“Most are,” Wes replied, and Colt could almost see the shake of his head.
Colt reached for his Glock G19 and switched the safety off just as he heard vehicles coming down the road. A glance in the rearview mirror revealed Nick’s Interceptor approaching, trailed by Deputy Santiago and Spearman’s Havenridge PD vehicles.
“Thanks, bro,” Colt said. “I gotta go. Nick’s here. Let me know if you find anything more.”
“Will do,” Wes said and hung up.
Nick pulled up beside Colt’s truck and rolled down his passenger window, his eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. “Hop in.”
Colt locked his truck and climbed into Nick’s Interceptor without buckling his seat belt.
“Does your warrant include their cell phones and computers?” he asked Nick as they passed through the arched gates and bumped over a cattleguard.
“Yep.”
Nothing more was said as Nick navigated the small caravan down the long, pothole-ridden drive to the Bristow’s main house. Nick parked his vehicle, and Deputy Santiago pulled up beside them and Deputy Spearman beside her. Nick removed his sunglasses and hooked them into a front shirt pocket.
“Don’t go all cowboy on me,” he warned. “You’re only here to observe.”
Colt held his hands up in supplication and raised his eyebrows. He didn’t want to overstep Nick’s authority, but he would do what needed to be done if it came down to it.
Colt held back with the two deputies while Nick stepped up onto the front porch of the old farmhouse that had seen better days and knocked. There was no answer, which was to be expected on a working ranch but needed to be checked regardless.
Shouts and whistles and mooing cattle echoed from behind a large barn. As one, they turned and followed the commotion, where they found Gus, his two sons, and a half dozen hands sorting cattle into two small, adjustable pens. They approached the outdoor arena and leaned against the wood railing to wait for a break in the ranchers’ work.
Grayson noticed them first, a quick glance before his horse spun around to prevent a steer from breaking free of the huddle they were moving. When the small herd moved into the temporary pen, they were then funneled through a chute by a couple of cowboys on foot. Vaccinating them, most likely, Colt thought.
Gentry did a double take when his gaze landed on the four of them. He pursed his lips before he looked away and quickly steered his horse over to the senior Bristow. He said something that didn’t carry. Gus turned to them and glared. He reined his horse over and stopped on the other side of the arena railing, with Gentry and Grayson pulling up on either side of him. Grayson’s expression was oddly blank, whereas his brother and dad shot daggers at them with their eyes. It was the lack of emotion that had Colt taking a longer look at Grayson. Could he be the one behind the threats, or was it all of them and Grayson just had the best poker face?
“What the hell are you doing here?” Gus bit out, disdain clear in his voice.
“Gus Bristow,” Nick said, all official-like, as he pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. “I have a warrant here to search the house, any computers and electronic devices inside, and each of your cell phones.”
“That’s bullshit,” Gus snapped, his hard eyes boring into Nick.
“You got no right,” Gentry barked at the same time.
“I need you all to dismount your horses and step outside the arena, please,” Nick said, unaffected by their belligerence.
When none of them made to move, Nick held the warrant out. A few tense seconds later, Gentry leaned down and yanked it from his hand.
“This is a warrant to search our stuff.” Gentry stated the obvious.
Nick shared a glance with Colt, raised one eyebrow, and then turned back to the Bristows. “Dismount now. I’m not asking again.”
Grayson dismounted first, and Gentry shot him a look of pure mutiny. With an exaggerated sigh, Gus dismounted, and then Gentry followed suit on his order. They wrapped their reins over the rail a couple of times and then, one by one, leaned through the railing to stand in front of Nick.
Nick held his hand out. “I’ll take your phones now.”
“The hell you will,” Gentry argued with a petulant tip of his chin and crossed his arms.
“Then you’ll be riding in the back of my deputy’s car to the station.” Nick shrugged. “Your choice.”
Grayson handed his phone to Nick with a slight nod. He glanced quickly at Colt, and Colt caught the first hint of emotion from Grayson since they’d arrived. Fear.
Colt kept an observant eye on Grayson while the other two Bristows blustered and bitched about invasions of privacy and power-drunk small-town sheriffs and trampled rights. Grayson was the complete opposite. Compliant without complaint and showing no outward signs that he had anything to hide. It was the fleeting side-eye glances at his brother and dad that made Colt reevaluate Grayson’s involvement. He had no doubt Grayson knew something, but perhaps his poker face was a protection mechanism against his family. Was the glimpse of fear Colt picked up on from Grayson because he worried what they might do tohimif he didn’t toe the family line?
Gus finally handed his phone over to Nick with a disdainful sneer.
