be scared,
and locked up the house behind us as we went onto the porch. Once
Briar was settled on Ash I swung up behind her and we took
off.

The wind was really blasting us. Briar
covered her face. Storm clouds swirled on the horizon and thundered
rumbled. The low, beastly growl was distant, but still enough of a
warning. We were in for a bad one. We rode past the lake to a small
clearing dotted with wild flowers, where there was a white fence
circling headstones.

I shaded my eyes against the sun and
felt my blood run cold as we neared. “Shit.”

“
Chase…” Briar grabbed my
arm and her fingers dug into my skin. “Why would someone do
that?”

“
Don’t look,” My insides
went numb when I laid eyes on the carnage. The cattle were in the
grass between the headstones. The smell was enough to make my
stomach roll.

“
Oh, god.” Briar gagged and
pulled her shirt up to cover her face.

“
Just don’t look,
princess.” I handed her down to Grant. He turned her so her back
was to the heifers.

“
This wasn’t just some
asshole shooting at cattle, Chase. Those shots are clean. Right to
the head.” Grant lowered his voice and tugged on his beard.
“Whoever did this knew it would be an insult to our family. We
should round up the hands.”

“
Yeah, I want them to see
this.” I agreed. “Bastard’s gonna pay.”

“
Amen to that,” Grant
pulled out his radio and started calling the men.

I walked closer, examining the cattle.
Sick. Just sick.

“
Chase?” Briar
called.

I turned back and found she’d opened
her eyes, and was looking on in horror. “Hey, I told you not to
look.”

“
I’m okay,” she drew a
breath and came toward me, reaching for my hand. “I’m
okay.”

Yeah, right. She was repeating herself
and white as a sheet. I stepped in her line of sight and held her
gaze. “Don’t look at that, look at me.”

“
I’m okay,” she said, more
firm and instant.

“
Sure,” I kissed her
soundly on the lips, not caring Grant was a few feet
away.

Twenty minutes later every man on my
property had been pulled off whatever job they were doing and lined
up against the fence next to the cattle.

“
This is sick,” I glared at
all of them. Briar stood beside me. I held her hand tight, needing
her support as much as she needed mine. “None of you saw or heard
anything? Not even a faint gunshot?”

Two of the men only spoke Spanish, and
Grant translated for them. They didn’t hear anything. No one heard
anything. But then a skinny blond man named Tom raised his hand and
stepped forward.

I frowned. “You saw
something?”

“
No, but, I was
thinking…what if they used a silencer?”

I glanced at Grant and he nodded.
“Yeah, that’s possible. If any of you are lying, not only will you
be fired, you’ll be facing charges.”

All throughout the interrogation, I
kept an eye on Rick. He didn’t look at me.

Briar nudged my side with her elbow and
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m watching him.”

Grant dismissed the men, and asked Rick
to hold back a second.

“
Awful quiet,” I
said.

Rick shrugged. “It’s
disgusting.”

“
Upsetting too,” Grant
added. “Something you’re not telling us?”

His eyes flashed when he looked at me.
I got an intense feeling that he didn’t care at all.
“No.”

“
Let him go,” Briar put her
hand on my arm and we watched as Rick walked away.

I kicked the fence and took one last
look at the cattle before heading for Ash. Such disrespect. That
was my family. My history. Some asshole desecrated a special
place.

“
What are we going to do?”
Briar asked, sliding her hands though Ash’s mane.

I shook my head, giving her a leg up.
“Wait for Sam.”

Grant nodded. “This is beyond our area
of expertise. I’ll have the men patrol the property. Make sure the
rest of the animals are safe.”

“
I don’t think we should
tell Jerry or Millie.” I said before Briar and I rode back to the
house. Grant agreed. He didn’t want to worry his parents. We’d get
this under control with Sam’s help.

It was personal now.

No one attacked any McCree, alive or
dead, without consequences.

And I knew that Rick was involved. I
felt in my gut.

On my way back to the house my cell
phone rang. Sam told me he was on his way. I told him about the
cattle and the cemetery and he said a few choice words I’d never
repeat to Briar. He was coming as fast as he could.

I handed Ash off to Mac at the backdoor
and headed up the porch steps. Briar stayed silent beside
me.

I felt like I was barely treading water
and wished my father were here. He’d know what to do. He’d always
known what to do. With a steady smile he’d ruffle my hair and tell
me things were never as bad as they seemed, that it could always be
worse. Even if it seemed like hope was gone, there would always be
a glimmer of light. You just had to look for it.

I didn’t know where to start
looking.

“
Hey, you want to talk
about it?”

That’s when I saw the light. My dad
hadn’t meant it literally. Anything could give you hope. I looked
up.

Briar.

My throat went tight and I nodded,
sitting on the porch swing with her.

She leaned back against the arm of the
swing and watched me, her gaze warm. “It’s okay to cry you know. I
do all the time.”

I cleared my throat. “I miss my
dad.”

She rubbed my arm, sighing. “I’m
sorry.”

“
I’m just feeling out of my
depth.” I leaned back and she threw her feet up in my lap. Her
white boots made me smile. “Those are getting really
dirty.”

She shrugged. “I bought them to wear
them, not to display in my closet.”

I used my feet to set the swing moving,
watching the mountains and the thick white clouds swirling at their
peaks. “I’m sorry, Briar. I didn’t know this was going to happen,
if I had, I never would have brought you here.”

“
Ha, you can’t know, and
you have no reason to be sorry.” She poked my arm to get me to look
at her.

“
I have a feeling it’s
because I’ve inherited.”

“
The other morning, before
you came to breakfast, Millie told me about the men out there
wanting to buy this place. It’s only natural someone would try to
scare you off. Show them who is boss and that you don’t
scare.”

A smile split my face. “I take it
back…I’m lucky you’re here.”

“
You bet your sweet boots
you’re lucky, cowboy.” She sat up and kissed me.

“
I’d ask you if you want to
go make out in the hayloft, but we’ve got trouble.” I pulled her up
with me and we went into the house to wait for Sam.