Chapter 12 - The Letter KWestern Horizon denied any relationship with Wade Kincaid.
Their attorney said “K contact” referred to a land consultant named Kenneth Rowe.
Rachel demanded documentation.
None appeared immediately.
That made her suspicious.
Ethan wanted to go public.
Margaret refused.
“Not until we know.”
He exhaled.
“You say that about everything.”
“That’s why we still have cattle.”
He smiled despite himself.
The state investigation into Wade uncovered financial records.
Payments from Western Horizon?
None.
But one company paid Wade repeatedly.
Prairie Land Consulting.
Who owned Prairie Land?
A shell corporation.
Registered address in Denver.
Further search led to one director.
Kenneth Rowe.
Western Horizon’s claim suddenly looked more plausible.
Maybe K really was Kenneth.
But Prairie Land had also paid Wade $40,000 over eighteen months.
For “acquisition services.”
Rachel stared at the records.
“So Western Horizon hires Kenneth Rowe.”
“Maybe.”
“Rowe hires Wade.”
“Maybe.”
“Wade tries to take our land.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Too many maybes.”
Rachel smiled.
“You’d make a terrible politician.”
“Good.”
Kenneth Rowe agreed to meet.
He arrived in Denver wearing a blue suit and the expression of a man irritated by ranchers.
“I hired Mr. Kincaid as a local land scout.”
“Scout?”
“He identified willing sellers.”
“Did you instruct him to seize cattle?”
“Of course not.”
“Forge loans?”
“No.”
“Force financially distressed ranchers to sell?”
Rowe hesitated.
There.
Margaret saw it.
Rachel did too.
“What did you instruct him to do?”
“Find motivated sellers.”
“How?”
“That was his responsibility.”
“Did you ask how he motivated them?”
“No.”
Maybe true.
Maybe deliberately unasked.
Rowe produced contracts.
Wade earned bonuses when land deals closed below certain price thresholds.
Margaret felt sick.
Nobody had to write “commit fraud.”
They only had to reward the result.
Wade discovered his own methods.
Rowe enjoyed not knowing.
Rachel said:
“You paid him after Samuel Reed lost pasture.”
“I paid for acquisition.”
“You never asked why a sixty-three-year-old rancher suddenly sold land thirty percent below appraisal?”
Rowe became defensive.
“People need money.”
Margaret leaned forward.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“That’s what men like Wade count on.”
The meeting ended badly.
But it gave Rachel enough to involve state regulators in the land acquisition practices.
Western Horizon distanced itself from Rowe.
Rowe distanced himself from Wade.
Everyone ran from everyone.
Meanwhile, Margaret still had a ranch to operate.
The world did not pause because lawyers discovered corruption.
Calves needed vaccination.
Fence needed repair.
Hay had to be replaced.
The thirty stolen cattle were returned from New Mexico.
Five of the remaining six were recovered from Wade’s pasture.
One cow, Old June, remained missing.
Margaret tried not to care.
One animal among hundreds.
But June had been Robert’s favorite breeding cow.
Sentiment did not belong in business.
It lived there anyway.
Then Bo Rusk arrived one evening.
He no longer worked for Wade.
Nobody wanted to hire him.
“You need something?” Ethan asked.
“Work.”
Ethan laughed.
“You helped steal our cattle.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside Wade while he threatened my mother.”
“I know.”
“You expect a job?”
“No.”
Bo looked down.
“I’m asking for one.”
Margaret came outside.
Ethan looked at her.
“Absolutely not.”
Bo said:
“I can leave.”
Margaret studied him.
“Why here?”
“Because everybody else thinks I’m Wade.”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
“You stayed with him.”
“Yes.”
“You took his money.”
“Yes.”
“You kept quiet.”
“Yes.”
Margaret appreciated one thing.
He did not defend himself.
She said:
“Thirty days.”
Ethan turned.
“Mom.”
“Thirty.”
Bo looked stunned.
“You work fences. No cattle records. No office. No money handling.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You lie once, you’re gone.”
“Yes.”
Ethan followed Margaret inside.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because Wade built his whole business on people being trapped by one bad decision.”
She looked back at Bo.
“I want to know if Bo is more than his.”
That night, Bo repaired the south fence until dark.
At sunrise he came to the kitchen.
“I found something.”
In the dirt near the water easement marker was a recently placed survey stake.
Bright orange ribbon.
Stamped with Western Horizon’s contractor code.
May you like
Someone had entered Hale River Ranch without permission.
And they had already begun marking a route across the south pasture.
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