Chapter 10 - The Carcasses on the RidgeWildlife Officer Mason Reed reopened his old notes.
Three sheep carcasses had been found north of Mercer Ranch shortly before Noah’s punishment night.
They did not belong to Mercer.
Ear tags removed.
Cuts suggested slaughter scraps rather than predator kills.
Someone dumped them.
Why?
Attract coyotes.
Wolves.
Scavengers.
Create tracks.
Create fear.
Give ranchers an explanation for missing animals.
Noah felt angry in a new way.
Earl had manipulated everything.
Debt.
Paperwork.
Sheep.
Even wildlife.
Officer Reed traced one carcass through a veterinary implant.
It came from a Maddox-owned flock.
Evidence.
Earl had created the wolf narrative.
But real wolves did eventually respond.
The crime had put livestock and wildlife in conflict that might not otherwise have happened.
Grant asked:
“Can you remove them?”
Reed shook his head.
“We manage behavior and confirmed depredation under regulations.”
Duke continued guarding.
Human presence increased.
Carcasses were removed.
The wolves gradually moved farther north.
Noah felt unexpected relief.
He had hated them in his imagination.
But they had not chosen to become part of Earl’s scheme.
They were simply animals following food.
The same way sheep followed grain through an open gate.
Grant said:
“Everybody got used.”
Noah looked at him.
“Even you?”
“Especially me.”
That honesty had become easier.
Summer passed.
Mercer Ranch stabilized.
Noah turned sixteen.
Grant bought him an old pickup.
Not fancy.
Barely started.
Noah loved it.
First night driving alone, he stopped near the east pasture.
Moonlight.
White sheep.
The place looked almost exactly like the punishment night.
His chest tightened.
He stepped from the truck.
He wanted to prove the memory no longer controlled him.
Then a wolf howled.
Far away.
His whole body froze.
The reaction embarrassed him.
He was older.
Safe.
Still afraid.
Duke barked from the flock.
Noah breathed.
One howl.
Nothing else.
He stayed.
Not because he had to.
Because he chose to.
Twenty minutes later Grant’s truck appeared.
Noah became irritated.
“Following me?”
“No.”
“You absolutely are.”
Grant sighed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw you stop here.”
“I’m fine.”
“I know.”
“Then leave.”
Grant almost did.
Then Noah said:
“Wait.”
Grant stopped.
Noah sat on the truck tailgate.
Grant sat beside him.
For a while they listened to sheep.
Noah said:
“I still hear that slap sometimes.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“No. I mean when nothing’s happening.”
Grant did not defend himself.
Noah continued.
“I thought once you apologized it would stop.”
Grant looked toward the ridge.
“Counselor says brains are annoying.”
“You’re seeing a counselor?”
Grant gave him a look.
“Yes.”
Noah was surprised.
Grant had started after the bank crisis.
Never told him because he did not want praise.
“What do you talk about?”
“None of your business.”
Noah smiled.
Fair.
Then Grant added:
“Mostly you.”
Noah’s smile faded.
“In a bad way?”
“In an ashamed way.”
Another howl.
Noah stiffened less this time.
Grant asked:
“Want to go?”
“No.”
They stayed until the stars shifted.
The next morning Noah realized something.
His father’s presence no longer made the pasture more dangerous.
It made it safer.
That change had taken a year.
Not one apology.
Not one dramatic rescue.
A hundred smaller choices.
Then Grant received a call from a ranch in Montana.
They had purchased several sheep through a Maddox auction two years earlier.
One ewe carried an old Mercer tattoo inside the ear.
Could be theirs.
Grant and Noah drove north.
They found not one.
Nine.
Nine breeding sheep stolen before Noah ever knew anything was wrong.
Grant bought them back for one dollar each after restitution arrangements.
On the drive home Noah asked:
“How many did Earl steal total?”
Grant answered:
“Maybe we’ll never know.”
Noah disliked that.
He wanted complete truth.
Grant said:
“Sometimes you get enough truth to make the next decision.”
Noah thought about it.
That was not satisfying.
But it was adult.
At home, the nine sheep stepped into the flock.
One immediately walked toward Martha.
The old ewe touched noses with her.
Noah smiled.
Not every missing thing returned.
May you like
But some did.
And sometimes that had to be enough.
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