Crude Ambition by Patricia Hunt Holmes

Author:Patricia Hunt Holmes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781632993823
Publisher: River Grove Books
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

Carolyn stopped at Kenny’s house before she went home. She wondered if anything else had happened that she needed to know. Mrs. Prichard greeted her at the door, wearing one of her flowered homemade aprons, her hands white with flour.

“Looks like I got here right on time, Mrs. Prichard. Is that the beginning of pie crust?”

Kenny’s mother smiled. “Mabel Shouse brought some peaches back from visiting her son in Fredericksburg. She gave me just enough for my recipe. It won’t be out of the oven for thirty minutes though. Can you stay?”

“I should get on over to the ranch and see Daddy. But thank you. I was hoping to talk to Kenny. Is he here?”

Just then Kenny walked into the room. “Thanks for coming home, Carolyn.”

“Of course,” Carolyn replied. “I’ve been worried about what you told me. I wanted to check in and see if you’d learned anything else before I ride out to the back pastures to get a water sample from the creek. Dad told me Cody’s in Austin. I should also get a sample from the old well behind our house to check the groundwater.”

“I’m glad you came by before you went out there. I can’t see what all is going on at your ranch, but there’s a lot of activity—more than I would have expected in the back pasture. Lots of trucks and men. I don’t want you going out there alone,” he said.

“Sure. Come over to our place in a half an hour. I’ll say hello to Dad, put on some boots, and saddle up Brownie. Then we can ride cross-country.”

“Right behind you,” Kenny said.

Turning to leave, she whispered in Mrs. Prichard’s ear, “And when we’re done with business, Dad and I will be back for some of that pie.”

When Kenny met Carolyn at her stable, she was surprised to see that he had his shotgun across the saddle and a pistol in his belt. “Are you riding the back pastures or going into combat, Lieutenant?” she asked.

“Don’t know yet.” He shrugged. “Some of those fellas I’ve seen on your land don’t look too genteel, and I’ve noticed one or two are carrying firearms.”

Carolyn was uneasy. “Most companies have a policy against having firearms on-site unless they’re locked in their truck in full view.”

“That’s my understanding,” Kenny said.

Carolyn had talked to her father long enough to know he had no idea what was really happening on his own ranch. He was only in his sixties, but she detected he was not the mentally sharp, focused man she once knew. She noticed the buildings needed some maintenance and the vegetation in front of the house was overgrown. Brownie looked like she needed grooming. She made a mental note to ask Kenny if she could board her horse at his place.

They decided to ride to the farthest point in the ranch, where the creek entered the Page property, to take their first sample. Shep ran alongside Carolyn’s horse. When they came over a rise and down the other side, not that far from the creek, Brownie stumbled.

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