The Cowboy Next Door by Carla Cassidy

Author:Carla Cassidy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-07-10T14:48:30+00:00

Chapter 9

It was just after seven on Friday night when Clint walked into the Farmer’s Club alone. He’d invited Lizzy to go out with him, but she’d told him she had some paperwork she had to get done and she was having a late-night meeting with her hired help.

He knew her corn was in the process of being harvested. He’d seen a combine moving back and forth across her fields.

Jerry West was set to start on Clint’s corn on Tuesday. Clint was eager to see how the process was done up close and personal.

Emily had been asked to a birthday slumber party for the night. Clint had previously met the mother and father of the birthday girl on Wednesday night when there had been a parents’ night at the school.

He’d not only met them, but he’d also talked with Emily’s teacher. Mrs. Barlow had spoken highly of Emily’s intelligence and her wonderfully sunny personality. It had been nice to hear her glowing report about how his daughter was doing in school.

When he’d dropped Emily off at her friend’s a few minutes ago, there were three giggling girls already there. Emily would have been brokenhearted if he’d told her she couldn’t go, but he felt confident that Emily would be safe and well cared for throughout the night.

It had been a very long week. He felt like Lizzy had pulled back from him a bit, and while he would have liked to have her with him this evening, he really just wanted a drink and a little downtime.

He took an empty stool next to one of the old-timers, a man named Walt Schumer. He’d been introduced to the man when he and Lizzy had been in the bar previously.

Walt greeted him with a friendly smile. “Evening, Clint.”

“Back at you, Walt,” Clint replied.

Ranger greeted him, and Clint ordered a scotch on the rocks.

“Heard you had some trouble at your place earlier in the week,” Ranger said a moment later as he delivered Clint’s drink to him.

“How did you hear about it?” Clint asked curiously.

Ranger grinned at him. “It’s almost been a week. By now probably everyone in town has heard about it. Gossip flies fast in this little town.”

“Does Dallas have any clues as to who would do such a thing?” Walt asked.

“Not that he’s shared with me,” Clint replied. The police had been in his barn all day long on the day the birds had been discovered, but as far as Clint was concerned, they had come away with nothing to help identify the guilty culprit or culprits.

Clint hadn’t spoken to Dallas since then. However, he’d been grateful that they’d taken the dead birds with them when they’d left at the end of that horrible day.

The next morning Clint had gone to the hardware store and had bought a sturdy lock that he’d installed on the barn doors. Nobody was going to sleep or easily walk into his barn again.

“Dead blackbirds, that’s some bad stuff,” Walt said with a shake of his head.

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