a hard glare, he narrowed his eyes. There hadn’t been tension between us since I’d arrived, but I had the distinct feeling he was hiding something.
“That’s an interesting coincidence the vet is the same woman,” Hawk said dryly.
“Yeah, and I usually don’t believe in them.” I inched closer. “If you’re not surprised about her accusations, does that mean you’ve heard something about cattle fraud?”
Hawk exhaled. “While you might not be an old hand at cattle ranching, you’ve heard all kinds of shit. Haven’t you?”
The look on his face told me that this was something more serious. “What aren’t you telling me? Is there something going on that I should be aware of?”
“Are you accusing me of something, my friend?”
I’d heard the same terseness in his voice during the time all five of us had been questioned for days by our superiors. Defensive. Angry at being questioned for his integrity.
“I just have a bad feeling that whatever Danni thinks she found holds some merit.”
“Now you’re on a first-name basis. Interesting.”
There was no doubt the man was tense. “Has anything happened that seems odd?”
He took a deep breath before answering me. “Odd? Maybe out of the blue, but nothing abnormal.” He hesitated once again. “Look, I’ve been hearing rumors for a couple of months about a potential investment scheme, but as far as I can tell, it’s more chatter between drunken cowboys over a couple of beers. I’ve also heard the FBI has some ongoing investigation.”
“You’ve looked into the rumor, haven’t you?”
“I might have thrown a couple inquiries out there, but I also know better than to toss around any accusations, which is obviously unlike whoever this Danni girl is.”
“Danni Brexton.”
“Never heard of her.”
“She’s new in town, only been here about a month.”
Hawk narrowed his eyes before a grin popped on his face. “Buying Forester’s place. That surprises me. Ben Forester wasn’t that old.”
“Maybe he simply wanted to retire.”
“Could be,” he answered, continuing to study me. “You like her.”
“That’s not the reason I’m here.” When his grin widened, I gave him my middle finger. “Fine. I like the girl but at this rate, she’s going to get herself killed. However, I know she’s not making it up.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning some asshole slashed her tires last night.” I could tell my tone had changed, anger and concern mixing together.
“Shit. Well, it would appear Dr. Brexton has opened up a can of worms. What did she tell you?”
“Other than she has a friend of hers supplying her with information, not much. Oh, she did say she was called out in the middle of the night to tend to an injured steer.”
He looked away. “That’s unusual.”
“I thought so, especially since no one knows about her, well, other than because of the auctions and whatever other times she made these same accusations, but the call came almost as soon as she’d moved here.” His eyes seemed unfocused as he processed what I’d told him. I loathed the direction my instincts were moving in. “You think you can ask around, see if you can find out anything?”
He held my gaze, finally nodding. “Yeah, I’ll make a few calls, but that’s not a lot to go on.”
“Maybe that particular auction means something.”
“Unlikely. There were what, two hundred ranchers there, maybe more? That’s the second big auction of the month, but there are more throughout the state.”
“Yeah, somewhere around that number.”
Hawk rubbed his jaw. “Like I said, I’ll make a few phone calls, but don’t expect a miracle. However, if I were you, I’d made sure and control this girl. We’re talking millions of dollars at stake. Not a single rancher is going to take blatant accusations without retaliation. If there is something going on, the Feds need to handle it.”
“I get it. She’s already stuck her nose into something she shouldn’t have.”
“If you like this girl, help her understand that. I’ll call you later.”
As if I was going to be able to do that without chaining her to my bed. Hell, the thought sounded pretty good right about now. I stood where I was, trying to figure out if I could do anything else.
“Something else on your mind, Holt? I can see your wheels churning.”
It was my turn to look away. “I don’t know. Just thinking about Snake a lot lately.”
“Yeah, I’ve been doing that myself. Any particular reason?”
“I don’t know.” I’d struggled with talking to him about the experience overseas, just like the rest of the guys had. Maybe my guilt was eating at me more than I’d