As soon as they saw him coming, four men formed a small wall right in front of the paddock where the horses were located. There were about five more hanging out in the back, but Luke wanted to focus on the same tall man from the saloon, who was one of the four in the front. All of them were clad in the same patchy fur coats he had seen them in the last time.
Tipping his hat with his fingers in greeting, Luke stopped directly in front of the tall man he’d spoken to that night. The man looked exactly the same, including his raccoon fur hat.
“Sheriff! What a pleasure to see you again!” he said with a fake smile, before he spit a fat dollop of chewed-up tobacco on the ground.
“What brings you here today?” Luke got straight to the point. “I’d like to see your fair application, registration, and ownership documentation, if I may.”
The tall man turned around to one of the five in the back and whistled sharply.
While he was distracted, Luke took the opportunity to have a closer look at the horses behind him to see whether he could make out any branding on their flanks or shoulders. Unfortunately, they were all dirty and caked in wet mud. This alone was suspicious.
The tall man spun back around to Luke within mere seconds as a stocky older man with a frizzy gray beard hobbled toward them. “Yeah?” he asked, showing only a single bottom tooth in his mouth as he grinned.
“Do you have the papers, Bob?” the tall one asked, somewhat harshly. He was at least two heads taller than the old man, who nodded enthusiastically. He shoved his gnarly, dirty hand into his inside pocket and pulled out a bunch of folded papers before holding them up to the tall one. “Give them to the sheriff, Bob!”
“Oh, yes. Yes, of course,” he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.
Luke took the papers from him, unfolded them, and as he got them sorted, he noticed dirty fingerprints and stains on them, which was also suspicious. These documents had been issued less than three days ago, when the office had opened to take in the applications and to process all the new registrations. Given the importance of the papers, everybody else had kept them safely and neatly in a place where nothing could dirty them, so that the ink and stamps would be easy to read if they were checked.
These men had done the opposite, and Luke had the inkling that this was part of a possible plan to make the papers less likely to be recognized as forgeries. So far, his gut feeling had never betrayed him, and it was particularly strong with this group.
“I can see that you got the registration and the application from the office yesterday,” Luke said calmly, pointing at the dates. The tall man smirked, overly smug.
However, what Luke did not tell him was the fact that the ownership document was missing the breeder or seller’s information, which they would have if they had legally bought the horses prior to the auction.
He was itching to point out the flaw, just to wipe that smirk off the man’s face, but his gut feeling told him not to. So, he didn’t.
“Perfect!” Luke said, holding out the papers with an even smile. “Enjoy your stay.”
The tall man grinned from ear to ear, baring his yellow teeth as he pulled the papers out of Luke’s hand. Luke didn’t find a trace of nervousness in this man.
He immediately thought about the pamphlet he and Caleb had found in that abandoned house when they’d followed that group of horse thieves. Could they be linked to these men? In fact, what if these men were the ones they’d chased that day?
Luke turned away and went to find Caleb. He found his deputy at the far end of the other side of the barn.
“I think we might have a lead,” Luke said quietly as he stepped closer to Caleb. “Remember the men from the saloon that one night, who were asking questions about Madelaine and the children?”
“The trappers?” Caleb asked in a hushed voice, as his eyebrows shot up. “Are they here?”
“Yes.” Luke lowered his head. “There are at least nine of them. Their papers looked awfully suspicious. No breeder information or where their horses came from. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to verify the horses’ brands. They keep them dirty,” he explained.
Caleb pulled a face. “Well, that’s suspicious! Do you think they’re the horse thieves we were looking for?”
Luke tilted his head slightly. “It’s very possible. But I need more proof.”
“What’s your plan?” Caleb asked.
“Prepare for a long night, buddy. We’ll follow them when they leave to find out where they’re hiding out.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Luke and Caleb were chatting with some townsfolk over by the barn, where they could keep an eye on the trappers without being noticed. As the day was winding down, most of their group had already left, but the tall man and two others were still there.
This was the first time in years that Luke had a solid lead on the possible horse thieves, who could very well be the gang that had been terrorizing the region for years now. If this was indeed the gang he’d been chasing after for so long, he would finally be able to solve all those cases—most importantly, his family’s murders.
Luke felt as if his entire body was buzzing. Could he really be this close?
It didn’t take long before Caleb nodded in the direction of the trio as they were mounting their horses to leave. Luke had brought Chester and Caleb’s horse closer to the barn earlier so that they could immediately put their plan into action.
