“Earth to Thorne.” I shook my head and reached for my tea before shifting my attention to Shannon.
“Uh, sorry. Got a lot on my mind. What were you saying?” I asked her.
“We’re wondering about the rodeo and whether the livestock auction is still a go,” Shannon said and Josh nodded his head.
“That’s a yes. The auction will be over at the 4-H barn and nearby pasture. It seemed like the best location and folks will be able to use the student parking lot and the service road on the south side of campus to get the trailers in and out.” Everyone at the table had gone to Pop High, so they knew exactly where I was talking about.
“That’s great. Patrick is currently in love with highland cows. We heard Roundabout might offer some of the calves up and since the auction’s for such a good cause, we thought we might bid on them,” Eli said. Patrick was Eli’s son. He was Henry’s age and from what I’d been told, he’d taken to ranch life like a fish to water.
Fiona snorted and then coughed, and I looked to make sure she was okay. Her eyes were alight with mischief and Shannon was frowning. “Whatever it is, don’t say it, Fi,” Shannon said, but Fiona slapped her thigh and cackled before elbowing Eli.
“You said, ‘heard’ and ‘cows’ together.” Then she laughed again and Shannon rolled her eyes.
“She’s been like this for days. Patrick checked some joke books out from the library and he and Fiona have been spouting them like some sort of fortune cookie wisdom.” Shannon looked at Eli. “I don’t know how you’re handling it having to live with the both of them.” Shannon gave a shudder, making everyone chuckle.
“I guess there’s worse things than living with someone who likes to tell dad jokes but I can’t really think of anything,” Josh said.
When the food arrived, we all dug in and the talk shifted to the weather and horses. It was easy enough to hold my own in the conversation. Despite Jake being the one in our family to run the ranch, I still knew enough to pitch in when needed. Our dad had seen to that. Not that Jake ever asked for help. Like all the Thorne men, we preferred to shoulder our own burden rather than push it onto someone else.
Before we finished eating, Zoe walked in. I didn’t know a whole lot about what she did as a programmer, but she was a damn good photographer and was in high demand with all the localbusinesses around town. She’d also rebuilt the town’s website and was working with Amy on all the online marketing they were doing for the rodeo.
“Hey, everyone,” Zoe said, sliding into the seat next to Josh and stealing a slice of pizza from him.
“How did the drone run go?” Shannon asked, and Zoe grinned.
“Not bad. I’ve got a good idea how I want to run the drone during the rodeo. I should be able to get some great panoramic shots from the air,” Zoe said. That gave me an idea.
“Hey, Zoe, is there any chance you could get me video of the whole area from the air? I want to make sure we have all the exits identified and there aren’t any obstacles in the way in case of an emergency.” I was pretty sure everything would be okay, but it never hurt to confirm. Better safe than sorry.
“I can email you the footage I have. If you need something more, just let me know and I’ll go back out there,” she said.
“That’d be much appreciated.” Before I could say more, my radio crackled with Lois asking my whereabouts. I answered her, then tossed my napkin on the table and rose. I pulled a twenty from my wallet and set it on the table. “Sorry, folks, gotta run. But it was good seeing you.”
“You, too, man,” Josh said, rising to shake my hand. Eli did the same. I waved goodbye to the women before pulling my hat brim down and leaving the restaurant.
Once outside, I could hear the alarm that Lois had told me about. I jogged across the street toward Lafferty’s Western Wear. Hopefully, it was just a false alarm from someone pushing open the wrong door by accident. It was rare for my office to have todeal with much in the way of deliberate criminal mischief. That was one of the things I appreciated about living in a small town.
Parsons was already there when I arrived, talking to Maggie Lafferty. “Hey, Sheriff,” he said, and I greeted the both of them.
“Any idea what happened?” I asked my deputy. He flipped a couple pages in his notebook and began to talk.
“According to Ms. Lafferty, she could smell smoke coming from the dressing room. When she investigated, she caught a couple kids with cigarettes. When she tried to take them to account, they took off running to the emergency exit, setting off the alarm. Now she can’t seem to turn it off. She called the alarm company, and they said they’d have to send someone out from Denver,” Parsons said and I winced. It’d take hours to get someone out here and there’d be a town mutiny if this racket went on much longer.
I cleared my throat and pointed to the store. “Let’s go check it out.” I followed Maggie into the store and over to the alarm setup, which was blinking. There appeared to be some sort of error code on the screen. “Any idea what that means?”
“That’s new,” Parsons said with a shrug, and Maggie agreed.
“Hmm, all right.” I pulled my phone out and called the fire marshal, “Rex, gotta problem and hoping you can help me out,” I said when he answered the phone.
“Well, if you’re referring to that racket I can hear, then you certainly do,” Rex said, making me chuckle. I read him the error code and he had me try a few things until finally, there was a jarring silence.
“Wow, that’s a lot better,” Parsons shouted and cringed. “Sorry, my ears are still ringing.”
“What’d you do?” Maggie asked and after I’d thanked Rex and ended the call.
“Rex talked me through doing the same reset the alarm company would’ve done,” I explained. “Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get someone out here to make sure everything is working properly.” Maggie thanked me and I pointed to the camera facing the emergency exit. “Any chance I can get a copy of the security footage so I can pay a visit to the teens’ parents? I think it’d be a good idea to chat with them to make sure this type of behavior doesn’t happen again.” Generally, the kids around here were well behaved, but every once in a while, a troublemaker would pop up, and it was a good idea to nip that kind of behavior in the bud before it got worse.
When I got back to the station later that day, I was whistling when I walked inside. I’d managed to secure a promise from the teens and their parents that smoking in changing rooms would never happen again. Since nothing had been stolen and there wasn’t any damage, aside form a few things smelling like smoke, Maggie wasn’t interested in pressing charges, which was a relief to everyone. The teens were both on Pop High’s football team and the coach would’ve kicked the both of them off the team if they’d gotten arrested.
