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teammates.
    â€œHi,” I said.
    â€œHi,” she said.
    For some reason, both of us got a little shy.
    After a long silence, I looked up at the clear sky. “Nice day,” I said.
    She laughed. “Is it a nice day to go for a drive?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œDon’t you want to know where?” she asked.
    â€œSure.” I wasn’t going to tell her that it would have been all right if we just drove circles around the parking lot.
    â€œTo your ranch,” she said. “If we’re lucky, there will still be a couple of hours of daylight when we get there.”
    â€œSure,” I said.
    â€œDon’t you want to know why?” she asked.
    â€œSure.”
    Some of the guys were shouting at us as they got into their cars, the way guys do when they want to give you a rough time. I ignored them. So did she.
    â€œI’d like to look over the spot where Big Boy and the other cattle were killed,” she said.
    â€œWhat are we looking for? My dad called in the police, and they already went over everything.”
    Dad had filed an insurance claim. Part of the claim needed a police report. With it, he was going to get back nearly all of the money Big Boy had been worth.
    â€œDid the police find anything?”
    â€œPieces of cattle,” I answered. “Some footprints. Nothing else to give them any idea of who or why.”
    â€œLet’s look around anyway,” she said. “Maybe over a bigger area. The police didn’t know about the other bloodline killings. They might not have searched very hard.”
    â€œShouldn’t we tell them about the other killings?” I asked.
    â€œI already have,” she told me. The sun on her face made a pretty picture. “This afternoon, before I stopped by here. They didn’t sound too excited. I think partly because it sounds weird and partly because they aren’t going to take a teenage girl very seriously.”
    â€œI will,” I said.
    â€œYou will what?”
    â€œTake you seriously.” I realized what I was saying. “I mean—I’ll take what you say seriously. I didn’t mean get serious with you.”
    She frowned and looked as if she was trying to decide what I was getting at.
    â€œIt’s not that I think you’re ugly,” I said quickly. I wished I’d kept my mouth shut.
    â€œYou’re not. Oh boy, you’re not. But you probably have lots of guys chasing you. I didn’t mean I want to get serious with you. Because I don’t want you to think I’d do something stupid like try to ask you out when you probably have a boyfriend. I mean—”
    â€œCowboy,” she said, stopping me.
    â€œYes?” My ears were burning.
    â€œYou’re cute.”
    My ears got hotter.
    â€œGet in,” she said, motioning toward her Bronco. “I’ll drive. You give me directions on how to get to the ranch.”
    After we had both buckled our seatbelts, she started the engine. She put the Bronco in drive but kept her foot on the brake. She turned toward me.
    â€œAnd Josh?”
    â€œYes?”
    She smiled. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Chapter Ten
    When Stephanie and I got to the ranch, we didn’t stop by the house to visit because Mom and Dad were in town getting their weekly supplies.
    So we drove right to the barn. I got out of the Bronco first and walked into the barn ahead of Stephanie. It was nice to smell horses and hay again.
    One of our hired men was inside, shoveling horse manure into a wheelbarrow.
    â€œHello, Ernest,” I said. “Just here to go for a ride with a friend.”
    He looked up at me and grunted. Ernest was a middle-aged guy with a skinny face wrinkled from a lot of wind and sun. Ernest used to be in the rodeo. He walked with a limp. A horse had once kicked his knee and broken the kneecap. I didn’t know Ernest’s last name because he had only started working at the ranch a few