“Maybe we can round up some help to rebuild,” Noah suggested.
“Maybe.” Linc had a good crew working at Blackland Ranch. Maybe his brother would loan him some of the hands. “We can’t do anything till the arson investigation is complete. In the meantime, we’ve still got fences to mend, and the cow barn isn’t finished. We’re going to need it now. We’d better get going.”
They set off as they usually did, Noah and Cole heading off on the ATVs to work on the fence line. Josh had planned to saddle one of the horses and ride out this morning. A gelding named Irish Whiskey was showing potential as a cutting horse. Good ones were valuable and hard to find. He wanted to do a little more work with the cattle, see if his hunch was right.
Not gonna happen now, not with all the saddles and riding tack destroyed.
This afternoon, he’d drive into town, pick up some replacement gear at the mercantile. All new saddles, bridles, blankets, halters, brushes, lead ropes, and dozens of other necessities weren’t going to come cheap.
It was after lunch when a red van pulled up in front of the burned-out barn, the wordsARSON INVESTIGATIONprinted on the side. Two men got out, walked over and introduced themselves: Bill Wheeler, a big older guy with a shaved head and thick neck, and a good-looking Asian around Josh’s age named Tim Chin.
“We’ll be a while,” Bill said. “We’ll let you know what we find out.”
“Appreciate it.”
“You got insurance?” Wheeler asked.
“Some. Not enough. Worse, I just rebuilt the damn thing.”
A look passed between them. Josh had a hunch they had just crossed off a possible motive.
He didn’t want to leave for town till he knew what had happened so he went to work on the cow barn while the men examined the still-smoldering remains.
It was a couple of hours later that the investigators showed up in the doorway.
“Got a minute?” Tim Chin asked. They were wearing heat-protective gear and heavy firemen’s boots. Tim pulled off his fireproof gloves as he and Josh walked outside to join Bill Wheeler.
“Electrical or flammable liquids?” Josh asked. “I figure it has to be one or the other or a combination of both.”
Chin glanced at Wheeler, then back. “It was arson, Josh. Multiple ignition points. Traces of accelerants. Combined with the straw, that’s the reason it went up so fast.”
Anger and disgust washed through him, making his jaw feel tight.
“You got any idea who might want to burn you out?” Wheeler asked.
“Not a clue.” But he meant to find out.
“No enemies you can think of?” Chin added.
“If I was still in Afghanistan, I’d say I had a whole army of enemies. Here, no. Right off, I can’t think of anyone who’d go to this kind of extreme.”
“Give it some thought,” Wheeler said. “The sheriff’s going to be out here asking the same questions.”
Josh bit back a curse. Sheriff Emmett Howler was a real dickwad. How he had kept the job for twenty-plus years, Josh had no clue. On top of that, he had a major hard-on for anybody with the last name Cain.
Back in his brother’s wild high school days, Linc’s best friend, Beau Reese, and the sheriff’s son, Kyle Howler, had tried to rob a convenience store. Howler had been the arresting officer.
Beau and Kyle, underage at the time, had their records sealed and received light sentences. Linc, at eighteen, had been tried as an adult and sentenced to two years in prison.
With the help of the grandfather of the girl Linc had married, he was able to turn his life around. Linc and Beau had both become incredibly successful, while the sheriff’s son had ended up addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Howler blamed Linc. The fact that Josh’s last name was Cain wouldn’t be helpful.
Josh waited while the men loaded their equipment back into the van, then watched the van pull away. He was heading for his truck to make the trip into town when he saw Tory hurrying toward him, her fiery curls bobbing up and down.
An unwanted surge of heat settled deep in his groin. “What’s wrong?” he asked, clamping down on his hunger and forcing himself to focus.
“Nothing, I just . . . I wanted to know if the investigators found the cause of the fire.”
