“Score,” J.B. said, when he saw it.

They shut the back gate and locked it, then took off for the truck and drove away, back through the fence they’d cut, and then through the Bailey property and back out on the road. They went straight to their place long enough to remove the ear tags from the cattle, then headed to the auction house J.B. had used when he sold that first cow.

They left the auction house with over four thousand dollars, and went straight to the bank in Savannah to deposit into the account they’d opened after their second sale. The people there didn’t know them as anything other than cattle jockeys—men who bought and sold cattle for a living—and thought nothing of it, and after the account had been opened, they made a point of depositing all of their money from odd jobs there, as well.

It made them feel like regular people to have a bank account, and adding in the little dabs of legal earnings to go with the rustling business made them feel better. They’d almost convinced themselves that making a deposit with legal money cancelled out the money they’d made from selling stolen property.

“This was our last run,” Moses said.

“Yeah, I remember,” J.B. said.

“And we’re not doing this again,” Moses added.

J.B. shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

Once they got home they washed the fresh cow poop out of the trailer then took it to the barn. Just for good measure, they sprinkled some dry dirt into the trailer bed, then filled it up with junk and old wire from inside the barn to make it look like it hadn’t been used in ages, and dragged it out into the weeds behind the barn and left it there. The next morning they drove into Savannah to pick up some much needed supplies.

They didn’t know Jack Talbot had already found the broken fence, but wouldn’t have cared. As far as they were concerned, they’d gotten away unseen, the cattle were sold, and that was the end of that.

* * *

Duke was on his way home when his phone rang, and when he saw Jack’s name pop up in Caller ID and knew his brother was checking on him. He answered, then put it on speaker and kept driving.

“Hello.”

“Are you okay?” Jack asked.

“I’m fine. I’m almost home,” Duke said.

“Well, okay then. I was getting worried. Didn’t think you’d be gone this long and—”

“Yeah. Kinda got caught up in a little incident in Blessings and wound up taking a lady to ER.”

“Oh hell, did you have a wreck?”

“No, nothing like that. I just happened to witness her take a bad fall, and then Lon showed up and escorted us to ER. I went to get a haircut after that, and then Hope called Ruby looking for someone to take the lady home, and I was getting ready to leave, and I’d already taken her to ER, so I thought I might as well offer to take her home. And that’s where I’ve been.”