“Who’s the guardian?” Desmond asked, one shoulder tipped against the stone wall near the fireplace. It was barely past noon and the casino owner was already dressed in an impeccable custom suit.

Weston clicked another button and a new face appeared on the screen where Weston had been a moment ago. “This is Nicole Cruz. She worked briefly at the ranch under the alias Nicole Smith, but she was fired suddenly by a supervisor who said it was performance-related. When I tried to follow up on that incident, I discovered the supervisor quit the next day and didn’t leave a forwarding address.”

“Which means the supervisor could have been lying. Or someone at the ranch applied pressure for Nicole to leave,” Miles pointed out. The two brothers frequently didn’t see eye to eye. “Is Nicole the mother?”

“According to her, no,” Weston replied. “When she introduced herself to April several weeks ago, she claimed Matthew is her sister’s son, and that her sister died suddenly without naming the father. So far, we don’t have a photo of the mother since Nicole and Matthew disappeared after Nicole was fired from her job at Mesa Falls.”

“So we hire someone to track the kid and his guardian using a last known address,” Gage suggested, already itching to start piecing the puzzle together before someone else did. Someone like Elena. Could he trust her to be honest with him about her next move? Despite their night together, he couldn’t be sure. “Or are the Salazar heirs already doing that?”

“At the very least,” Miles added, “we need to ask around Mesa Falls to figure out who knew her. I’m ready to take some time away from Rivera Ranch, Gage, if you want me to come help out at Mesa Falls.”

Gage wondered who was the most surprised by that comment. Weston reared back from his screen like someone had just shoved him. Jonah coughed through another sip of coffee. Desmond made a long, low whistle.

Miles swore and shifted in his seat, the Sierra Nevada Mountains visible out the window of his ranch office behind him. “Every one of you takes time off. I’ve earned it. Besides, I’m going to ask the Mesa Falls foreman for some recommendations to bring sustainable ranching practices to Rivera Ranch.”

One of the reasons they’d founded Mesa Falls was to highlight more green practices in raising cattle, and the experiment had turned Mesa Falls into a successful showplace.

Gage was the first to recover from his surprise since Miles had already indicated to him that he’d be willing to cover for Gage this week. “I’d appreciate the help for as long as you care to stay. Elena Rollins should be leaving Montana soon and won’t be doing a story about Alonzo.”