Earth and Sky

voice. He walked over to Grant and Delco. “You again? Didn’t I tell you to get the hell out of my county? I’m bringing you in, you punk.”

    Grant got up off the ground and let Delco go so the sheriff could pull him up by his jacket. “Doesn’t look good, Delco,” the sheriff continued. “Caught red-handed with the intention of stealing horses. And you didn’t even change your MO to cover all the other horse thefts on this ranch. Would have helped if you’d robbed other people too, but I’m calling this stalking as well. You picked out this ranch to get back at these people, didn’t you?”

    “No way!” Delco cried out. “I stole from other places!”

    “You did?” the sheriff asked. “Where?”

    “The Hope Ranch,” Delco spit out.

    “Is that so?”

    “They didn’t even notice horses missing, they got so many!”

    The sheriff shook his head and turned to Hunter. “I’ll book them if you help me get them back to the station. I’ll need to take your statements, but that can wait until tomorrow, after we’ve all had some sleep.”

    Grant moved to the drifter, who was still lying face down in the snow. He helped him get up, and the man followed without any struggle, so Hunter and Grant could easily take him to the sheriff’s car.

    The following morning the sheriff returned to take pictures of Delco’s truck and the way he’d flattened the barbed wire with the blanket. He took Hunter and Grant’s statements in the big house over a cup of coffee.

    “What was the sheriff doing here?” Izzie asked when she crossed the three men in the hallway as they were showing the sheriff out. Grant couldn’t help noticing she was starting to waddle. It almost looked like she was carrying more than one child.

    “Let’s go in here and I’ll explain,” Hunter said, putting his arm around his sister’s shoulders as he guided her back into the living room.

    He sat Izzie down, brought her a pillow for her back and a cup of tea before sitting next to her. By then she was almost frantic.

    “It’s got nothing to do with Hugh, right? Don’t tell me Lisa’s giving us a hard time? I don’t think I could stand it. She promised she’d sign those papers before I had the baby!”

    “Sssh, sis,” Hunter said, stroking her thigh. “It has nothing to do with that. We caught our horse thief.”

    “You did?” The news seemed to light her up.

    “Yes, and he’s quite familiar with this place.”

    “Who is it? Someone who used to work here?”

    “Rory, his right hand man, yes, but that guy isn’t the brain behind the whole scheme.”

    “Come on, guys, this isn’t twenty questions,” Izzie said impatiently.

    “It’s Delco, Izzie,” Hunter said calmly.

    “Del…? That bastard!” In one unusually swift movement she was on her feet and her fists were balled. “What the fuck. Where did he get the balls to do this to us?”

    Hunter pulled her toward the couch again, but she wouldn’t sit down. “Take it easy, sis. The sheriff has him in the county jail, and they’re trying to track down his buyer so they can indict that guy too. It looks like he was targeting us, but if his boasting held any truth, he hit the Hope Ranch as well, only they never filed any complaints.”

    “You okay, darling?” Hugh said, bursting though the door and moving directly toward Izzie. “I heard you shouting. Is everything okay?”

    “Yeah, I’m fine.” She swatted him away. “It’s that damn Delco. I wish that man had never crossed my path. I can’t believe I ever thought he’d be part of my life.” Izzie seemed to mellow as Hugh put his arms around her. “I’m so glad I have you.”

    Grant was having a hard time not laughing at the rollercoaster of emotions Izzie was going through right now. Hunter was just glad she had Hugh now and wasn’t crying on his shoulder for a change. It wasn’t until Grant sat down next to him and put his hand on his knee that he realized how happy he was to have Grant by his side through all this as well. At least the tension over the horses going missing was over and the culprit was found. Hunter was happy it wasn’t a cougar, since he hated shooting them, but he would have if he’d had to protect his ranch.

    Hunter yawned and leaned against Grant as they watched how Hugh was comforting Izzie.

    “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me,” Grant whispered.

    “Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, with the stakeout and catchin’ us a horse thief,”