Page 76 of The Rancher Who Swore Off Love
“What happened?” Mason’s gaze swept the room. “What the… who did this?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Logan pointed at the desk. “Somebody came into this house last night, opened my office, picked the strongbox lock, and went through every drawer I own.”
“While we weresleepin’?” Thomas stepped over the upturned drawer and crouched by the desk. “That’s… Logan, that’s not possible. The doors were locked. I checked the front myself before bed.”
“Well, somebody got in. Unless you’re suggestin’ my papers threw themselves on the floor for fun.”
“The windows?” Pa stood in the doorway. “Check the windows.”
Mason crossed to the office window and tested the latch. “Locked. From the inside. Ain’t been touched.”
“Kitchen window?” Logan looked at Thomas.
“I’ll check.” Thomas disappeared down the hall. His voice echoed back ten seconds later. “Kitchen’s locked! Parlor too!”
Pa frowned. “Back door?”
Jonah jogged toward the rear of the house. A pause. Then his boots came back fast.
“Back door’s picked too.” He appeared in the office doorway, breathing hard. “That’s where they came in.”
“What’d they take?” Pa stroked his chin. “The deed? The money?”
“Deed’s here. Money’s here. All forty-two dollars.”
“Then what—”
“The silver.” Logan stared at the empty compartment. “Grace’s silver. The nugget she found at the high pasture. That’s the only thing missin’.”
“That don’t make no sense.” Mason shook his head. “Why take a three-dollar chunk of silver and leave forty-two dollars in cash sittin’ right underneath it? That’s… Who does that?”
Pa hummed. “Somebody who wasn’t lookin’ for money.”
“What do you mean?” Thomas leaned against the wall. “What else would they be lookin’ for?”
“I mean somebody came into this house, picked a lock, searched this desk, and took the one thing that came out of theground.” Pa looked at Logan. “They weren’t robbin’ us, son. They were lookin’ for somethin’ specific. And they took the silver because it told ’em what they needed to know.”
“Which is what?”
“That was a nugget, not a coin. They’ll assume we found it and that there’s more where it came from.”
The floor creaked behind them.
Grace stood in the hall with Miriam on her hip. Grace’s eyes moved from the upturned drawer to the open strongbox to Logan’s face, and whatever she found on his face made her pull Miriam tighter against her chest.
“Logan? What happened?”
“Somebody broke in last night. Went through the office.”
“Broke in? While we were—” Her arm tightened around the baby. “While Miriam and I weresleeping?”
“Looks that way.”
“Oh, Lord.”
Her face went pale under the freckles. Her muscles locked into place, her jaw set, and she pulled closer to her.
“The silver’s gone.” Logan clenched his fists. “The nugget from the pasture. That’s the only thing they took.”
