P.S. I love you, but not enough to get fired. LOL

Duke sighed. He hadn’t thought that through.

My bad. I didn’t think about that. Sorry, Hope.

Then he added a smiley-face emoji and hit Send, finished off his sandwich, and went to refill his coffee.

* * *

Deputies Treat and Butler drove straight to the Bailey property. The empty two-story house looked a bit forlorn. The yard hadn’t been mowed in ages, and there was a layer of dust all over the windows. It was a shame. The house itself, had once been a showstopper in the area.

The central part of the house was two-story red brick, with white clapboard single-story wings on either side. It had white shutters in need of paint, and there were a few missing shingles.

The old barn behind the house was a big, two-story with a gambrel roof and a loft opening above the doorway below. It had once been painted white, but was mostly gray now, and the pen built behind the barn appeared to be made of welded pipe that was red with rust.

It didn’t take them long to find obvious tracks coming and going in the dirt driveway, and after taking more pictures, they matched up the tire treads on the Bailey place to the ones they’d seen at the Talbots. The kicker was finding the same boot print with the slash in the heel. They photographed it, and then walked back to their car.

“They definitely used the empty property as their access,” Treat said. “I think now we need to question the daughter, Rhonda Bailey, to see if she’s rented out this property to anyone.”

“The Talbots said she worked ER in the Blessings hospital. Why don’t you call and see if she’s still on duty, and if she’s not, get her personal phone number.”

“Will do, Butler said, and was already on the phone as Treat backed up and then left the property.

* * *

Rhonda Bailey was just coming out of an exam room in ER when one of the nurses at the desk waved her down.

“Phone call for you on line three.”

Rhonda slipped behind the nurses’ station to take the call, pressed Line Three, and then answered.

“This is Rhonda.”

“Miss Bailey, this is Deputy Butler with the County Sheriff’s office. We need to ask you a couple of questions about your father’s property.”

Rhonda was immediately apprehensive. With her father no longer capable of making his own decisions, she and her brothers were responsible for it.

“Oh no! Has something happened?”

“No, nothing like that. Have you rented it to anyone, or given anyone permission to be on the property?”

“No. Absolutely not. What’s wrong? Has property been damaged?”

“No, ma’am, but it appears some cattle rustlers used it as access to get to the backside of the Talbot property and made off with a half-dozen head of their cattle.”

Rhonda gasped. “I am so sorry! That’s terrible! I didn’t know people were still doing things like that.”