“We found him lying here.” Gabe stopped and pointed to the ground.
Dale crouched down, examining the ground where the horse had thrown his father. The grass was flattened, a clear sign of something heavy disturbing the area. There were hoofprints and faint footprints in the surrounding dirt too, but nothing out of the ordinary.
He wasn’t sure what he was looking for but “ordinary” wasn’t it.
Gabe squatted next to him. “The tracks are mine and the paramedics.”
Dale nodded, having already assumed as much.
Out of the blue, a strange prickling sensation bit at the back of his neck, like the hairs were standing on end. He glanced around, scanning the open space, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Feel that?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
Gabe gazed off into the distance. “Someone’s watching us.”
The field was bordered by a line of trees, their dense foliage casting long shadows over the grass. Both Orion and Triton seemed undisturbed, lazily flicking their tails as they grazed.
Damn.
They were vulnerable. Out in the open. Clear targets.
Him and Gabe, too.
Pretending not to notice, Dale rose to his feet and nonchalantly walked toward the horses, and Gabe did the same.
As they neared Orion and Triton, they instinctively scanned the tree line, which was much closer now. The sensation of being watched grew stronger, a palpable tension in the air. Henarrowed his focus on a particularly dense cluster of bushes. The leaves rustled slightly, but there was no wind.
“See that?” Gabe asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he withdrew his firearm. “We go on two.”
“Affirmative,” he replied, wishing he hadn’t left his gun in the glove compartment of his truck, where he’d stowed it before entering the hospital that morning.
“One, two,” the sheriff mumbled, and they both rushed the thicket, now only a few yards away.
Tension thickened with each step, reminding him of active duty. But this was home. His family’s ranch. As they reached the edge of the tree line, the rustling stopped. They stopped, too, and listened intently. Dale’s heart pounded hard in his chest and adrenaline sharpened his senses.
The sheriff edged closer to the bushes and carefully pushed aside the branches. The underbrush was dense, making it difficult to see anything clearly. Dale stepped up beside him, peering into the shadows.
For a moment, everything was still.
Then, a sudden rustling erupted again, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps.
“This is the Harlan County Sheriff. Stop!” Gabe shouted as they both lunged forward, trying to push through the branches, but it was no use. They were too thick.
It was also too late.
Whoever had been there was gone, leaving only the faintest sound of their retreat behind. By the time they managed to get into the woods, the perp would be long gone.
“Damn it,” he muttered, scanning the surrounding area, frustration upping his pressure. “Bastard must have been watching us.”
Gabe cursed under his breath. “Whoever it was, they were quick.”
Dale’s mind raced, piecing together the implications of what they had just discovered. “This isn’t just about the horse getting spooked. Someone’s been here, watching, and they might have had something to do with my dad’s accident.”
His buddy nodded grimly. “You need to be careful. If someone’s targeting your family, you can’t take any chances.”
He inhaled and steadied his thoughts. “We’ll have to keep an eye out, maybe set up some cameras around the property in case they come back.”
“Roger that,” Gabe agreed. “I’ll talk to Mac. We can get some equipment from ESI, and have it set up by tomorrow, both here and at your dad’s house in town.”
