Dodge the Bullet Read Free Page B

out the bedroom window. He wore
the usual uniform of the valley, jeans and an un-tucked t-shirt
with well worn boots and an old cowboy hat. He was tall and lean,
with muscular forearms and unusual golden eyes. His calloused hands
proved he was used to hard work. She could tell by the earlier tone
of his voice and his uncomfortable stance that he didn’t want to
help her. While she could admire his looks, she had to wonder about
his motives.
     
     

 
     
    Chapter 3
    As they bumped along the overgrown roads of
the property, Dodge found himself enjoying the beauty of a piece of
land he hadn’t seen in almost a decade. The Woodwards had bought
the old Storey place when Storey died and his kin were more
interested in money than ranching. It was one of the last large
river properties in the valley that hadn’t been bought and divided
into 35 to 50 acre parcels and sold as mini-ranches. When Dodge
first learned a family from Georgia had bought the place, he’d
assumed they’d do the same. Then he’d heard that Denton Frazier had
been running his cattle here for awhile, long enough to forage the
land and add to its decay before leaving it in worse shape than
before.
    “This is a nice truck,” Sarah said as she
fiddled with the paper in her lap.
    “Thanks. I was just thinking the opposite
about yours.”
    She gave him a scornful look and sniffed the
air. “Interesting smell.”
    “Its cow shit, but it smells like money to
me.” “Dodge didn’t want Sarah Woodward to like him or forget he
didn’t want to help her. There was something about her that made
him want to keep his distance.
    “You’ve got a real way with people. About
the ranch…” She gripped the pen and tapped it annoyingly on the
pad. “I’ve already put fence repair on the list. Denton Frazier
used to lease this place for his cows. He stopped about a year ago
because the fences needed work and I couldn’t deal with it at the
time.”
    Dodge stole a sideways glance at the legal
pad. “I agree the fences would be a good place to start. But repair
may be just as costly as replacement. You should talk to a few
companies and get some quotes. Replacement would give you the
chance to reconfigure the pastures.”
    “Do the pastures need to be
reconfigured?”
    “Well, Storey didn’t run cattle. He had a
few sheep and mainly grew hay. Frazier never rotated his cattle and
the land paid a price. It’s had some time to rest, but you’ll need
to divide the property up so you can rotate the cattle from pasture
to pasture. It’s a little too choppy right now.”
    “Will the fence people be able to advise me
on how best to divide the pastures?”
    Dodge knew that the fence companies would
say whatever it took to increase her costs. Damn it, he was getting
in over his head. “Do you have any aerial views of the land?”
    “I’m sure there were some with the survey
when we bought he place. Nothing has really changed since
then.”
    “If you can get me a copy I can help you
with the pastures.”
    “I’d appreciate your help, but if you don’t
mind, I’d like to go over the pastures with you. I need to
understand the reasons behind any changes made to the
property.”
    Dodge could see just how involved his offer
of help could get him and he didn’t like it one bit. He was going
to have to get someone marginally competent out here to answer her
questions or else he’d see no peace in his future. “That’s fine,
Sarah. Wasn’t planning on taking over. I thought I’d made that
pretty clear.”
    “You did. I just want to understand about
the fences. Do you see anything else I should put down?”
    “Well,” he pulled the truck to a stop by a
large slew that ran about fifty yards from the river. “You’ve got a
lot of good land that can be grazed in here that isn’t fenced at
all. Do you own any of the land across the river?”
    “Yes, quite a lot of it actually. But we
don’t have access. I’d always assumed there was nothing we could do
over