Miguel leaned back in his chair, his brows threaded together. “I don’t know anything about how it was contracted, but I don’t think it’s contagious—since quarantine, there are no new sick cattle in the herds, only from the barns. The best I have to go off of is red urine—it’s the only visible symptom other than general lethargy, decreased appetite. Could be their kidneys. It’s not blood. No natural causes like beetroot or clover would last for an extended period. It’s not urethral. I just …until I get more test results, I’m stuck.” He closed his computer. “We’ve got four herds in quarantine and a hundred sick cows within just a few days.”
“So there’s nothing we can do,” Olivia said. She didn’t ask.
“For now, no.”
She sagged. I felt the weight of it all dragging me to the ground, and I stood, defying it.
“Then we need to get some rest,” I said, reaching for her hand. A nod, and she stood, leaning into my side. “Have Kit wake us if you need anything.”
Miguel nodded. “I will.”
And we dragged ourselves back to the house.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever sleep again, Jake.”
“Me neither. But I bet once we clean off and get in bed, it’ll find us.”
“I just don’t understand.” Her voice quivered.
“I understand just fine. Pretty sure we all know who would do it and why.”
Olivia skidded to a stop, her flushed face bent and her eyes shining with tears. “Stop it. Just stop it. You’ve convinced yourself the Pattons are obsessed with you, but I think it’s you who’s obsessed. It doesn’t make any sense, Jake—why would they damage the property they want to acquire? They’re smarter than that, aren’t they?”
“Jesus, Olivia. Don’t be naive—they’ll do anything to take this farm down. They’ll do whatever it takes to ruin us just so they’ve done it. They don’t need any reason more than that.”
“But there’s no proof that they’re sabotaging us. Yes, they want to put us under, but we can’t just run around accusing them of something without tangible evidence, now or ever. Name one thing they’ve done that’s done real damage.”
I didn’t answer. I was too busy trying to figure out how to tell her the Pattons’ greatest sin.
“See? You can’t even tell me one.”
A fire of rage and regret and shame rose in me like a wildfire. I could feel it in my lungs as they sawed the crisp morning air. I could feel that fire in my skin, steaming and flushed.
“They’re the ones who reported me.”
Confusion flitted across her brow.
“To ICE. You want to know who really put Pop in the hole? It’s them.”
Realization struck her, her eyes widening.
I gave her my back, paced a few steps, dragged a hand through my hair. Turned to her. “They figured it out and called immigration. This, after years of stealing our business and generations of fighting. But they stopped when Frank bankrupted himself to save me. Then all they had to do was wait for us to fall apart.”
Her lips parted. “I … how did you find out?”
“Because Chase Patton can’t keep his fucking mouth shut. You know nothing stays secret around here, and the second he told Kendall, the whole school knew. Are you satisfied now? Have I convinced you yet?”
“That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is that you don’t trust me on this,” I shot. “You think I’m just a stubborn fool. But never once have I called it wrong, not until you. Then again, you make it a point to buck expectations, don’t you?” I shook my head and looked off, my teeth grinding hard enough to squeak. “Frank’s gone, and they’ve figured you for our weak spot. They’re going to choke the life out of us and break in, and you’re the only avenue they have. You own half of this, Olivia. And they want it.”
“Jake,” she said quietly as she approached.
I stared at a nick in the side of the big red barn.
“Jake, please.”
Her hand on my arm was a balm on my wounds. I looked down at her, finding peace in the bottomless brown of her eyes whether I wanted to see it or not.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry they did this to you. To the farm. The only thing to thank them for is keeping you here so I could find my way back to you.”
My throat tightened. I pulled her into my chest so she couldn’t see my face, too tired to put on the mask.
“I believe you,” she said after a minute. “I think we should make sure the police know who we think is interfering.”
A dry laugh. “You forget the Pattons run this town. Every corner of it, the sheriff included. Won’t do any good.”
“We’ll figure something out,” she promised. “Get some outside help. Find irrefutable evidence. I have to believe it’s going to be okay, Jake. It has to be. I don’t … I don’t know how we’ll …” Her words dissolved into tears.
But I knew one thing she’d said was true—she needed to believe it was going to be okay. And I might not have been able to do much, but I could give her that.
“You’re right,” I said before kissing the top of her head. “We’ll figure it out.”
And it was on me to figure out how.
25
Deal with the Devil
OLIVIA
A hundred twenty sick cattle.
Thirty-two dead in three days’ time.
Kit’s face was drawn as she finished arranging the basket piled with sausage biscuits I was to take around to the crew.
“Miguel should hear something on the tests today, right?” she asked, her eyes on her hands.
My heart sank even lower than it already was. “He got them this morning. Nothing.”
“I just don’t see how that’s possible,” she huffed. “These labs don’t know what they’re doing. They’re supposed to be giving us answers, not a bunch of zeros. Somebody has to help, and they’re the professionals.”
“I know. But all they can do is give us data, and the data doesn’t show anything. Miguel’s running another round of mineral and toxin tests on the stock as well as the water, hay, feed. The FDA was here yesterday, for God’s sake. We’re in danger of being shut down, so we’ve got to figure it out—and soon. We’ve checked the fields for any signs of interference, but it could be anything, Kit. Somebody could have tampered with the soil, planted something in a corner that’d hurt the herd to eat. Put something in the water that we couldn’t detect with our own tests. Let’s just hope this round turns something up, because no one seems to be able to work out what’s going on.”
“I’m just so mad,” she said, her voice trembling as she used too much force to stack the little sandwiches. “And scared. After everything, now this. It just all feels too big, too hard.” She sniffled and pushed the basket in my direction.
“I know,” I said with my insides in pieces as I walked around the island to give her a hug.
She held on to me like she’d fly away if she let go.