Cowgirl Up! (17 page)

Sam studied the bull for a minute.

“Well, I can’t examine him there. Is there any way we can get him in a stall?”

“I tried all morning. He ain’t budging.”

Sam stared at Samson and decided to ease up to him to see if she could find anything obvious.

As she walked up to the enormous bull he looked at her but didn’t get up. Sam looked around to see if there were any glaring problems, but he looked healthy to her. Dundee went up to the bull and gave him a few sniffs.

“I don’t see anything wrong with him. When did you notice he wasn’t moving?”

“About the time I brought in a new bull a week ago. Ol’ Sampson is getting on in years so I thought it was time for me to get some new blood. I have Rambo in another pasture.”

Now Sam knew what the problem was.

“Animals are smarter than we realize, Mr. Anderson. Sampson probably knows there’s another bull on the place. Heck, he and Rambo have probably already met across the fence. I bet this is his favorite spot so he feels secure as long as he’s up here. Is that true?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Ol’ Sampson has always been the only bull around and he’s ruled his herd from this here perch. Me and the missus always laughed at him because he looked like he was the ‘king of the hill’ when he was sittin’ on top of this mountain of crap.”

“Well, this may sound weird, but I think Sampson knows he’s being replaced and he doesn’t want to leave his spot. As long as he’s up here he’s still the ‘king of the hill.”

Ralph took off his hat and scratched his head. “I never thought of that. So, what do I do?”

Sam looked at Ralph and shook her head. Besides being a vet, now she had to be an animal psychologist.

“Well, maybe you should move all your heifers to the pasture with Rambo and let Sampson have some time to think about it. Put his feed in his usual place and when he gets hungry he’ll eat. You can’t make this transition slowly. Let the new bull take over and retire Sampson. I’d let him stay in this pasture so he’ll be ‘king of the hill’ for awhile, and then you might want to contact CSU and get some help with animal husbandry. There’s a real art to this and it’s beyond my skill as a vet.”

“That sounds reasonable to me, doc. We’ll try it and see what happens.”

They turned and walked away. Suddenly Sam heard Sampson get up. She turned around in time to see him glaring at them and pawing the ground.

“Omigod, he’s going to charge!” Sam took off running and so did Ralph. They could hear Sampson thundering after them.

Sam was at least thirty years younger and a hundred pounds lighter than Ralph, but he beat her to the gate by a foot. Sam grabbed the top rail of the fence and vaulted over just as Ralph made it through the gate to safety. Dundee circled the bull and barked sharply. When Sampson turned in his direction, the dog raced for the gate and Ralph cracked it open for him to squeeze through. They all stopped to catch their breath and looked at Sampson across the fence. He stood there snorting.

“I think he knows the plan so I’d be careful,” Sam warned Ralph. Then she and Dundee headed back to her truck.

At eleven sharp Sam walked into Sheriff Olson’s office with Dundee following close behind.

“Hello, Samantha” he greeted her. He reached down and patted Dundee on his head.

George Olson had been Sheriff for as long as Sam could remember. He was a good-natured soul and he and his wife were close friends with her parents. George was in his fifties and his uniform looked like it was stretched beyond its capacity, but underneath his bulky physique was a man with a no-nonsense attitude who was sincere about his job. Looking at him now, Sam felt a wave of guilt go through her because she had teased Cheyenne about calling him a professional.

“Do you want to write out your statement or tell me what happened verbally?” he asked.

Sam looked at the stack of official forms and decided to tell him what she saw. For the next half hour she went into every detail of what had happened the day Marietta was murdered.

“Well, I think that’s all I need,” he told her after she’d finished.

“Sheriff Olson, can you answer a few questions for me?” Sam asked.

“I’ll try.”

“Is Mitch a suspect in this case?”

Sheriff Olson leaned back in his chair and studied her a minute before he answered.

“I’d have to say yes, he is at this moment. How much do you know about Mitch?” he asked.

“Not much other than he’s a vet student at Colorado Northeastern Ag and is going to graduate in a few weeks.”

George Olson pulled his chair up to his desk and clasped his hands together.

“Samantha, did you ever hear about what happened when Lance Wilson sold all his cattle and went into the horse business?” he asked.

“I heard a little. I know he surprised everyone when he suddenly made the change.”

“Well, you were only 5 or 6 when it all happened. It was a real shock to everyone around here. No one could figure out why he was doing it. Some people thought he was having a nervous breakdown, but I kinda got the impression the whole thing was Marietta’s idea. She was thrilled to death over the change, but he was depressed for a long time. The sad thing was he laid off his ranch manager, a man named Samuel Calhoun. Samuel had been working for the Lazy W all his life. He and his wife, Abby, had twin sons, Mitch and Marcus. They were the same age as you.

Sam suddenly sat up. “Is he the same Mitch?” she asked.

George looked her in the eyes. “Yes, he is. Mitch and Marcus grew up on the Lazy W until their dad was laid off. Samuel was a lot older than Abby and when he lost his job he went into a deep depression. He drank a lot when he couldn’t get another job and ended up committing suicide soon after. It was a hard time for Abby and the twins.”

Sam looked at him in shock. “What happened to the boys and their mother after that?”

“Abby went back to Durango with them. That’s where she was from and her mother still lived there. Evidently Samuel didn’t have any life insurance so she was left penniless. She worked as a waitress and raised those two boys by herself. The twins had a hard life and were bitter about what had happened. They blamed the Wilson’s for their father’s suicide. When they got older, they changed their last names from Calhoun to Thompson, their mother’s maiden name. I think they wanted to distance themselves from the stigma of the Calhoun name. “

“That’s why the background check on Mitch came back inconclusive. Cheyenne told me about that.”

“That’s right. When the twins were in high school Abby found out she had cancer. From what I heard, she was very sick but managed to live until they graduated. I’m not real clear about what happened after that, but I heard the boys worked for a few years and fixed up the little home she left them in Durango. They sold it and used the money to help fund their way through college.”

Sam looked thoughtful. “How did Mitch get a job at the Lazy W? Did Lance know who he was?”

“Yes, Lance told me he knew about Mitch and Marcus. Evidently Abby contacted him before she died and asked him to watch out for her sons when she was gone. She was all the family they had. Lance called them but Marcus refused to have anything to do with him. Mitch, on the other hand, wasn’t as bitter as his brother and did come by to see Lance from time to time while he was in college. This past January, Lance gave him a job and let him move into the bunkhouse. You know the rest.”

Sheriff Olson sighed. “I don’t have proof but I believe Mitch may have been the one who injected the horses with that virus and wrote those notes. He had the motive and opportunity. Also, Marietta saw him put a letter in their mailbox. He sure fooled Lance. He didn’t think he had a grudge against them, but it looks like he did and was just biding his time. I’ve been looking for both of the boys to bring them in for questioning, but they’ve been lying low and I haven’t been able to find them.”

Sam shook her head in disbelief. “What about Marcus? Where has he been all this time?”

“He’s been at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He graduates next month with a degree in business. However, I found out that he’s been very active in an environmentalist group called the ‘Mother Earth Society’. They’re an outspoken organization and known to be radical at times. They’re suspected of causing that fire that burned down the main lodge at Silver Mountain Ski Resort a few years ago.”

“I heard about that. The resort got permission to expand their facility to include another mountain and it upset a lot of environmentalists. The lodge was burned down in protest.”

“That’s right. Well, that’s the story. I understand from Cheyenne that Mitch has been in contact with you. If you hear from him again you’ll let me know won’t you, Sam?”

Sam looked at the Sheriff and nodded yes.

“Mitch called me on Saturday night, but I haven’t heard from him since. If I do hear from him again I’ll let you know right away.”

Sam got up slowly and headed for the door. She stopped suddenly and turned around.

“Sheriff, I do have one more question. Do you know if Mitch and Marcus are identical twins?”

He thought a moment and frowned. “I don’t remember if they’re identical or not. Why do you ask?”

“I was just curious. See you later, sheriff.”

Sam finished her afternoon rounds and drove home. She was deciding whether or not to call Isabella to see if they could meet for dinner when her phone rang.

“Doc?”

“Mitch, what’s going on? Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you,” he said. “But I need to talk to you. Can you meet me somewhere this evening?”

Sam hesitated for a minute. If Cheyenne and the Sheriff were right it might not be safe to meet with him alone. But a public place away from Fairview might work.

“Why don’t we meet at the Colorado Tavern at Flatiron Crossing Mall in Broomfield?” She asked. She knew Ricky Montenegro would be close by if she needed him.

“I can do that. Can you meet me in an hour?”

Sam looked at her watch. It was 6:00. She would have just enough time to shower and make it there in time.

“Okay, meet me there at 7:00.”

Sam hung up the phone and thought about her promise to Sheriff Olson. She couldn’t bring herself to call him and rat on Mitch. She wanted to find out what he had to tell her first.

Sam hurried to her bathroom and took a quick shower. She dressed in clean jeans and a t-shirt and put her hair up with a clip. When she grabbed her truck keys she turned and looked at Dundee.

“I think you better stay home tonight, boy,” She told him.

Dundee lay down and put his head on his paws. He looked up at her with sad eyes.

“Sorry, it won’t work tonight. I’ll be back soon.” She closed the door and climbed in her truck.

Sam entered The Colorado Tavern exactly at seven. She saw Mitch right away. He rushed up and hugged her.

“Thank you for coming,” he said. “You’re the only one I feel I can talk to.”

The waiter led them to a small booth and they slid in. Sam gave an order for a glass of Coors on draft and Mitch ordered a specialty brew.

Sam looked Mitch squarely in the eyes. “I know about you and your brother, so now tell me what’s going on.”

“Boy, you cut through the crap and get right to the heart of things, don’t you?”

“Yep. It’s easier that way. So what do you have to say?”

“I want to tell you my side,” Mitch said.

He stopped and looked at his hands for a moment while he collected his thoughts.

“Go on, “Sam urged.

“You said you know about my brother and me. I gather you’ve already talked to the Sheriff, right?”

“That’s right,” Sam said. “He told me everything he knew. Now you can fill in the blanks.”

Mitch looked her directly in the eyes. “I want you to know that I didn’t have anything to do with those letters and I didn’t kill Marietta.”

Sam watched him but didn’t say a word.

“When we were kids and my dad was laid off, we didn’t understand anything that was going on. When he committed suicide our whole world crumbled. My mother didn’t know what else to do but move back to Durango. She worked as a waitress and we lived with our grandma. Grandma was okay, but she had a deep resentment towards the Wilson’s. My mom wasn’t that way. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body and didn’t blame the Wilson’s for anything. I guess I listened to her more than Marcus did. He was real bitter and when we were in high school he talked me into changing our last name. I really didn’t care, but he felt we had a mark against us as long as we had the last name of Calhoun so I went along with him.”

The waiter interrupted to deliver their drinks and take their order. When he left Mitch continued his story.

“You probably know our mom died right after we graduated from high school.”