Stockman's Stormcloud (The Stockmen Series Book 3) by Mel A Rowe

Author:Mel A Rowe [Rowe, Mel A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R&R Ramblings House
Published: 2024-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty

There were two police cars parked out front of the farmhouse when Sophie drove up to Elsie Creek Station’s homestead that afternoon.

A young woman with ivory skin and black hair jumped down the front steps and waved her down. She was immaculately dressed, like she’d stepped out of some executive office in a southern city, not a run-down farmhouse on a cattle station in the outback.

As Mr Purrington lay across the dashboard of the car, taking in the scenery, Sophie slowed down the work car and cracked open the window, again checking Mr Purrington’s halter was strapped in securely.

‘Sophie, is it? Hi, I’m Harper. I live with Ash in the farmhouse. Oh, look at the cat.’ She held out her hand and shook it like they were in a business meeting.

Of course, the cat shimmied its big furry butt across the dash close enough for Harper to pat him. ‘He’s so soft. I’ve never seen a cat kept in a car like this?’

‘Mr Purrington likes the drive.’ And Sophie was using it as her excuse to leave early and not go on any cross-country hikes. Sadly, she couldn’t find anyone else to do this shift, so she did the next best thing—brought her cat.

‘Is everything all right?’ Sophie nodded at the police cars.

‘Someone has stolen their cattle.’

‘Oh, no? Dex must be going nuts over this. Do they know who?’

‘Not a clue. We’re lucky Ash had the cattle’s ear tags set for a certain boundary. Otherwise, Ash said they might not have known about it for a month or more.’

‘How many are missing?’

‘I’m not sure. They’re working out the numbers now with the police. Would you like to come inside? Or we can go raid the cake in Bree’s kitchen?’

‘Where is Bree?’

Harper shrugged, then narrowed her eyes at the cottage. ‘You know, I haven’t seen Charlie or Bree all day. Which is strange, because those two would normally help.’

Some chairs scraped across the floorboards, as the table meeting ended on the farmhouse verandah. Hands were shaken and two police officers climbed into their vehicles as a helicopter landed nearby.

Sophie was itching to get out her camera, to take photos of the helicopter landing beside the house like a car being parked on the lawn. This world was so foreign to her.

‘That’s Ryder. Have you met Ryder?’ Harper pointed to the pilot in the helicopter.

‘At the hospital.’ It was hard to forget the gruff man who’d paid for these medical visits.

‘How did you go, Ryder?’ A younger man, with similar looks to Dex, came forward. He put his arm around Harper’s shoulders. It must be Dex’s brother Ash. So that meant the man wearing the baseball cap was Cap. And the petite woman standing beside Cap, wearing overalls, must be Mia. While Sophie was the slacker sitting in the car with her cat.

‘No good.’ Ryder scowled like Dex.

Dex nodded at her while dragging his oxygen tanks. His gait was strong, walking normally in those thigh-hugging jeans, and he had colour back in his face, shaded by the brim of his black hat.

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