Bailey place to the ones they’d seen at the Talbots’. The kicker was finding the same boot print with the slash in the heel. They photographed it and then walked back to their car.
“They definitely used the empty property as their access,” Treat said. “I think now we need to question the daughter, Rhonda Bailey, to see if she’s rented out this property to anyone.”
“The Talbots said she worked at the ER in the Blessings hospital. Why don’t you call and see if she’s still on duty, and if she’s not, get her personal phone number.”
“Will do,” Butler said. He was already on the phone as Treat backed up and then left the property.
* * *
Rhonda Bailey was just coming out of an exam room in the ER when one of the nurses at the desk waved her down.
“Phone call for you on line three.”
Rhonda slipped behind the nurses’ station to take the call, pressed Line Three, and then answered.
“This is Rhonda.”
“Miss Bailey, this is Deputy Butler with the County Sheriff’s office. We need to ask you a couple of questions about your father’s property.”
Rhonda was immediately apprehensive. With her father no longer capable of making his own decisions, she and her brothers were responsible for it.
“Oh no! Has something happened?”
“No, nothing like that. Have you rented it to anyone, or given anyone permission to be on the property?”
“No. Absolutely not. What’s wrong? Has property been damaged?”
“No, ma’am, but it appears some cattle rustlers used it as access to get to the back side of the Talbot property and made off with a half-dozen head of their cattle.”
Rhonda gasped. “I am so sorry! That’s terrible! I didn’t know people were still doing things like that.”
“Yes, ma’am, unfortunately, thievery is a healthy business, and for people who raise cattle, rustling is a real threat.”
“There aren’t any other neighbors close by Daddy’s house, so that made it easy for them to come and go without being seen,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s what we noticed. Okay, sorry to have bothered you at work, but you’ve cleared up some questions we had. Thank you for your time.”
“Yes, of course,” Rhonda said, and then hung up.
The other two nurses couldn’t help but overhear Rhonda’s side of the conversation, but before they could question her, Hope Talbot walked up. One look at their faces, and she knew something had happened.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Rhonda sighed. “Have you talked to Jack this afternoon?”
“No, but I saw Duke earlier in the day when he dropped Cathy Terry off for treatment.”
“Sorry to be the one to break the bad news, but that was a deputy from the County Sheriff’s department on the phone. Someone used Dad’s old place as access to get to the back side of the Talbot property. They stole some of your cattle. The sheriff’s deputy wanted to know if we’d rented it out to anyone, and of course we had not, so there’s no way of telling who did it.”
Hope groaned.
“Oh my God! I need to call home,” she said, and headed for the break room.
She already knew Duke and Jack were going to be upset, and she was just sick about the loss. As soon as she found a quiet place, she called her husband.
“Hello, honey. I was just about to call you,” Jack said. “We’ve had some trouble out here today.”
“I just heard,” Hope said. “Some deputies from the county called Rhonda Bailey to ask her about her dad’s property. She said the people who stole the cattle gained access through her dad’s place.”
“So, they’ve already confirmed what we thought. Duke thought that might be the case,” Jack said.
“I’m so sorry,” Hope said. “Do you think we have any chance of getting them back?”
“I’d say slim to none. If they took them straight to an auction, they’re probably already gone.”
“But we had them all ear-tagged,” Hope said.
“Yes, but those tags can be removed. What’s done is done. We can’t change it. But we did move all of the cattle that were in that pasture up closer to the house. Rustlers would have to go through gates and be really gutsy to come this close to the house now and try for more. What I am surprised about is how they even knew cattle were in that back pasture, and how they knew they could get to it through the Bailey property.”
“Sounds like someone local, doesn’t it?” Hope said.
“Yes, it does, but I can’t imagine who it might be. Hopefully, the sheriff’s deputies will