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He looked at the commissioner. “When you were giving the statistics, I was curious to know if this kind of an outbreak with this same set of circumstances is unique to this year only.”
The older man shook his head. “We saw this happen last year to six ranches, but this year’s number of outbreaks has increased and summer isn’t over.”
“Were the fires set at the same time of year last year?”
“Come to think of it, yes, around the end of April and running through August.”
“If you had a map of last year’s locations of fires, where would they be?”
He stared at Cole. “I’m not sure.”
Chief Powell broke in. “I’ll get on the computer right now and we’ll find out.” Within minutes he had the answer. “All of them were near the Winds.”
Cole got excited. “Then that cycle fits with the fire locations on the map you just handed out to us. Notice that every ranch targeted this year and last is close to the Bridger Wilderness.”
At this point he’d caught everyone’s attention.
“There’s a war going on between the ranchers hunting the elk coming down from the mountain onto their property, and the ranchers who are against elk hunting.”
“Go on,” the commissioner urged him.
“Years ago, the elk in the snow country came down to the desert to find food, hay particularly. They ate in the cattle feed grounds where the cattle carried brucellosis disease that caused the cattle to abort. It was transferred to the elk. By the 1930s, calves were dying and humans started getting sick with undulant fever, until pasteurization came along. It’s been a battle ever since to eradicate the disease.
“You want a reason for these fires? I believe they’ve been set to warn the ranchers allowing the hunting. The conservationists want the elk rerouted down to the desert in different migration paths that don’t come into contact with the cattle feed lines so the disease won’t spread.
“But other ranchers want to bring in the big game hunters who pay a lot of money for the elk hunt. With the hay left out and exposed, the elk are lured to the ranches, thus ensuring plenty of elk for a good hunt. A lot of hay could feed a thousand cattle a day, and the elk, too.”
“How do you know so much about this?”
“When I was young, my father used to complain about the brucellosis disease that caused cattle to abort. He hoped that one day it would be eradicated. By the time I went to college, I decided to go into that field and ended up getting my master’s to be a brucellosis ecologist.
“I learned that some cattle brought into the States by early European settlers carried this disease. In my role as an ecologist, we’re trying to manage the disease and lower it in the elk herds so it’s less likely to spill over into cattle.”
Orson Perone stood up. “Mr. Hawkins is absolutely right about this. A few years ago there was a small town near the Owl Creek Mountains where the elk had spread disease to a local cattle herd. The fish and game had to depopulate the herd. This caused the ranchers to go bankrupt and the pattern is still the same today. Unfortunately it made for bad relations.”
The commissioner looked at Cole. “So it’s your contention that there’s a group of cattle ranchers sending messages to the ranchers who allow elk hunting to stop luring the elk with hay, and they’re resorting to arson to make their point.”
Cole nodded. “It makes sense to me considering that all sixteen fires were set in an attempt to destroy the hay as soon as it’s harvested.”
A collective silence filled the room. The older man smiled at Cole. “Well, aren’t we glad you came back home and joined our fire department? I think you’re really on to something here.”
“I know he is.” Holden Granger had gotten to his feet. “I was born and raised in Cody, Wyoming, before I moved here. Our family’s ranch suffered a loss of cattle from that disease when I was young. No one ever established a link with the diseased elk that often came to the cattle feed grounds from the Absaroka Mountains.”
At this point Chief Powell took over. “Now that we’ve been educated, we’ll explain about the disease in the warning fliers and have them ready by next Monday. By hand or through the mail we’ll make certain they’re distributed to all the ranchers, urging them to take emergency precautions to ward off the arsonists plaguing parts of Sublette County.”
“Excellent,” Holden commented. “With this information, I’m going to get together with the county prosecutor. With the cooperation of Norm and Orson, particularly, we can start making lists of ranchers who’ve never applied for hunting licenses or permits. I’d like to know when and where this group of arsonists meets. That means we’ll need a warrant from the judge.
“Setting fires isn’t the solution to eradicating the disease. We’ll canvas every store that sells accelerants. This is only the beginning.” He nodded to Cole. “I’d like to talk to you alone. When you have time, drop by the police station.”
“If you want, I’ll come now because I’ll be leaving for the mountains on my job as soon we’re finished and be gone four days.”
“Then come with me.”
Cole turned to Wyatt. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“I plan on it.”
Everyone shook Cole’s hand before he left with the sheriff. But he was weighed down with worry because Tamsin’s father had been targeted and it could happen again before the summer was over. He needed to talk to her and warn her, but he’d have to do that when he got back.
While he was packing his gear to leave for the mountains, he got a text from Patsy Janis.
Call me ASAP. I’ve got big news.
Cole shook his head. He’d only been home five days and already she couldn’t leave him alone. She never gave up. He’d met the good-looking local country singer two years ago in Colorado at a concert in Boulder. He’d grown up on country music, playing the guitar and composing his own songs. Early on he’d made certain to sign up with ASCAP to get his songs copyrighted.
Patsy had a lot of talent and was featured weekends at a local club near the campus with lots of college students and wannabe musicians who got together to jam. It was definitely his kind of place and a great outlet when he’d had a surfeit of studying and needed to get away from it for a little while.
She’d found out he composed music, too, and coaxed him to let her sing some of his songs. Pretty soon, he was accompanying her on his guitar while she sang his tunes for their enthusiastic audience. Everyone wanted to hear more.
Little by little, she encouraged him to do a few recordings at the studio with her just for fun. It wasn’t long before they’d recorded two albums.
But he could see where this togetherness was leading when she invited him to her apartment one night after a session. He wasn’t into Patsy that way and had to tell her as much. Tamsin had ruined him for other women.
“I hate your honesty, Cole Hawkins,” she said with a bitterness in her tone. “So, ‘Stranglehold on My Heart’ was about her?” He nodded. “In fact all the songs you’ve written about the woman with the bluebell eyes were about her, right?”
“Yes. I fell in love with her years ago, and never fell out. I’m sorry, Patsy.”
“So am I.” Her pain sounded real. “You and I make great music together and could earn a lot of money. I could see a future for the two of us on the road.”
“That’s your dream, but I’m a cowboy at heart. I thought you knew that. I traveled around the country on the circuit, but the truth is, I miss home.”
“And the girl you’re still hung up on?” He frowned at her persistence. “When are you going to do something about her?”
“Just as soon as I get home next week.”
“You’re leaving that soon?”
He nodded.
“What if she doesn’t feel the same way about you anymore?”
He didn’t want to think about that possibility. “That’s something I plan to find out.”
“Would you hate me if I told you I hope it doesn’t work out? You and I could be so good together if you’d give us a chance, Cole. I thought you realized I’m in love with you.”
“We both love making music and have that in common, but I never saw it as anything else.”
“Not ever?” she questioned.
“I was always in love with Tamsin, but you have to know I didn’t mean to hurt you. All along I’ve been convinced you’re on your way to the big time in Nashville and I couldn’t be happier for you. You have an amazing talent.”
“So you’re going to walk out on me without even a hug or kiss goodbye?”
“Of course I’ll give you a hug, and I’ll be listening to you on the radio. Call me when you want to talk shop. Good luck, Patsy, but you don’t need it.” He gave her a warm kiss on her cheek and left the apartment. Right now only one person was on his mind. Cole’s need to be with Tamsin was consuming him.
Chapter Three (#u3fa36ed6-630f-5374-b8f2-241691c4b95a)
By Friday, Tamsin had found a furnished one-bedroom apartment in town that suited her just fine. She took the day off from work to get settled in. Her parents were great about it when she talked to them. They’d probably wondered why a move like this hadn’t happened a long time ago. But she urged them to say nothing to Sally or Lyle.
Her sister had been resting while Tamsin had made half a dozen trips to her car with her things. She would tell her and Lyle she’d found an apartment after she’d settled in. The last person she wanted to know about her plans was Dean. She wanted to get everything done and then surprise him with a homemade dinner once she told him her new address.
When he called to make arrangements for Friday night, she told him she’d be working late and hoped they could have dinner on Saturday night instead. There were still things she had to do to get ready.
Though he’d said that would be fine, she sensed he wasn’t happy about having to wait until Saturday. But she’d make it up to him when he realized what she’d done.
At 10:30 p.m., she drove to the all-night grocery store a few blocks away to pick up some batteries for her remotes and some sodas. Then she was going to kick back on the couch and watch an old movie while she hung a few pictures and put books away in the bookcase.
As she was pulling a pack of colas from the refrigerated section, her gaze collided with a pair of brown eyes smoldering beneath a black Stetson.
Her breath caught to see Cole, who’d just reached for a pack of root beer to put in the cart with some other groceries, including a quart of vanilla ice cream.
Root beer floats. One of those treats they’d whipped up on many a weekend their senior year. He still loved them, apparently.
For a moment she was attacked by memories of those times when they couldn’t stay out of each other’s arms. For a moment she was blinded by the way his body filled out a pair of well-worn jeans and a crew neck brown shirt. Somehow he seemed a little taller in his cowboy boots than she’d remembered. Had he grown another inch?
The other night she’d noticed he wore his dark blond wavy hair a little shorter than he used to. There were more lines around his eyes. His compelling mouth looked a little harder. All in all, he was a gorgeous twenty-seven-year-old man. And she was staring at him, something she’d sworn she would never do if she saw him again. But she’d been caught doing it now.
To see the grown-up version of Cole in firefighter gear or otherwise sent an unwanted thrill of excitement through her body. She couldn’t suppress it, no matter how hard she tried.
Tamsin guessed he was a disease she’d caught years ago. It had lived inside her all this time. What haunted her was the possibility that there was no cure. That was why she was making changes in her life. A new place to live with more privacy for her and Dean.
Cole’s return to Whitebark was putting her through a refiner’s fire. Her greatest fear was that Dean get trapped in it or hurt by it. When he came to her apartment for dinner tomorrow night, she would tell him some things about her relationship with Cole she’d kept private so Dean would understand.
Even if he’d been told a little about her history with Cole through his brother who would’ve learned it from Sally, Dean needed to hear certain details from Tamsin herself.
For the time being she didn’t know where their relationship would end up. But she was hoping that living on her own, she would now have the breathing room to figure out her life. If she ended up with Dean, she wanted it to be with her whole heart and no reservations.
“I’m glad we bumped into each other.” Cole’s low voice filtered through her turmoil to her brain. “It has saved me from having to find you.”
To her horror she almost sighed in relief to see that he didn’t wear a ring. Did it mean he wasn’t married yet?
“Why would you have to do that?” she asked, trying to fight off the effect he was having on her.
His eyes narrowed between his darker lashes. “To warn you and your family that the arsonists who set fire to your barn will probably set fire to your haystacks before the summer is over.”
She frowned. “You honestly think it will happen again?”
He nodded. “I was in a big conference on Tuesday with state officials. We’re pretty certain why ranchers like your father have been targeted.”
“Why my father?”
“He has always allowed hunting on his property in the fall. There’s a contingent of ranchers who want to ban the elk hunters, but since they can’t stop them legally, they’ve resorted to arson on the lands where they hunt.”
Tamsin still didn’t understand. “But Dad isn’t the only rancher who allows it.”
“That’s true. So far in the last two years, sixteen ranches near the Bridger Wilderness that have allowed elk hunting have undergone losses by these arsonists.”
“What’s wrong with elk hunting?”
“Nothing, as long as the elk aren’t transmitting brucellosis disease to the cattle when they both come to feed at the same feeding grounds. The bailed hay on your father’s property, both fenced and in the barn, invites the elk to come. In my line of work, we’re dedicated to eradicating the disease.”
What line of work was he talking about? He was a firefighter!
She blinked. “Isn’t that the disease that causes calves to abort?” He nodded. “How do you know so much about it?”
“I received my master’s degree in environmental wildlife at the University of Colorado in Boulder. But my technical title is a brucellosis-feed-ground-habitat biologist, and my specific job is to test the elk for the disease. I also work for the fire department here if I’m not up in the mountains tracking elk.”
Tamsin was stunned by what he’d just told her. She was having trouble taking it all in. All this time she’d accused him in her heart of going off to be a famous rodeo celebrity.
“These arsonists want the elk to migrate down the mountains away from the ranches. But the lure of the hay makes it impossible. There’s a group of men so serious about stopping this, they’ve been willing to commit crimes like the one on your property in order to make their point.”
She put a hand to her throat. “Is this happening all over Wyoming?”
“In parts where a ranch that allows elk hunting is located near a range of mountains. As you’ve found out firsthand, these men are endangering the lives of people and horses. After we put out the fire, I looked for you to tell you of the danger when I saw Sally. Her being pregnant makes her even more vulnerable in a situation like this and I’m afraid it’s not going to stop.”
His prediction increased Tamsin’s fear, but she fought not to show it. “I had no idea you’d been in college all this time besides becoming a firefighter. How amazing that you know so much about what has been going on around here. How long have you been back in Whitebark?”
Here she was, asking him questions when she’d promised herself she would never show him the slightest interest. Never again.
“I’d been home five days when I was called out on the fire at your father’s ranch.”
Only five? “Where did you get your firefighter training?”
“In Boulder while I was in graduate school.”
Her eyes widened. “So you did both while you were there.”
“Yes. When I left the ranch nine years ago, I was honoring a promise to my father that was ironclad.”
“What promise was that?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about the reason I had to leave. A reason my father wouldn’t let anyone know about. Even on his deathbed he swore me to secrecy.”
That revelation only deepened her pain. He didn’t give her an explanation then, and wouldn’t be giving it to her now. “What about your ranch?”
“It’s still here. I’m managing with the help of Sam and Louise. You remember them?”
“Yes.” Of course, she did. But how on earth could he handle everything? All this time she’d thought he’d been with that country singer, planning a new life with her. How wrong could she have been? Or maybe not. Already he’d shot her peace of mind to pieces. Before she left the store, she needed one more bit of information.
