The Ranch

The horse looked at him and gave a whinny as he moved forward. John pet his neck as the horse nuzzled his shoulder. "That's it," he spoke softly. "Do you have some sugar cubes, Mrs. Nelson?"

"I'm afraid I don't. Jeremiah always caried some with him to give to him, but I don't have any on hand."

"Oh well. I'll just have to give you a double portion the next time, huh." The horse nickered and nodded his head up and down.

Sarah gasped. "He's never acted like that before."

John shrugged. "I've always had a way with horses. We'll get along just fine, once he gets to know me a little better."

"Storage up there," she pointed to the area above where a ladder rose to the second floor. "That apartment I was telling you about is in the closed off part. Speaking of living space, it will be a chore to get everything out of the house in quick order. I hope you won't expect us to move everything today. We can stay at my brother-in-law Roy's place as long as we need, but he doesn't have room for all our furniture."

He thought for a few seconds before finally making a decision. This was something he hadn't planned on, but after hearing her story, he felt right to change his original plans. "Do you have a job, Mrs. Nelson?" he asked.

"No. I figured on having to get something when you decided to take over the ranch, but I thought I would have more notification."

"I would like you to consider a posting as cook and housekeeper. It is a live-in position, that includes housing for both you and your daughter. You would not have to worry about moving your furniture or anything. As you said, there is an apartment on the top level of this place. I'll put my stuff up there, for now. You and your daughter can stay in the main house."

"You mean working for you?"

"Yes. I do not need the room that you have in the house. I will be fine in the place above the stable here. That leaves you free to take care of the house in any way you would like. However, I should warn you that the job will require cooking for more than just me and a few others. It may include cooking for a large group of people as I hire more hands."

"As long as the food bill is paid by you, I have no problem cooking for that many. I'll take it."

"Good. There is a lot of work to be done first, but I hope to have the place beginning to work by next year. As early as it is in the year, the month of April is just too late to hope to get everything done in time to do much this year. If you will excuse me, a had better get settled in and plan things out."

The two parted, and John moved his truck so the trailer was next to the stairs that led to the apartment on the side of the stables. He quickly took inventory of the contents after opening it, grabbed the duffle bag that held his clothes, then locked it again and walked up the steps.

He was putting away clothing when Sarah entered the open door. She announced herself, laid a set of linens on the bed and told him she would serve dinner at five-thirty. Once she was gone, he hurriedly finished putting things away then sat on the bed as he looked around. Something didn't seem quite right. Another trip to the trailer found him lugging his tool box back up the stairs. He pulled the tape measure from the box and set about measuring the inside of the room. Then he went to the lower part of the stables and measured again. He finished up measuring the storage side of the upper level and then added and subtracted numbers to discover if he was right.

There were five feet missing along a wall between the storage area and the apartment. He wondered what that was about and began searching for a way to enter the space. It was almost time for dinner when he finally found a secret lever that opened a door in the wall behind the bookcase in the apartment. He grinned to himself then closed everything up. There would be time to search the area later in the evening when he had more time.

Dinner did not go smoothly. Lisa still did not trust him to be what he said he was. Even more leery was her uncle, Sarah's brother-in-law, Roy Nelson. The sheriff was not happy about the two of them staying in the house with him so close by. John assured him that he wouldn't bother them. He suggested that they not give him the keys to the house. Which brought out the fact that no keys had been given to him and they had to find the key to the apartment for him. Roy still wasn't happy, but he relented, although he ended up spending the night in one of the spare bedrooms.

Once he was back in the apartment, John made sure that he was alone and the door locked. He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit three buttons with a swipe of the screen after the first. The other end was picked up after the second ring.

"Hey, Sarge. How's it going?" said a respondent.

"Jake," John said. "You can't call me Sarge. It has to be boss, remember?"

"Sorry, boss. I was sure you wouldn't call without being secure."

"I'm on a cell phone. How secure do you think they can be?"

"Point taken," Jake agreed. "Are you at least alone?"

"Of course. Now. Update me."

"Johnson called in a few hours ago. He got into the town yesterday."

"Was he approached?"

"Not by the target. He did have a bit of a run-in with one of the local preachers. It wasn't bad, but he did his best to put forth an impression that he was uninterested and that he wasn't exactly a nice guy. I suppose the bike would've helped with that."

"I suppose he went in wearing stuff that made him look like he was some sort of gang member."

"Yeah," Jake laughed. "Anyway, he went through the town and he found the warehouse. The people of Mt. Ayr gave him a pretty wide berth except for that preacher who caught up to him when he was setting up camp for the night in an out of the way place. Somebody had to be watching for him to know that he was there. Anyway, he figures that his best way in is to find the bar that the kid Julien goes to, a place called Desperado."

"Good. Are all the others ready to go?"

"Just say the word and we'll be there."

"I want you here on Monday. The rest can hold off 'til closer to the end of the week. No bunkhouse here, so we'll need trailers."

"No problem, boss. We'll rent a few nice ones for this."

"One more thing, Jake. I decided not to kick the family off the property as I originally thought I would. I'm staying in an apartment over the new stable that was built seven years ago. We'll have to be careful not to reveal too much when they are around. Also, I want an extended background check on everyone. Go back twenty-five years. That includes Sean Evens, his wife Britney, their son, Julien, Sarah Nelson, Mark Nelson, Roy Nelson, Lisa Nelson, Jeremiah Nelson, Lamar Westfall, and anyone else associated with them. Got it?"

"Got it. Anything else?" Jake asked.

"Yes. I want all the police reports on the fire that took place seven years ago including investigative notes. Be careful about all of this. Roy Nelson is the Sherriff here."

"Understood, Boss. Maybe we should use a federal connection to get all that?"

"Probably a good idea. I don't want any of the team to be recognized as other than anything that they are supposed to be. Captain Summerfield ought to be able to help out on that."

"Sure thing. Okay, Boss. See you in two days." The two hung up and John moved to investigate the hidden room.

He was surprised by what he found. He understood from all he had heard today that people didn't know how Mark Nelson was able to keep all the bills paid. But now, John knew. The room was filled with recording equipment and hundreds of DVDs of recordings. The videos were labeled with names, some of them political office holders. When he plugged one in to the player, it became quite obvious how Mark had kept himself and his family in the black. He was blackmailing people. Usually, it involved sex. He found a ledger as well and found that sometimes he had been being paid not only by one person involved, but the other as well. He checked a few more of the videos and found that some of them had actually been made in that very apartment.

He was angry about what he had found, but it also solved a problem. The room could be used to safely secure the weapons and other equipment that he still had in the trailer. He would move everything during the night. He set his alarm for three A.M. and turned out the light to get some sleep.

Although he had taken almost an hour during the middle of the night to move the equipment inside to the hidden room, John was still up by six-clock the next morning. After a quick shower and taking care of the rest of his morning routine, he dressed in jeans and another work shirt. It was white, but still quite ruggedly made. He pulled his boots on over tube socks then made his way out the door and down to the front of the stable. The horses turned their heads at the sound of the door opening, but he made his way to the furthest stall. "Morning, Charger. How are you this morning," he asked.

The horse nuzzled around his hands then raised his head almost as if in question.

"I haven't been to the store yet so I don't have any sugar cubes for you. I'll get them later today. I promise." The horse huffed and backed away from him. He gave a short laugh and grabbed some oats from the oat bin to dump in his feeding bag. He made sure that his water was full, then tried to get him to come back forward to pet him. The horse just huffed more and lowered his head as he stood at the back of the stall as far from him as he could get.

"Mom was talking about how you seemed to have a way with him," a voice said behind him. "Seems like she may have been exaggerating."

"He's just peeved that I don't have any sugar cubes for him yet," he said as he turned his head toward Lisa. "I'll make friends with him before too long."

"We'll see," she exclaimed doubtfully. She still was uncertain of his claim that he had grown up on a ranch and wasn't a developer. "Mom sent me to tell you that breakfast is ready. I saw you enter the stable so we knew you were up."

"Alright. Let's finish feeding the horses, then we'll go in." He moved to take care of Archie while she took care of Demon, then they collaborated on Betty.

"Good morning, Mr. Turlow," Sarah Greeted as they entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, ma'am."

"The horses are fed and watered, Mom."

"That's great, sweety."

"They'll enjoy a good rub down later," John entertained as he washed his hands at the sink. "I also need to get into town and get some sugar cubes."

"We could do that on the way back after church," she suggested. "Would you like to come with us?"

"Thank you, ma'am. I would appreciate that."

Roy dropped the newspaper, "The Mt. Ayr Record News," that he had been reading a fraction and looked at him. "Somehow, I doubt that," he said. "I better get going back to my place so that I can change, Sarah." He gave her a small kiss on the cheek then hugged Lisa tightly kissing her on the top of her head before leaving. "I'm watching you, Mr. Turlow. You just remember that." The look in Sarah's eyes during his kiss did not escape John's notice. Nor did the outpouring of feelings the man had for both the mother and her daughter.

"Will scrambled eggs do?" Sarah wondered. "I didn't think to ask how you like your eggs."

"Scrambled's fine, Mrs. Nelson. After church, I'll treat you all to dinner, if you know a nice place to go. Then when we get back, I'll give the horses a good brushing.

Mark 10:25. That was the passage used in the church service that morning. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." The preacher told of the addition of two people within their town recently. The would be perceived quite differently from one another. The first rode in on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, wearing clothes that made it quite clear that he was most likely a drifter and having no visible support structure. The other came in with an expensive vehicle and pulling an expensive trailer. It spoke of the money he had. On first notice, most would consider the second to be a good person and be trustworthy, while the first would most often be rejected. But his opinion was that the first was more likely to be trusted then the second. However, he suggested that, at that moment in time he didn't trust either of them very far as he had talked with the biker and found he wasn't any more than what he seemed, and he had heard that the richer man was a developer and here to destroy the land and plant houses and roads for a new community of like-minded individuals.

The preacher was at the door as the Nelson family and John exited the building. Sarah Nelson lit into him with a vengeance. "You self-righteous pig!" she began. "Who made you judge over the people? Jesus may have said 'it is easier for the camel to go through the eye of the needle than for the rich man to enter the kingdom of God,' but he didn't say that it was impossible. And I'm surprised at you listening to rumor without verifying anything. Have you not also read where Jesus said 'judge not lest you be judged?' I would never have thought I'd see the day when I was ashamed that I brought someone to the service with me."

"Sarah, it's your land that he's going to be developing," he defended. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"If that was what he chose to do with it, that would be his right as it now belongs to him. But just to let you know, I've got a job as a cook for the new ranch hands that he will be bringing in to work the ranch as well as his housekeeper. I don't even have to move out of the house."

"Please tell me you didn't sleep in the same house as the man," he insisted. "I'm not sure such a thing would be safe."

"Roy spent the night in one of the guest bedrooms, but it wasn't necessary. Mr. Turlow stayed in the apartment above the stable."

It was then that Roy Nelson came through with a man in tow. "Reverend Thompson, let me introduce you to John Turlow. He's the man you just bad mouthed from the pulpit. Now, I don't know if I trust him any more than the next man yet, but I don't think it was a good idea to lambast him like that. That kind of thing is why I don't come here that often. I think you take to many verses out of context."

"I'm not sure I'll be coming back," Sarah agreed.

"I know I won't," Lisa finally spoke.

The preacher was dismayed. He had been trying to show support for the Nelsons, and instead he had ended up ostracizing them. "I'm sorry," he bemoaned. "It wasn't my intention to bring you pain."

"That may be," Sarah replied before she walked off.

The preacher looked at the people that had been milling around and realized that they all had heard what was being said. He wasn't sure if he could salvage this situation.

"My name is John Turlow," John spoke to the crowd. "I'm not a developer, I'm a rancher. I grew up on a ranch, and now I own one. And my intentions are to run that ranch to the best of my ability as a ranch. I hope that puts you all at ease about the situation. If not, we'll all have to deal with it as needed." He walked away with the Nelson family.

They went to the All Season's Cafe for dinner then the G and I Feed and Grain to get the sugar cubes before heading back to the ranch. Once there, John broke off from the rest of the group and made his way to his own apartment to grab his over boots. Then he went into the stable with the bag of cubes. He gave Charger a few before leading him out of the stall to another one. He was in the process of mucking out the stall when Lisa came in.

"You're mucking out his stall?" she asked.

"They need it," he answered.

She left quickly. Maybe he did know what he was doing. He had his own muck boots.

John woke again at six-o-clock on Monday. He went through his morning ablutions before heading to the stable with more sugar cubes. He had spent the afternoon mucking out the stables, brushing down the horses, and giving Charger more sugar cubes. He wanted to be sure that he and the horse would be on good terms. Charger met him with a flick of his head and accepted the treat easily. He gave him another brushing before deciding to have breakfast.

He knocked on the door and it wasn't long before it was opened. The morning went about the same as the day before, Roy having once again spent the night in one of the spare bedrooms not trusting John to remain a gentleman. Lisa, on the other hand, had begun to trust him to be what he said he was, and not have some ulterior motive. It was a quiet breakfast with scrambled eggs again being the main dish.

After that, he returned to his apartment and took a shower. He wanted to present a clean, professional appearance for his next task. He made sure his boots were clean as well as they could be, and put on a nice shirt with his usual jeans and western hat. There was plenty that he needed to get done yet, and he hadn't explored much of the town. Before leaving, he let Sarah know that he was going to be gone and would be back in the afternoon

It was after two-thirty when he returned to the ranch. He noticed that another truck was there with a Coachman trailer behind it. The truck was a dark red Dodge Ram 2500 Power Wagon. John looked for its driver, but saw no sign of him. He looked at the trailer and wondered how much it cost. As he was studying the thing, the front door opened and a black man walked out of it.

"Hey, boss," the man said. "How's it going?"

"I guess you didn't have any trouble finding the place, Jake."

"Yeah. Mrs. Nelson was nice enough to allow me in to have some of her lemonade. That's some really good stuff."

"Yes, it is. Did you get the stuff I wanted?"

"Not all of it, yet. It will take a while to get all of the data. Twenty-five years is a long time to check on. But I do have the file on the fire."

"We'll talk about it all later. What about the trailers? You're not putting everyone in the same trailer, are you?"

"Of course not. This one is the Coachman Catalina Legacy 323. It sleeps nine. We'll put the men in this one. We've got another one, a 303, that Huey will be bringing in at the end of the week that the women will be in. That one sleeps five."

"That ought to work," John agreed. "Grab that data and let's go to my room."

Jake opened the door of his vehicle and grabbed a briefcase. "You said you're taking quarters above the stable," he said as he closed the door. "Quite sensible considering we need a place to talk privately on a regular basis."

"It also provided the family a measure of security since trust would be an issue," John added as they climbed the stairs. Once inside, they would discuss what had been found in the report on the fire. Jake took the report from his briefcase and handed it to him. He took a few minutes to read through the file then turned to the investigator's notes. Reading everything took nearly an hour, but once he was done, he had a pretty clear picture of what went on that night, at least from the different witness's stories.

For the most part, everything was as Sarrah Nelson had reported. Jeremiah Nelson had gone straight from the school to Richard Bailey's house to work on the school project. Mrs. Evalynn Bailey confirmed that he did not leave there until around eight-thirty when he left to pick up his sister at the Wright's house. They reported his arrival time to be eight-forty. The distance between the two was eight miles, leading the local law enforcement officers to consider giving him a ticket for speeding. At the same time, it clearly exonerated him from suspicion of the crime. Lamar Westfall was the witness to verify the time of the rest of the Nelson family leaving the ranch, with several giving evidence of their arrival after dropping Lisa off at the Wright household. What Sarah Nelson hadn't told him was that there was a body found in the fire. John wondered if she wasn't told and therefore didn't know, or was she hiding the fact that the man who raped her had been killed by a 5.56 MM slug and his body set on fire in the Nelson stable. She and her husband had been cleared of the arson charges, but they could have been the ones to kill the man and have someone else set the stable afire.