Crazy Fox Ranch by Deborah Garner

Author:Deborah Garner
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Cranberry Cove Press
Published: 2018-05-24T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Thirty minutes.” Paige sighed as she sat down at Jake’s dining room table. “That’s one forty-eighth of my day.”

“It could have been worse,” Jake said as he sat across from her. “I told you I was stuck for an hour once. That was up in Yellowstone, in Hayden Valley, on the east side of the park. Not uncommon there.”

“Remind me to go through the west side if I’m ever in a hurry,” Paige said.

“I’ll try to remember.” Jake laughed. “What were you out there looking for, anyway?”

“This,” Paige said. She pulled up one of the photos on her cell phone and pushed it across the table for Jake to see.

“A tin can?”

“Not just a tin can.” Paige took the phone back, flipped to another photo, and gave the phone back to Jake.

Jake frowned, looking at the picture. “I don’t know what you’re trying to show me, but I think your phone is sliding to photos you’ve taken before, Paige. Isn’t this one of the holes in the yard? When did you take this, anyway?”

“You just proved the point I was getting to,” Paige said. “This is not one of the holes here on the ranch. I haven’t had a chance to take pictures of our holes. This one is out on Antelope Flats. Look at some of the other photos.”

Jake followed Paige’s directions and flipped from one photo to the next. “Hole … metal cup …hole …hole … old belt buckle …Honestly, Paige, I still don’t know what you’re trying to show me.”

“They look like the holes you’re finding on your property,” Paige pointed out.

Jake shook his head. “Do you have any idea how many critters there are out here that dig holes? Coyotes, fox, marmots, ground squirrels – the list goes on and on. Remember, I explained this about our wildlife before.”

“And they specifically dig up metal objects and discard them?” Paige asked.

“Well, no,” Jake said. “But that could easily be a coincidence. Who knows what’s buried out here? Decades – no, make that centuries – of stuff dropped by everyone from fur traders in the 1800s up to modern tourists. I really think your inner investigative reporter is on overdrive this time.”

“Fine,” Paige said, annoyed. “Mind if I walk around the property here? Maybe you’re right. If I see the holes here, I might realize I’m exaggerating things.” Or maybe I’ll find out I’m right…

“Be my guest,” Jake said. He stood up, moved around behind Paige, rested his hands on her shoulders, and kissed the top of her head. “Just be careful for loose boards and nails, that kind of thing. It is a construction zone, after all.”

“Don’t worry,” Paige said. “If I can forge my way through a sagebrush forest and fight off a bison herd, I think I can manage a few wayward two by fours.”

Jake laughed and leaned forward, whispering as his lips brushed against her ear. “Am I sensing a dramatic streak in you today?”

“Maybe a little,” Paige admitted, her annoyance dissipating quickly. Jake knew her weak spots.

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