Deadly Trespass
One
Dominic Luca adjusted the reins of his mount and leaned forward in the saddle, giving the horse its head and allowing its hind legs to power its way up the steeply sloping trail at a strong canter. Leafy twigs and fronds, still damp with morning dew, slapped gently at his face and arms as he passed, and a few moments later he and the horse reached the top of the incline and emerged from the wooded area into the open. On level ground again, Luca settled back in his saddle and shook the dew drops from his hair, silently cursing his unruly hair that tended to curl when it became wet.
A short distance behind him, the horses ridden by T. J. McCabe and Jim Street cantered up the same slope, their iron-shod hoof beats ringing on the hard ground. When all of them were on level ground again, they slowed their mounts to a comfortable walk. The borrowed horses moved willingly, their heads bobbing up and down in rhythm to their easy gait. Bringing up the rear was the packhorse, which carried their supplies.
Riding single file at a leisurely pace, they had been traveling since dawn that morning on horses belonging to Bob Carver, a retired police officer and old friend of Lieutenant Harrelson. The property, formerly a large working cattle ranch, had belonged to Carver�s late grandfather, passed down to him through the generations, and after leaving the force six years earlier, he and his wife had decided to retire there. The cattle were long gone, deemed too much trouble for the aging police veteran, and much of the property was unfenced rugged wilderness, but he retained the entire tract of land simply because he liked the hunting and fishing opportunities it presented.
When Harrelson had casually mentioned that several of his young subordinates were planning a fishing trip, Carver had been more than happy to offer some advice on the best fishing holes, particularly a large pond on undeveloped land at the far end of his property. �It�s been years since I�ve fished there,� he told them, �but it was brimming with largemouth bass then, so it should be a fisherman�s paradise by now.� The only drawback was that because there were no roads leading to the pond, it was only accessible on horseback, a rough full-day trip through the forests, hills and valleys. To his surprise, the young men were willing if not eager to pack into the wilderness, so he had generously offered the loan of his horses and gear.
Originally, it had been T. J. and Jim who had planned the trip. Fishing was a sport that both had enjoyed as youths, but it had taken some arm-twisting to convince the youngest member of the team to make it a threesome. Luca had initially resisted. Although he had occasionally fished as a youth with his father, brothers, and uncles and cousins, his idea of a vacation was a bit different than that of his partners, but after some good natured prodding he had finally agreed.
All of them had ridden horses owned by friends or relatives during their teen years, and all were reasonably comfortable on horseback, but none of them had ever spent more than an hour or so at one time in the saddle, and never in country as rugged as this. At first, the going was easy, crossing flat grassy meadows in which the cattle had grazed years earlier. But the deeper they progressed into the back country, the more rugged it became. There were many hills, bluffs, and wooded areas to maneuver, and by ten thirty, they began to feel the effects of their hours in the saddle. They were facing many more hours before they reached their destination, but all three were still eager and in high spirits as they pushed deeper and deeper into the open range.
As they rode along the top of the sloping ground, they were offered a lovely view of another meadow which stretched out below them on their left. Tall prairie grass waved gently in the mild breeze, dotted with spring wild flowers. Beyond that, the clear blue sky rose above the treetops and the sunshine fell warmly upon their shoulders.
Turning in the saddle, Luca placed his hand on the haunch of his mount and grinned at T. J., who followed directly behind. �Bob�s a lucky man!� he exclaimed with boyish enthusiasm. �I can�t even imagine what it would be like to own a spread like this.� He gestured toward the valley with a broad sweep of his hand, in his typical Italian style. �The scenery is gorgeous! I�d love to build a cabin or something back in these hills away from all the traffic and car horns.�
�I was thinking the same thing,� T. J. agreed. �I used to hunt with my dad, and we saw some incredible scenery, but nothing like this. Imagine waking up to a scene like this every morning!�
Bringing up the rear with the packhorse in tow, Jim teased, �I thought you didn�t want to come on this trip, Flash. I seem to recall you saying something about not wanting to spend your vacation fighting 50 pound mosquitoes.�
�Okay, I�ll admit, I�m pleasantly surprised,� Luca cheerfully admitted. �And I haven�t even seen a single mosquito, so far. I guess I should thank the Powers that Be for causing that water-main break in the E.C. room and giving us the opportunity for an unscheduled vacation. Unpaid, though it is,� he added. �I have enough trouble getting from one paycheck to the next without having to go a full week without pay.�
�You could have subbed over at Sunset Station,� Street reminded him. �They have a man out on vacation this week.�
�Yeah, I know, but Deke beat me to it. Can you believe it�s going to take a full week to get everything dried out and cleaned up?�
�Lucky for us,� T. J. quipped, happily. �Pay or no pay, it�s good to be out in the fresh air for a few days. I just can�t believe they�re going to have to replace all of our rifles and equipment. That must have been some flood!�
�I guess that�s what happens when you�re in the basement,� Street added.
As Luca turned around in the saddle to face the front again, a tawny object caught his eye, a young doe grazing in the meadow grass. Drawing back the reins, he stopped his horse to watch and the others stopped behind him. The doe�s head came up when one of the horses snorted, and on long slender legs she bounded down the slope and across the meadow before disappearing into the safety of the foliage on the other side.
He sighed, happily. �I�m glad Deke volunteered first,� he concluded. �I would have missed all of this. I just wish I�d thought to bring a camera.�
�Yeah, me too,� T. J. agreed. �I was careful to make sure we had all this fishing tackle, and then I forgot the camera!�
�Of course, without that paycheck, I probably wouldn�t have been able to afford to put any film in it!� His eye fell on T. J. again. �On our salaries, I can�t believe you can afford those house payments you�re making!�
�It�s called �budgeting�,� T. J. replied, feeling a sense of pride at the small house he had recently purchased. �I was tired of apartment life.�
�Think of it this way, Dom,� Street said. �Out here in the wilderness, you�re not spending all your money to impress your dates.�
�Your women are what�s keeping you broke all the time, Flash,� T. J. pointed out. �Why do you keep trying so hard to impress them? A nice quiet evening at home is just as enjoyable as an expensive dinner and movie.�
Luca could not deny that he spent a great deal of money on the women he dated, so he merely shrugged and nudged his horse into motion again. Behind him, T.J.�s horse immediately followed, and Street tugged on the lead rope of the pack horse, which had dropped its head to nibble on the meadow grass.
For a while, they traveled in silence, passing through wooded areas, ascending and descending hills and following winding trails around the bluffs, watching the wildlife and listening to the sounds of nature: Birds sang in the treetops, squirrels chirped at them from branches as they passed, and once they caught a fleeting glimpse of a mule deer buck as it leaped a clump of brush and disappeared into the woods. T. J.�s English Setter, Midge, trotted just off the trail, making frequent excursions into the brush to look for game birds, but she seemed to realize that her master was not hunting this trip and always emerged quickly.
The horses� hooves made a dull clopping noise on the hard ground as they traversed the diverse landscape. Tall grass covered the open meadows, moss and lichen grew in abundance in the shaded areas inside the forest, and varieties of summer wildflowers grew everywhere, nodding their colorful heads with the gentle breeze. It was a perfect day for a horseback ride, and promised to be an enjoyable vacation.
-()-
By noon, the three young officers were feeling the effects of the long hours in the saddle, and when they reached a lovely stream that trickled soothingly over the pebbles in the streambed, Luca pulled his mount to a halt. The others stopped behind him. Midge splashed into the stream, lapping the water eagerly with her pink tongue.
�This looks like a good place for lunch, eh?� he suggested. Without waiting for a response, he stepped down from the horse and stretched the knotted muscles in his tired legs.
T. J. immediately dismounted as well, stretching his legs and rubbing his hands up and down the seat of his jeans.
Street dismounted gracefully, looking like he had been doing it every day of his life. �A little sore there, T. J.?� he teased, refusing to admit that he, too, was starting to feel the stress of the long hours in the saddle.
�I�m glad Bob gave us a refresher course on horseback riding,� T. J. replied, �but I guess I should have factored in all those years it�s been since the last time I had ridden. It�s like riding a bike; you never forget how, but the muscles get soft.�
Luca was walking slowly to get the kinks out of his legs, leading the horse behind him, but his eyes fell upon the handsome Street. �How come you�re not as sore as the rest of us?� he inquired.
�Well, I�ve been dating this young lady who owns some horses. We go riding sometimes, so I guess I�ve gotten a little more accustomed to it than you guys.� He slipped off his mount�s bridle and tied the animal to a tree limb using the lead rope. The crown of the bridle was draped over the saddle horn, then he began loosening the cinch to allow the horse to breathe easier.
Luca and T. J. replicated Street�s actions, then they removed some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the pack horse�s sack of provisions. Bob�s wife had graciously provided the sandwiches to make their noon meal more convenient for them, so they sat down on the cool ground and opened the wrappers.
For a while, they rested and ate in silence while the horses dozed on their tethers, swishing their tails lazily across their flanks, one rear hoof cocked in a resting position. Overhead, birds were nesting in the treetops, and a squirrel watched them from its perch, sampling the odor of the peanut butter with interest, but not bold enough to come out of the tree with the dog lying beside her master. Midge was more interested in the sandwiches than the wildlife, and she watched every bite with pricked ears.
Finally, Luca broke the silence. �So, who�s this new girl you�ve been dating, Jim?�
Street smiled his slightly evasive smile. �No one you know, Dom.�
�Where did you meet her?�
Again, Street gave a knowing little smile. �At a friend�s party,� he replied, a vague answer that did not satisfy Luca�s curiosity.
�Well tell us about her,� he urged, always on the lookout for a new pretty face. �Maybe she has a sister or something.�
�She�s an only child. Very pretty, but also very down to earth. Very private, like me.� There was a message in that response that Luca failed to pick up on.
�So, she has horses? Does she live on a ranch or something?�
�Nope.�
T. J. was grinning. �Dom, I think he�s politely saying that it�s none of your business.�
Luca shrugged, and finally conceded. �Oh, okay. Didn�t mean to pry.�
�No problem,� Street said, amiably. He observed his half-eaten sandwich. �You know, I don�t think I�ve eaten peanut butter since I was a kid. I�d forgotten how much I liked it back then.�
�Me too,� T. J. agreed, then tossed the last bite of his sandwich to the drooling dog, and looked over at the horses. �Think they�ve cooled down enough to give them some water?�
Jim nodded. �Yeah, I think so. We�ll give them some water, then let them rest a while before we head out again.�
The three young men stood up, cringing as the tired muscles in their thighs constricted with the effort. The horses were untied and led to the stream. The thirsty animals immediately dropped their muzzles into the cool water, and after they had satisfied their thirst, they were tethered to the trees again to rest a while. All three horses began nibbling at the leaves and twigs.
Luca passed T. J. the map, for when they started riding again, the sharpshooter would take over the lead. T. J. spread the map open against his thigh and reviewed the sketch that Bob had provided.
�Looks like we�re about halfway there,� he announced. �And it looks like the country gets more rugged the farther out we get. Look at all these hills and bluffs. Good thing he marked the best passage for us to get there.� He folded up the map again and tucked it into his pocket. �I wonder how he found that pond, anyway.�
�He said he grew up here, so he probably spent days riding and backpacking,� Street said. �Sounds like an idyllic sort of childhood,� he added, wistfully. �I grew up in an apartment playing basketball on the sidewalk with my friends.�
�Yeah,� Luca agreed. �We had a house, though. There were too many kids in our family for an apartment, but we never had anything like this. Just a small backyard.�
�Several generations of Bob�s family have lived here,� T. J. pointed out. �That�s a lot of time to scope out the property.�
They rested a while longer, then Jim suggested that they move out again. The saddles were tightened again, and the bridles slipped back over the horses� heads, then they mounted. This time, T. J. moved up to the lead with the map, Street took the middle, and Luca moved to the rear for his turn with the pack horse.
T. J.�s horse, a handsome blaze-faced palomino called Buttercup, flicked its ears tentatively at the water as they rode down the gently sloping bank. Drinking it was one thing, getting one�s hooves wet was quite another. When it balked, T. J. nudged its flanks with his heels, and the horse launched itself over the trickling water. With a gasp of surprise, T. J. grabbed the saddle horn to help minimize the amount of space that had suddenly appeared between his backside and the saddle. He sprawled across the mare�s neck as they landed on the other side, and quickly righted himself.
Street, observing how Buttercup had reacted to the water, prepared himself for a similar reaction, but the bay gelding, Prince, splashed right through without hesitation.
Luca�s Appaloosa, Chief, followed boldly, but the pack horse, Daisy, a sturdy chestnut mare, hung back until finally forced to submit to the pull on her lead rope. Like Buttercup, she leaped over the stream, nearly getting ahead of Chief.
�I should have taken jumping lessons!� T. J. laughed, shakily. �Obviously, Buttercup doesn�t like getting her feet wet!�
�Well, now you know to watch out for that,� Street said.
�For a moment there, I thought you were going to get ahead of your horse!� Luca teased.
�Only when we landed,� T. J. replied as they moved off again through the forest. �When we took off, I nearly got left behind!�
Laughing good naturedly, the three young men proceeded deeper into the property. For the next few hours, everything was quiet and peaceful as they pushed deeper into the wilderness.
The light was subdued inside the shaded areas of the woods through which they were now traveling, where the canopy of trees prevented the sun�s rays from penetrating the leaves.
Briefly, T. J. stood up in the stirrups to relieve the ache on the insides of his thighs from sitting in the same position for such an extended period. Behind him, he heard Jim yawn into his hand, and farther back Luca uttered some inaudible oath at the pack horse, which was lagging. Even Midge, a seemingly unending bundle of energy, was starting to slow down and had taken a position beside T. J.�s horse. Her mouth was open wide, her tongue lolling out, and he could hear her panting.
�Aww-wah!� Street yawned again.
T. J. settled back in the saddle again and grinned over his shoulder. �Don�t fall asleep at the wheel, Jim!� he advised. �You might fall off!�
�This is getting a tad monotonous,� Jim replied. �I know I risk sounding like a six year old, but how much farther is it?�
�According to the map, it looks like we have another hour or so before we reach the pond. We should have enough daylight to do a little fishing before turning in.� T. J. glanced at his watch: 3:17. �If the fish are biting, then we should have just enough time to catch our supper before dark.�
�I�m looking forward to that! Maybe we can catch our supper for tonight. There is nothing quite as good as largemouth bass fried over an open fire!�
�Come on, you old nag!� Luca exclaimed from the rear, tugging on Daisy�s lead rope. The stubborn mare had stopped at a shrub to pull a mouthful of leaves and twigs, and finally yielded reluctantly to the tug on the lead rope.
T. J. chuckled with amusement and started to make a comment about Luca�s inability to communicate with the obstinate animal, but instead he suddenly pulled his horse to a stop. �What the hell?�
With a puzzled frown, Jim stopped his horse on T. J.�s left side, and Luca stopped on the other side.
All three stared in silence at the mound of rocks and dirt that blocked the narrow gap through which they must pass to reach their destination. Even the horses were standing quietly, looking at the obstacle that blocked their path as if realizing that it wasn�t supposed to be there. At the top of the high bluff, they could see the ragged edges where the debris had broken loose and fallen. Midge rushed ahead and climbed partway up the debris, then stopped and looked over her shoulder at her human friends as if wondering why they were not following.
Pulling the map from his pocket again, T. J. opened it up against the saddle horn and pinpointed their location, observing that Bob�s directions indicated they must go through the pass to get to the pond. He shook his curly blond head, slowly. �This map shows the pass is open and traversable.�
�Well, it isn�t now,� Luca said, stating the obvious.
Jim leaned over to look, and pointed with his finger. �You�re right. The map doesn�t show anything about a rockslide.� He looked up and scrutinized the mound of unearthed rocks and boulders, noticing the tufts of grass that clung to life in the dirt that had come down with it. �I wonder how long it�s been since Bob rode this trail?�
�I don�t think he said, but if he had known about this I�m sure he would have warned us about it.� He paused, his eyes traveling up the rocky slope with visible disappointment. �Well, the bluff is too high and too rugged to climb with horses, so what do we do now? Turn back?�
�We�ve come so far, and we�re almost there,� Luca reminded them. �Can�t we find a way around it? Surely there�s another way to the pond.�
Jim cocked his head for a better view of the map and traced a path with his finger. �Yeah, we can track down to our left and circle this bluff and then come through this wooded area here. It�ll probably add at least another hour onto our trip, maybe even two, but it�s either that or a long haul back to civilization empty-handed.�
�I vote we go on,� T. J. said.
�Me too,� Dom agreed.
�Then it�s unanimous,� Street said.
T. J. turned Buttercup to the left, and Midge, who had been waiting on top of the pile of rocks for them to proceed, scrambled down to catch up. They slowly worked their way around the landslide. It was a lengthy stretch of rough, rocky ground, and when they emerged on the other side of the bluff, they found themselves inside a densely wooded area where the trees and undergrowth grew so close together that the horses had difficulty pushing through it
Because he was the last rider in the line and they were a long way from civilization, there should have been no one behind Luca. So when a twig snapped in the brush behind the packhorse, startling the animal and causing it to crowd close against the rump of his saddle horse, he jerked Chief to a halt and twisted his upper body in the saddle to look for the source.
His dark eyes darted from tree to tree, but saw nothing in the perpetual shade of the dense forest except the leaves and branches nodding gently in the mild breeze. Whatever he had heard had apparently stopped as well. An uneasy sensation crept into Luca�s stomach, and he felt the hair prickle on the back of his neck. Whatever it was, he knew it was watching him. The horses knew it too. Their heads were turned toward the direction of the sound, their ears pricked sharply forward, and both animals were tensed as if prepared to flee if danger presented itself. Daisy snorted nervously.
�Who�s there?� Luca asked as his eyes continued to dart anxiously from one clump of particularly thick vegetation to another. Where was it? What was it?
There was no answer, but he could feel its eyes watching him.
Turning forward again, Luca looked for the dog. Midge was trotting far ahead of T. J. and the lead horse, and had apparently not heard the noise that had attracted his attention. Luca decided it was time to leave. There was safety in numbers, and it was not a good idea to lag behind without knowing what it was that was hiding. He nudged the horse into a jog and caught up with his friends. �Hey, Jim. Did Bob mention whether or not there are any bears or cougars up here?�
�No, I don�t think so. There could be some, though, I suppose. Why?�
�Well, I thought I heard something behind us just now.� He looked over his shoulder, half expecting to see a bear lumbering toward them or a cougar stalking them, and felt relieved to verify that there was nothing there. �It sounded like a twig snapping under a heavy foot.�
�If it was a bear, the horses would be hard to handle,� Street pointed out, addressing the fact that the horses were plodding along quietly.
�Chief and Daisy both heard it too, and looked pretty nervous,� he told them.
�If it was a bear, Midge would be going crazy,� T. J. added, taking note of the fact that his dog had stopped to investigate a clump of brush, looking for quail. �You probably just heard a squirrel drop a walnut or something from a tree. Horses are easily startled by things they can�t see.�
�Maybe,� Luca said, grudgingly. It had not sounded to him like an object dropping from a tree. Glancing one more time over his shoulder to verify that they were not being followed, he nudged his horse a little closer behind Street�s mount, wishing they had decided to bring their service revolvers along.
He heard no more noises during the rest of the day, and eventually put the matter out of his mind. Whatever it was had apparently intended them no harm, and had most likely been an animal browsing for food.