Chapter 3 - The Phone CallThe man’s name was Earl Danner.
He operated a tire shop near the highway and owned pasture near Miller Ridge.
Clay put the phone on speaker.
“You sure it was Hannah?”
“Pretty sure.”
Hannah stood across the kitchen.
“What did she ask?”
Earl thought.
“Wanted to know if those free-roaming horses still came down to the old Dalton property.”
Clay’s eyes moved toward Hannah.
She felt cold despite the heat.
“I asked him once.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“Because Sable kept calling toward the ridge.”
Clay’s hand tightened around the phone.
Earl continued.
“She also asked whether anybody owned them.”
Clay went very still.
Hannah closed her eyes.
That sounded terrible.
Earl said goodbye.
Clay ended the call.
Silence filled the kitchen.
“Explain.”
“I was curious.”
“About whether the herd had an owner.”
“Yes.”
“Two weeks before my horse disappears.”
“Our horse.”
“My name is on the registration.”
Hannah looked at him.
“You already decided I did it.”
“Give me another explanation.”
“She got out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know where she went.”
“I know where her tracks went.”
“You asked whether those horses belonged to someone.”
“Because I wanted to know!”
“Why?”
Hannah hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Clay slammed one hand on the table.
“Why?”
“Because I thought if you tried to sell her, maybe there was another option.”
Clay stared.
“What option?”
“I don’t know. A sanctuary. A range program. Something.”
“You were planning to give away a horse worth seven thousand dollars.”
“No!”
“But you were looking.”
“I was trying to keep her from Benson.”
Clay turned away.
Hannah saw his shoulders rise and fall.
He was not only angry.
He was scared.
Bills waited behind him on the counter.
The bank note was due in twelve days.
Sable had been his plan.
Hannah understood that.
She still could not accept what he believed.
“I didn’t let her go.”
Clay looked back.
“If you tell me where she is, we stop this now.”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“You just said—”
“I know the direction!”
“Where?”
“Miller Ridge. Maybe Dalton land. Maybe farther.”
Clay grabbed his hat.
“Fine.”
They searched again.
Day two.
Nothing.
Day three.
They found manure.
Tracks.
A place where several horses had rolled in dust.
No Sable.
The heat worsened.
Temperatures climbed above a hundred.
The creek nearly stopped.
Clay became more desperate each hour.
Tom Benson withdrew his offer.
“No horse, no deal.”
The bank called.
Clay did not answer.
On the third night, Hannah woke to voices outside.
Clay was speaking with Uncle Dean.
“She knows more than she’s saying.”
Dean replied quietly.
“She’s sixteen.”
“She’s old enough to understand seven thousand dollars.”
“Clay.”
“You didn’t hear her. She was looking for places to send that mare.”
“That doesn’t mean she released her.”
A long pause.
Then Clay said:
“You didn’t see her face when I said I’d sell.”
Hannah lay awake.
She wanted to walk outside.
She wanted to scream.
Instead she stayed in bed.
The next morning, Clay removed the keys from the truck.
“You’re not going anywhere alone.”
“What?”
“Until Sable comes back.”
“You think I’ll run?”
“I think you might go warn whoever helped you.”
“No one helped me!”
Clay pointed toward the barn.
“Work.”
Hannah stared.
“Dad, this is crazy.”
“Crazy is losing the only thing keeping this farm out of foreclosure.”
That word stopped her.
Foreclosure.
Clay had never said it directly.
“Are we losing the farm?”
He regretted the admission immediately.
But it was too late.
“How bad?”
“None of your concern.”
“It became my concern when you decided I stole Sable.”
Clay walked away.
That afternoon Hannah found a letter on his desk.
She was not proud of reading it.
But she did.
Final notice.
Past-due loan.
Ten days.
If payment arrangements were not made, the bank would begin proceedings against part of the property.
Hannah sat down.
For the first time, she understood why Sable’s disappearance had broken something in her father.
It did not excuse him.
But it explained the fear behind the anger.
She folded the letter.
Then noticed another paper.
A handwritten note.
Tom Benson’s original offer:
$7,000 cash for Sable.
Hannah stared at the number.
The farm really did need the mare.
That evening she told Clay:
“I’ll find her.”
He looked exhausted.
“You’d better.”
Hannah rode Patch west before sunrise the next morning.
Six hours later she returned alone.
Clay was waiting.
And beside him lay Hannah’s old backpack.
Open.
Inside was a folded map of Miller Ridge.
May you like
Her father held it up.
“Want to tell me why this was hidden under your bed?”
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