So�This Is Montana� Ch. 24
It was well past 1:00 in the morning when Lance found himself to be staring wide-eyed at the darkened ceiling above him. He had spent much of the day asleep, trying to recuperate from the blow to his head that he had sustained after falling off his horse the day before. The long naps had helped his headaches and the swelling in his broken wrist was now almost non-existent, but they completely messed up his sleeping patterns and now he was wide-awake.
After tossing about in his bed nearly another hour and hearing a few muffled complaints from a tired Joey in the next bed, Lance finally decided that he needed to go ahead and get to work on Skitty�s paperwork. He had been putting this task off as long as he could, not feeling very comfortable with the idea of going through the Mr. Benson�s files, but he knew that it was necessary.
Lance quietly pulled a pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt over his boxers and wife-beater before leaving his bedroom. Just as he was opening the door, he heard Joey turning in his bed.
�Lance? Where are you going?� Joey asked quietly, his voice heavy with fatigue as he propped himself up on one elbow while shielding his eyes from the dim light invading the dark room from the hallway.
�Just going to leave the room for a little while,� Lance answered. �I�m gonna give you a chance to get to sleep then I�ll come back and keep tossing and turning.�
�Kay�� Joey quietly answered as he lay back in the bed and turned his back to the door. �Night, Lance.�
�Night, Joe,� Lance replied with a slight chuckle knowing that Joey had no idea what he had just said to him and probably wouldn�t remember their short conversation in the morning at all.
After closing the bedroom door, Lance made his way down the long hallway passing by Chris�s bedroom first, then the bedroom that JC and Justin were sharing. No sounds could be heard from either room and he was glad for that. The last three days had been long and hard for all with their frequent trips to the small county clinic. Lance hoped that last night�s visit would be the last time any member of the group would have to spend any of their time there, but he wasn�t going to get his hopes up. If he did, that would be the time that someone would need some sort of medical attention.
�Man�too many more trips and Dr. Parrish and Dr. Granger could probably have a new wing built onto the clinic and name it in our honor,� Lance whispered to himself with little humor as he entered Selma�s spotless kitchen.
As quietly as possible he walked about the room, opening and closing several cabinet doors until he found a glass and a plate then moved on to the refrigerator to find some milk.
After pouring some milk into the glass and returning the jug to the refrigerator, Lance opened a cookie jar sitting on the cabinet and pulled out a handful of fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookies and put them on the plate. He then left the kitchen and headed into the living room then down another long hallway that would take him to Mr. Benson�s office area.
Seconds later, when he located the right room, the light from the hallway penetrated the darkness just enough that he found it easy to walk over to the massive desk across the room where he gingerly placed the glass of milk and plate of cookies on its surface. Reaching behind him he pulled up the high backed leather desk chair and sat down. After turning on the nearby desktop lamp, Lance rubbed his hands over the smooth desktop with a slight smile then pulled his reading glasses from his t-shirt collar and put them on.
Lance�s smile began to fade as he began feeling more like an intruder than a rightful owner�especially when he pulled open the desk drawer that Mr. Benson had earlier told him would contain Skitty�s ownership documents as well as those of the other two-dozen or more horses living on the ranch.
Carefully, Lance read over the labeled folders in the drawer until he found those that he needed. He pulled those folders from the drawer then quietly thumbed through them in search of Skitty�s papers.
�Let�s see,� Lance said quietly to himself as he began his search through the various names. �Annie�Bittersweet�Chloe�Ed�Gracie�Injun��Lil� Bit�Mike�Pal�Scandal�Skitty�there you are,� Lance said with a small smile. He had found some of the names that had been given to the horses either amusing or interesting�worth looking into the stories behind the name selections, but he decided not to take any more time in looking at those folders. He needed to concentrate on Skitty�s for now.
Pulling out her short stack of papers from her folder, Lance leaned back into the chair and slowly flipped through the pages and first came upon a few Polaroid pictures of the horse in various stages of her growth and of the brand that was on her left rear flank. Gazing closely at the photograph, Lance could see that the brand had two H�s and an R in an upside down pyramid with the R on the bottom.
�Humph�Hickory Hill Ranch,� Lance murmured as he brushed his fingertips over the picture before placing them on the desktop. He then glanced over Skitty�s shot records and saw that Dr. Charlie Reynolds, the local veterinarian, had updated her shots just two months earlier and had found her to be in good health. For the most part, besides a strained tendon three years ago and the annual shot updates, Skitty had not required any other visits from the doctor.
Next, Lance read over the documents regarding Skitty�s purchase and saw that Mr. Benson had paid $1000 for her in August of 1995, making her about 6 years old at the time that she had had to be destroyed.
�Okay�paid $1000�insured for�umm�let�s see,� Lance said as he shuffled through the remaining papers until he found what he needed.
�Insured for�nuh uh�that can�t be right,� he murmured in confusion as he reread the total at the bottom of the document.
�Why in the world�why did he do that?� he quietly asked, not expecting an answer.
�Why did he do what and who are you talking about?� a voice asked from the doorway.
A lone figure sat quietly in the darkness watching from a hilltop on the outer edge of the northern pasture of Hickory Hill Ranch. The moonlight above periodically peaked out from behind the clouds that littered the nighttime sky causing eerie shadows of the surrounding trees to criss-cross the valley below.
Approaching footsteps caused the figure to reach down beside him and finger a handgun, but a quiet, familiar voice caused him to pull his hand back and turn.
�Hey�it�s just me.�
�Good evening, Donald,� the figure said, moving his hand away from his gun before looking up at the man now standing at his side.
�Seen anything yet, Thomas?�
�Nope, but they�re supposed to be moving some sometime tonight,� Thomas answered.
For the past six months, Thomas Claire and Donald Crater, along with other investigators, had been working to find evidence that would prove that cattle rustling and larceny of personal property along with possible insurance fraud had been taking place in the area at the hands of some of the employees at Hickory Hill Ranch and surrounding ranches, including Lars Jenson�s place. The men had heard rumors and had seen some evidence of the goings on but not enough to bring charges against those suspected of being involved.
�Heard anything about that boy you found out here last night?� Donald asked as he pulled out his night vision binoculars from their case and began to take a view of the shallow valley below the hill. The previous evening had had both men patrolling the surrounding far pastures of the various ranches in search of evidence. When Thomas had returned from his ride, he had told Donald and the others about coming up on several of the Hickory Hill Ranch employees tormenting a newcomer that he was not familiar with. He had watched from a distance as the hands tied up the young man then surrounded him�pushed him about until he was totally disoriented, exhausted and frightened out of his mind. Then, after the hands had left, he had given what little help he could before leaving the young man lying helplessly in the middle of the pasture. It had made him sick with what little he was able to do, but any more help would have endangered himself and the investigation�possibly even the young man.
�I know that he was found�but that�s about it,� Thomas answered with a shake of his head.
�How many times did you check on him?� Donald asked. If he knew his partner very well, he figured that Thomas had to have checked on the young man at least once�maybe twice an hour until he had been rescued.
�I found him at about 3:30�4:00 in the afternoon and he was found around 9:00 or so. I guess I checked on him about eight, nine times,� Thomas admitted sheepishly before speaking again.
�You know, Don, for the life of me, I�ll never understand why someone would want to play such a cruel prank as that fool game of theirs,� he said in exasperation as the image of the bound young man helplessly writhing on the ground re-entered his mind for the umpteenth time since the incident occurred the night before. That image alone was enough to frustrate him and haunt him, but the image of the young man�s fearful gaze would remain with him for a long time to come.
Donald looked over at his partner and saw, even through the darkness, that he was still inwardly kicking himself for having not been able to do more for the young man in that pasture the previous evening. He had also felt similar frustration when Thomas told him about the situation. Having a son about the same age as Thomas had described the young man as being caused Donald to think of his own boy being found by someone unable to do anymore for him than Thomas had done for the young man and how discouraging that would be. But Donald had found out some information earlier in the day that might help Thomas in overcoming his feelings of anger and helplessness and he was sure that it would lighten the burden on his partner�s conscience.
�I know who he is,� Donald said quietly as he laid down the binoculars then opened a nearby thermos full of coffee and poured himself a cup of the steaming liquid.
�You do? How?� Thomas asked anxiously. He had been unable to leave the area that they had been observing and had no way of finding any information out on the young man other than the fact that he had been found.
�I overheard some talk at the local caf� this afternoon�the locals love to talk,� Donald answered with a small smile before blowing on the coffee then taking a small sip.
�Well�who is he?� Thomas asked in a tone of voice letting Donald know that his patience running a little thin.
�His name is Joshua Chasez, he�s 25 years old and he�s a member of the pop group, Nsync�ever heard of them?� Donald asked cocking up an eyebrow at the man beside him.
�Yeah�my kids went to one of their concerts at the beginning of the summer,� Thomas answered in a mixture of relief in knowing the young man�s identity and confusion as to what a world famous pop star was doing tied up in a pasture in the middle of Montana.
�So I helped out a world famous pop star�humph�but how is�� Thomas began but was interrupted by Donald.
�He�s fine,� Donald said, interrupting Thomas�s next question. He knew what he was going to be asking anyway.
�Joshua was dehydrated�somewhat disoriented and pretty scraped up and bruised. It was said that it took two ranch hands�um�Mitch Warden and Troy Garner until about 10:00 or so, like you estimated, to find him and the locals said that he went home from the clinic sometime earlier in the day with the rest of his friends.�
�It sounds like the local caf� is the pulse of the community,� Thomas said in amusement. He had grown up in a city of almost 200,000 and was unaccustomed to how small towns worked�everyone knowing everything about everyone around them and then some.
�Yeah�all I had to do was just sit back and listen,� Donald said with a smile as he pulled a blade of grass from the ground and played with it. �You�ll find out that in a small town cafe you really don�t have to ask any questions because sooner or later in one conversation or another, all your questions will be answered for you.�
�What about the hands who attacked him?� Thomas asked. He wanted to make sure that those men would get their just dues for what they had done to the young man one way or another.
�Charges have been filed against his kidnappers and from what I understand, their bail is set pretty high and they won�t be getting out of jail anytime soon,� Donald answered in a satisfied tone. He had also wanted justice to be served in this situation, but at the same time, he hoped that their investigation would not be hindered by the new development in any manner.
�So�what is the boy�s connection with Benson?�
�Well�you know Harvey Benson sold his property about two months ago to a James Lance Bass, out of Orlando. Well, it just so happens that Mr. Bass is another member of the music group,� Donald answered.
�Yeah�and�� Thomas said, trying to draw the information out of his partner.
�Apparently, the entire group is up here to look over the property�there�s five of them. Let�s see if I can remember their names,� Donald said as he rubbed his forehead in concentration. �Besides Bass and Chasez, there�s a Christopher Kirkpatrick, a Joseph Fatone, and a Justin Timberlake. The locals also mentioned some pretty strange things that have been happening since their first visit here�real strange.�
�So�you think that they�re involved in this operation in any way�with these strange things?� Thomas asked incredulously. The young man he had helped yesterday had not looked nor acted like any of the men that were their prime suspects�nothing like them at all.
�No, no�not hardly, Thomas,� Donald said with a mild chuckle as he shook his head. �Those boys are as clean as a bar of soap�not a thing in their records to indicate that they�ve ever done anything more than receive a couple of speeding tickets and maybe one DWI but that�s even questionable,� Donald answered. When he had learned of their identities, he had called the home office and had them do a little investigating on the young men and was impressed with the seemingly spotless records that had been faxed to him, but he also realized the group�s management could have had some hand in concealing certain things. Then, after rereading the information given to him, Donald came to the conclusion that the young men really were fine, upstanding citizens and in no need of help from their management in covering up situations because, in all actuality, there really wasn�t anything to cover up.
�What kinds of strange things are you talking about then?� Thomas asked.
�Well�I heard that a little more than two months ago, they put their rented suburban through Lars Jenson�s fence trying to avoid some cows in the middle of the road,� Donald said before taking another sip of his coffee.
�Yeah�I think I remember when that happened�remember reading about it. They were all pretty banged up, but none of the injuries were life threatening,� Thomas replied as he recalled the news reports and articles that he had seen and read covering the accident.
�Wasn�t the weather pretty bad that night?�
�Yeah�a front had come through and dumped about 3 or 4 inches of rain that night�it was pretty late too,� Donald answered. �The roads were real slick and somehow about 10 or so head of cattle got out of the fence and ended up on the road.�
�So�that was just more like an accident and not so much something that could be explained in any other way,� Thomas stated. �So what else has happened that sounds kind of strange, Don?�
�Two, three days ago, there was another car mishap, but this time Stan Baker was driving and he ran off the road trying to avoid a deer. It sent three of the boys to the clinic for treatment�um�Mr. Chasez had a concussion�Mr. Fatone was pretty skinned up and bruised and Mr. Timberlake banged up his shoulder and a couple of ribs.�
�You got this information from Conroe?� Thomas asked, speaking of a special contact they had as he picked up the night vision binoculars, to take his turn to view the valley below them.
�Yeah, then yesterday, Mr. Bass, an experienced rider was thrown from his horse and you, of course, know what happened to Mr. Chasez,� Donald said.
�It almost sounds as if Mr. Chasez�s misadventure was premeditated then, I mean, if the hands knew that he was in bad condition and all�� Thomas said, his voice trailing off.
�That�s kind of what I heard too from Conroe,� Donald answered. �He said that that was what Stan talked about that evening in the bunkhouse. The accident was a pretty hot topic. Hank seemed pretty pleased with what had happened so the hands knew that all of those boys were pretty bad off but they still planned on getting one of them involved in the game and apparently, Mr. Chasez just happened to be the easy target.�
�Well�it sounds like someone needs to keep a better eye on those young men before one of them gets hurt more seriously,� Thomas said. �I�d hate to see that happen.�
�Yeah,� Donald answered, nodding his head. �Conroe said that a couple of the hands are going to be keeping a better eye on them through the rest of their visit.�
�When are they going home?�
�Sometime next week, I think�not sure on the specific day and I�m not sure when Benson will be back from Phoenix either,� Donald answered.
�Well, let�s just keep our fingers crossed that nothing else happens to those boys,� Thomas said, hoping that just saying the words would give the young men the luck that they would need for the next several days.
The familiar voice coming from the hallway startled Lance, causing him to jump then quickly turned in his chair to see Joey leaning against the doorframe, gingerly holding his sides as he quietly laughed at him.
�Geez, Fatone�don�t do that,� Lance said as he continued to clutch Skitty�s papers against his chest as he willed his breathing and heart rate to slow down.
�Oh�I wish I had had a camera for that one�just classic, man�just classic,� Joey said in a voice full of mirth mixed with pain as he walked into the room and sat in a chair on the other side of the desk. He reached across the desk and grabbed a cookie.
�Man�do you think we could take Selma out on the road with us?� Joey asked after taking a bite of the cookie. He looked back at the younger man and saw his slight frown aimed in his direction.
�Oh�come on, Lance,� Joey said in an apologetic tone of voice as he smiled, his eyes twinkling with humor. �I�m sorry I scared you, but you gotta admit it�it was pretty funny.�
�I�m so glad that I could amuse you�now what do you want, Joey?� Lance said with a small smile of his own. He couldn�t stay angry for long with his friend. He knew that Joey had not surprised him on purpose and if the tables were turned, he would be laughing just as hard as his friend.
�Well�I woke up and saw that you weren�t in bed and you weren�t in the bathroom so, I wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay. You were tossing and turning for a while and I thought you might be hurting or something.�
It was Lance�s turn to laugh this time. He knew that Joey wouldn�t remember a word that he had said before leaving the room.
�I�m okay, Joey�my arm hurts a little, but I�ll live�thanks for worrying about me,� Lance said with a smile as he placed the papers in his hands back on the desktop.
�No problem�what�s that?� Joey asked as he pulled his chair closer to the desk so that he could see the papers.
�These are Skitty�s papers,� Lance answered. �Um�Mr. Benson said that I needed to go through some of the papers to make sure everything would be in order for the insurance company and all.�
�Oh�yeah�I remember you talking about that last night at the hospital,� Joey said as he reached for the pictures that were lying nearby.
�Is this her?� Unlike Lance, Joey didn�t know that much about horses and had only ridden them a handful of times but, in his opinion Skitty had been a pretty horse. One of the photographs had been taken earlier in the summer, according to a date written on the back. The bright sunlight seemed to bounce right off her shiny coat, which was an almost milk chocolate brown and she had a long black mane and tail. In another photograph, she seemed to stand tall�almost proud beside Mr. Benson.
�Yeah�she was even prettier the other day when I rode her than in those pictures,� Lance answered wistfully gesturing at the objects in his friend�s hands. Joey looked up from the pictures and saw the pensive expression on his young friend�s face so he decided to change the subject of conversation.
�When I was at the door you were talking about someone doing something. What was that about?�
�Oh�um,� Lance said with a small shake of his head as he tried to switch gears in order to answer Joey�s question. He knew that the older man was trying to sidetrack his thoughts and he appreciated it.
�I was looking at Skitty�s purchase papers and insurance papers and something just doesn�t add up, Joe,� Lance said as he placed the pages in his hands down on the desktop, smoothing them out before turning to the page that he wanted to show his friend.
�What do you mean?� Joey stood up and walked to the other side of the desk so that he could look at the papers over Lance�s shoulders.
�Look,� Lance said quietly as he pointed at a figure at the top of the page.
�Skitty was purchased by Mr. Benson for $1000 back in 1995.�
�Okay�is that a pretty good price?� Joey asked raising his eyebrows as he scratched his head. He didn�t know the first thing about buying or selling horses and would be the first to admit it.
�Yeah, as far as work horses go, that was a pretty good price back then,� Lance answered with a shrug as he recalled some of the prices his parents paid for the horses that the family had owned at that time before speaking again.
�But that�s not the weird part, Joey,� he quietly commented as he glanced up at his friend.
�What�s weird is how much money she was insured for as a work horse.�
�Oh,� Joey said as he watched Lance turn back around in his chair and look down at the pages set before him. He then watched as Lance flipped to the next page in the stack of documents and pointed to the figure at the bottom of the page.
�No way,� Joey said in disbelief. �That�s wild. Who would insure their horse�I mean, just a work horse for that much money?�
�I know�$10,000,� Lance said, nodding his head slowly as he perused through the short document for any clues as to why Skitty would have been insured for such an outrageous amount of money.
�I know that whenever Daddy purchased a work horse, he would just insure it for the amount that he paid for it. No more�no less,� Lance added with a shrug as he pulled his glasses off and looked back up at Joey. �Just enough to purchase a new horse.�
�Do you think it might be a typo?� Joey asked as he returned to his seat and eyed the glass of milk.
�I don�t know,� Lance answered then nodded at Joey, giving him permission to drink some of his milk.
�Thanks, man,� Joey said as he took a few sips then returned the glass to the desk then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
The two remained silent for several moments, each trying to come up with some sort of justification of Mr. Benson�s actions, but each was coming up empty handed until Joey sat up quickly.
�You know, Lance,� Joey began as he grabbed another cookie from the plate and slightly waved it in the air as he spoke.
�If that is just a typo, then the rest of the horses� files would probably be okay�right? I mean�they probably only made just this one mistake�� Joey said, his voice trailing off before taking a bite of his cookie.
�I guess we could find out,� Lance answered as he thumbed the remaining folders on the desk. There were at least 20 or more of them and would take some time to go through and compare the figures with each other. He wasn�t sure if Joey was up to doing that much since he had spent much of the day awake and had only gone to be about 3 hours before Lance had finally given in and got out of his own bed.
�You feel up to it, Joey?� Lance asked in a voice full of doubt as he watched his friend drink more of his milk before grabbing another cookie from the plate.
�I mean, you didn�t really get as much sleep today as I did.�
He, Justin and JC had all felt guilty for sleeping most of the day away while Joey and Chris had stayed up visiting, or so the trio thought. They had not been told that the real reason that the pair had stayed awake�that they would be alert if John Williams and Steven Cartwright had returned to the ranch with the hot tempers that they had had at the sheriff�s office earlier in the day. Joey and Chris had decided that Lance didn�t need to worry about that little development and, besides, it seemed that everything had blown over easy enough.
Lance searched Joey�s face for fatigue or pain and saw very little of either�actually, he was seeing a look of enthusiasm instead.
�Yeah�no problem, Lance�don�t worry about it,� Joey replied with a mischievous grin, trying to reassure his friend.
�I�ll catch up on that later�I�m having too much fun playing junior detective with you.�
Joey lightly clapped his hands once then quickly rubbed them together in eagerness his grin growing even larger.
Lance laughed at Joey�s remark and actions then passed a folder over to him.
�Here�s Annie�s files and I�ll take Bittersweet�s,� Lance said before settling back in his chair all the while not knowing that he and Joey had had an audience outside in the hallway quietly listening to their conversation.
�I�ll have to let my boy know what�s going on,� Selma whispered to herself as she stole back down the hallway to her bedroom. She had not heard the entire exchange between the two young men, but what she had heard had her believing that her son�s operation might be in danger of discovery.
As she reached for her phone, Selma glanced at the drawer of her nightstand and pulled it open to reveal a small baggie containing a few pills that her son and one of the other ranch hands had taken from one of the young men a few nights earlier. She picked up the bag and carefully fingered the pills through the plastic.
�Hmmm�� she quietly commented. �Might have to make some use out of you sooner than I expected.�
With a small laugh, the older woman placed the baggie back in the drawer. After closing the drawer she reached for her phone to call her son knowing that he would be out in one of the far pastures moving a small herd of cattle. Together, they would need to come up with a plan to prevent the five young singers from spoiling their plans.