An hour later, they were sitting around the table, forming a plan.
Kelly’s face grew hard as he said firmly, “I want to know who’s been threatening me and who boarded up that sinkhole.”
“Getting the police won’t help one bit until we get proof,” said Julia. “You can’t accuse anyone without substantial evidence.”
“You’re right but we have to come up with a plan that won’t endanger everyone.”
“We shouldn’t tell the twins,” said Julia. “If they let something slip…”
“I agree.” Kelly creased his brow and frowned. “The fool really dug a hole for himself. If he would have only stuck to minor incidents, then I wouldn’t go so hard on him. But burning the barn down will really cost him dearly.”
“How about poisoning the cattle?” asked Julia. “That’s not so minor.”
“Well, that’s a lot cheaper to pay for than a barn. I would have worked out a deal but now it’s too late. He’ll be arrested for arson. And it’ll be on his record.”
“By the way,” said John. “We can add endangering my wife on that list because of his stupid stunt with the burr.”
Julia turned to her brother. “Kelly, we have to trap him into a confession.”
“How do we do that?”
“I’ve been thinking. You told me that everyone meets together in the bunkhouse in the mornings.”
“That’s right. I give them instructions on what needs to be done for the day and give assignments.”
“Perfect. I’ll walk in and ask you for a hammer. You’ll ask me why I need it. Then I’ll announce to everyone in the room that I’m checking out the sinkhole, which I found. The guilty person will try to stop me and I’ll get him to confess. You and John will be hiding behind some bushes at the sinkhole to witness the whole thing.”
“That’s not so smart, Julia.” John shook his head in disagreement. “What if he grabs you before you arrive at the sinkhole? I think I should be the one to go instead.”
Kelly held up his hand. “No one, and I mean no one is going to put their life in danger for me. I think we should come up with another plan and then vote on it.”
“Okay, what suggestion do you have?” asked Julia.
“I’ve got an idea,” said Kelly. “I’ll say that I’ve received reports of sinkholes in the area and I don’t want any cattle falling in and getting hurt. I’m going to suggest that someone volunteer to check out that end of the pasture. The guilty one will volunteer.”
“What if he gets suspicious because you’re only checking that section of land?” asked Julia.
“I’ll say that I’ve already checked everywhere else, except that area because it was too rocky. No one likes going there because of all the rocks.”
“What if you have more than one person volunteer?” asked John.
“The guilty one will insist that he check out the area. Besides, I’ll tell them that it’s an all day job, which involves fencing up any dangerous areas. That should weed out a few men.”
“It sounds like it should work,” said Julia.
Kelly nodded. “I’ll put Tony in charge and he can deal with it while John and I head for the sinkhole. We need to get there before the culprit does.”
“What if it’s Tony?”
“It won’t be. I’ve known him too long and have never lost faith in him. He’s innocent. I know it.”
“Just the same,” said Julia. “Don’t tell Tony our plan.”
“I agree,” said John. “We’ve got to be careful. Whoever it is won’t allow anyone to discover what he’s found.”
“Okay.” Kelly nodded. “But if I’m going to act natural, I always put Tony in charge of things. So after announcing it, he’ll have to assign the person who volunteers.”
Everyone agreed.
“I know a bunch of boulders nearby that we can hide behind. There’s also some shrubbery surrounding it. We can watch from a short distance and see who shows up.”
“How about me?” asked Matthew.
“I don’t need you.” Kelly shook his head. “It’ll only take the two of us to nab this young man. It should be easy.”
Julia turned to Kelly and said, “What if the kid doesn’t check the area and just says he did.”
“No, he’ll show. He’ll be too curious to see if we have anymore. He’ll wonder if the other so-called sinkholes are filled with gold, also.”
Julia nodded. “I think that’s a good plan. I vote for that one.”
The plan was voted for unanimously. In the morning at breakfast, Kelly would make his assignments and then ask for a volunteer to check out that area of pastureland. The person who was guilty would in turn go to Tony and volunteer. If two volunteered, then Kelly was sure the guilty one would be more persistent about doing the job. Everyone agreed to say nothing to the twins or Tony about what had been found because they might not act natural and ruin everything.
The rest of the day seemed to creep by slowly, simply because of the anxiety of the following morning. Matthew and April retired early, saying they wanted to have a picnic in their cabin. This bit of news surprised everyone. Without hesitation, Matthew grabbed the picnic basket, took April’s hand with a mischievous grin, and headed toward the honeymoon cabin.
The twins played a game while Julia did the dishes and helped clean up the house. John and Kelly sat in the kitchen discussing deer season and the best mountains for hunting.
After everyone went to bed, Julia tossed and turned and couldn’t seem to relax. How would things work out tomorrow? Would John and Kelly be all right? They were both in good physical shape and she knew they could overpower the young man if need be. But it still unnerved her. They were going without any defenses because Kelly didn’t feel it was necessary. He wanted to face his ranch hand one on one and find out who put him up to it. Who was the mastermind behind this mess?
After she tossed a few more times, she heard a sleepy voice beside her. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“Wrong? What do you mean?”
“It’s 2:00 in the morning and I’ve felt you tossing and turning most of the night. What’s bothering you?”
Julia sighed. “Nothing.”
John turned over on his side and said, “If you don’t want to talk about it. I understand. But it might help if you do.”
“Well,” she hesitated.
“Tell me. Get it off your chest.”
“Okay. I’m worried about you and Kelly going out there with nothing to protect yourselves. Maybe we should get the police involved after all.”
“Hey, the police already think Kelly’s crazy because of reporting a Thunder God and saying this place is haunted. Besides, if I can’t defend myself from a young kid, then I’m in awful shape. Not only that, if there really is a mastermind behind this, then we need to convince the kid to tell us who he or she is.”
“She?” asked Julia curiously. “Do you really think the mastermind is the housekeeper that worked for Kelly?”
John nodded. “Could be. I’m not ruling her out. She wouldn’t talk to the detective you hired and slammed the door on his face. Remember that woman you called on the cell phone who hung up on you?”
Julia nodded.
“Why did she hang up when she found out who you were?”
The thought of a woman being behind all of this unnerved her. “But what if something goes wrong? How would you defend yourself?”
“We’ll be just fine, sweetheart.”
“But…”
“No buts about it. Just relax and go back to sleep. Everything’s going to be just fine. Trust me!”
She gave a weak smile and nodded. “Okay.”
John pulled her close, cuddled up to her, and kissed her good night.
Julia didn’t say another word because she realized he was right. John was in great shape and so was Kelly. It shouldn’t be hard to overpower the young man and take him to the police. In fact, he might even climb down the ladder and check out his little discovery to make sure no one bothered it. They could grab him as he came up the ladder. Easy as pie. What could go wrong?