A fair amount of state and national land had been leased out for animals to graze on. But because the ranchers didn’t live on the same land their animals did, there were occasionally issues. I tapped out a few more notes on my phone. “I’ll send Dominguez and Hightower to the campground, and I’ll go with Mackey and Rhines to Clintock’s place.”
David leaned back in his chair and nodded. “Next is more about lip-service than anything. Gotta say I sent someone to check it out. Two campers called in complaining about someone shooting off a gun and scaring the wild horses away up by county road twenty-three.”
I sat up straighter. “Were any horses injured?”
David shook his head. “They’re fine. It was probably just someone hunting deer. But you know how touchy those tourists are when they hear gunshots. It was probably nowhere near them or the wild horses.”
The statement was true enough, but I wanted to make sure the horses were okay. If someone had been messing around up there and accidentally killed a horse, it would devastate Jensen. “I’ll go check that out while I have the rest of my team on the other two cases.”
David straightened. “I want you on the Clintock case. You can check out the horse business afterward. If there’s time.”
I gritted my teeth but nodded. “Anything else?”
“Nope. Go find that poacher.”
I rose from my seat. “Will do.” But as soon as I could, I was heading for Pine Meadow. Because if Jensen heard about someone scaring off the mustangs, her crazy ass would be out there investigating, and she’d get herself into some sort of trouble I’d end up having to get her out of.
I headed down the hall to the main room and found Dominguez and Mackey settling into their desks. “Morning.”
“Morning, boss.” Dominguez placed his sidearm in the top drawer of his desk.
Mackey, already seated, gave me a wave as she bit into a breakfast burrito. The girl was all of five foot two and one hundred and ten pounds, but she could pack away more food than I could.
I set down my mug and leaned against my desk. “We’re gonna have a busy day today. Dominguez, you and Hightower are on Creekside North campground, looking into kids partying up there. Figure out if it’s worth sending a couple officers out there late-night to try and catch them in the act.”
I turned to Mackey, who was chasing her burrito with a swig of Coke. “Mackey, you, me, and Rhines are on a poaching case.”
“Aw, man,” Dominguez whined. “Why you gotta do me like that, boss? Stick me with teenagers just looking to have a little fun while you guys are doing the cool stuff?”
I chuckled. Unlike David, I fostered a casual relationship with those under me. They needed to know they could talk to me. They needed to blow off steam. In my mind, respect should be earned, not demanded. “Next interesting case is all yours.”
Dominguez cheered slightly at that, and we shot the shit until the rest of the team arrived.
My truck rockedto a stop outside the grassy pasture. Mackey and Rhines pulled in next to me. Rich Clintock was already waiting. I hopped down and crossed to the weathered man in his fifties. “Mr. Clintock.”
He swiped off his cowboy hat and extended a hand. “You know you can call me Rich, son.”
“Rich. These are Officers Mackey and Rhines.” I inclined my head in turn to each. Rich nodded at both. “Can you walk me through what happened?”
Rich glowered at the pasture, and I caught sight of a younger man working to fix a fence. “At first, I thought it was those damn horses that tore down my fence and that a few of my sheep just got loose, but when I took a closer look, I saw that the wire’d been cut. We’re still counting, but so far, we’ve got four missing. Four that got snatched, I should say. Luckily, we’d already been planning to move them this week so I don’t have to worry about someone stealing more. But you gotta find this asshole.” His gaze flicked to Mackey. “Apologies, ma’am.”
She waved a hand in front of her face. “I’ve heard worse.”
I studied the field and noted its close proximity to the road. In all truth, there wasn’t a lot we could do. “You have anyone who’s been giving you trouble?”
Rich ran a hand over his balding head. “Not off the top of my head. I’ve got a good relationship with the other ranchers who have livestock up this way. Like I said before, the most trouble we’ve had was with the horses.”
I ignored the latter part of his statement. Ranchers and animal rights activists were at an impasse when it came to the wild horse population. Ranchers were frustrated that the mustangs often ate the grass they held grazing rights to and sometimes tore down their fences. In my mind, they were here before we were, and we should try to find a happy medium.
I looked back to where Rich’s workman was repairing the fence. With only a handful of sheep missing, I had a feeling the perpetrator was someone local. There were several poorer communities scattered around Pine Meadow, and it was possible that someone had been driving by and the need to feed their family had outweighed their knowledge of right and wrong. I’d investigate, of course, but I wasn’t overly optimistic.
I pulled a card out of my wallet and handed it to Rich. “I’m gonna have Mackey and Rhines drive around and talk to folks today to see if anyone’s seen or heard anything. But you let me know if you hear anything in the meantime.”
Rich nodded, shoving the card into his pocket. “I appreciate you coming out.”
“Anytime.” I turned to Mackey and Rhines. “I have something else to check out, but I want you to make the rounds and update me with any developments.”
They nodded, and I took off towards my truck. Turning over the engine, I backed out and headed to where the campers had called in gunshots. I needed to put my mind at ease, and I needed to be able to tell Jensen that all was well if she heard about the complaints.
