“I need to run an errand,” Galen said, his face grim, the words terse. “Can I trust you guys to groom the escaped horses today and then start raking the field?”
“Why only the horses that escaped?” asked Toby. “Why not any of the others?”
“Because.” Galen took a breath, his eyes scanning the opening to the tent as if it was his dearest wish to escape thehellhole he currently found himself in, that of having to talk to ex-cons. “We need to let those horses know that this is a good place. That they’ll be cared for here. That it’s not a place to run away from. That staying will be worth their while.”
“Sort of a horse’s version of golden handcuffs, eh?” asked Bede with a small laugh, and found the echoing silence not to his liking.
Before, Galen would have joined in the joke, but now he did not. Instead, unsmiling, he stalked out of the mess tent, leaving the three members of his team somewhat leaderless.
“Guess we better get to it,” said Bede, standing up, grabbing his tray. “Toby, can you get some bottled waters and put them in a small cooler, and Owen, you and I can grab and halter three horses and get started.”
Of course, the two ex-housebreakers jumped to attention and did what Bede had asked of them. Of course they did, now that Galen was nowhere to be seen, and could not witness the skill with which Bede could lead men. Ofcourse.
They were halfway through the morning when, while gently combing burrs out of the fifth horsetail that morning, it occurred to Bede that Galen might actually get it in his pretty head to take theMom’s Trip to Bermudabins and turn them over to local law enforcement. Not realizing that in doing so, he’d be starting the engine that would eventually come and arrest Bede and send him back to prison.
Unable to stand it any longer, Bede made a vague noise about needing a break, and headed straight to Galen’s tent. Standing on the wooden platform, half in, half out of the tent, he could see that the bins were gone. All three of them. It was as if they’d never even been there.
Heart jackhammering, Bede was about to turn around when he heard a gruff voice.
“What are you doing?”
When Bede turned, he saw it was Gabe, and that Gabe did not look happy.
“I was looking for Galen,” said Bede, using his bestI’m-innocentvoice.
“Well, he’s borrowed the truck and is on an errand,” said Gabe. “And you shouldn’t be in someone else’s tent. Got it?”
With a nod, Bede stepped away from the tent flap, exhaling a long, slow breath as he considered his options.
Who knew where Galen had taken the bins and what he intended to do with them. The fact that the police hadn’t already arrived was a good sign, though what the outcome of all this would be was another matter.
Should he stay or should he go? Should he remain to bravely face whatever firing squad was currently being gathered? Should he determine once and for all that however sweet the life that Galen had, it did not, would not, and should not include Bede?
Desperation continued to rise, a thick, choking mass in his throat that obstructed his focus and made his heart thump in his chest. He made it all the way till the afternoon, when he finally gave up and went to the parking lot and paced in the warm shade of the pine trees, kicking up dust with his work boots.
Nobody followed him or questioned why he wasn’t working. Why he was lingering at the edge of a round circle of gravel, beads of sweat along his hairline like he’d been pounding rocks rather than gently grooming a handful of horses quietly munching on hay in the shade.
Nobody was asking because there was a high level of trust in the valley, which was, he only now realized, why the program worked. In spite of all of Bede’s misgivings about it. That he knew.
What Galen didn’t know, didn’t have any reason to know, was that by turning all that money in, he himself would be on the list of interesting people the cops might want to talk to. Granted,a pile of ill-gotten loot worth less than seventy thousand dollars might not be on the top of their lists, but it might put Galen in the bullseye of attention he most assuredly would not want.
And Bede did not want that. He’d rather go to jail himself, for years and years, then put Galen through any interrogation, no matter how gentle.
Galen should never see the inside of a room such as an interrogation room, let alone a prison cell, and it made Bede’s heart pound even harder at what he would do to prevent Galen from even being asked any questions about the money.
What wouldn’t he do? How far would he go?
There was nothing he wouldn’t do. And he would go to the ends of the earth for Galen because?—
Because he loved him so hard it hurt.
He’d been caught in the snare of Galen’s world to begin with. Soft and safe and sane. So different from the world he’d shared with Winston, whom he’d loved equally hard.
Now, in this place, almost tame by comparison, love for Galen had grown so much that his chest was tight, and given the chance would explode and enfold him, and he would never be the same. Making it so that he could never return to his old world.
He was fine with that. He didn’t want to return to what once was. He only wanted Galen back safe and sound, in his arms, the money an old memory they could leave safely behind him.
The rumble of a well-tuned truck burbled through the pine trees, the slanting sun almost silver, dust motes dancing as Galen pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine. A swirl of dust rose around the wheels, making the truck look like it was floating on a fine, light brown blanket.
