What else might Parker find in that water—the same water that flowed through the Ridley property, nourishing a secret crop?
He told himself he was being silly. You couldn’t take a water sample and find traces of pot growing upstream. Just because certain plants were illegal didn’t mean they secreted illegal chemicals into the environment.
Liam composed himself, but it was too late. Hayley and Parker were studying him. He must have had a strange look on his face.
“Are you all right with us taking a sample here?” Hayley pressed him.
Trick question. According to Part 205, Subpart C of the National Organic Program, they were entitled to take any samples they wanted. She wasn’t asking for permission.
She was asking if Liam had anything to hide.
“Of course.” Liam kept his voice even. “Sorry if I made a face. Just thinking about how low the creek is.”
“Must be hard to run the operation under these conditions,” Hayley said sympathetically.
Liam sighed. “You don’t know the half of it. Nothing could have prepared me for a drought like this.”
Something changed in the inspector’s eyes, and Parker jotted something down on his clipboard. “You didn’t plan ahead for a drought?”
Liam tried to backpedal. “I mean, within reason—”
“Following organic procedures under ideal circumstances is one thing. We have to be sure you won’t cut corners when conditions aren’t perfect. A ranch is not a controlled environment.”
Liam rubbed his forehead, craving a cold drink. She was talking to him like a child. He knew damn well the weather and other factors didn’t always cooperate. “Of course. Let’s move on,” he said, trying not to let her lecture get to him.
He took the inspectors to the storehouse, but he couldn’t seem to get back on track. The organic feed and everything else had been thoroughly documented as he had said, but he struggled through the paperwork he had prepared, conscious of the inspectors’ eyes on him.
“I have receipts. Just give me a minute to find them,” Liam said. Hayley looked unconvinced. “I assure you, the herd eats nothing but organic feed.”
Hayley glanced to Parker, who jotted something on his clipboard. Liam paused, realizing his mistake. “I mean, thirty percent of their feed comes from grazing, of course, as is required. I meant the other part is all organic feed. I have documentation for that, too. Not that you need documentation of that. We were just in the pastures. They’ve obviously been grazing—you could see for yourself.”
Parker was at his clipboard again, and every stroke of his pen put Liam on edge.
“Do you tend to eyeball your measurements?” Hayley asked.
“What? No, that’s not what I meant.” And you know it, he almost added. “Here we go,” he said instead, wiping sweat from his brow as he found the receipts from the organic feed supplier. “As you can see, our feed is organic, all-natural and totally ethanol-free.” He decided to try to lighten the mood a little. “At least our cattle feed. Those who tend them get plenty of ethanol in their diets.”
Hayley didn’t smile. “Do your hands usually drink on the job?”
“It was a joke.” Liam scowled when he saw Parker writing something. “What the hell are you writing for? I said it was a damn joke.”
Parker kept writing. Liam reached out to snatch the clipboard from him but pulled his hand back just as quickly. He was losing it, and he needed to pull himself together.
If it wasn’t already too late.
Still rattled from her encounter at the Ridley property the previous day, Tory nearly forgot about Liam’s inspection until she got the rather cryptic text from Liam. He didn’t mention the inspection, but he obviously wondered why she hadn’t been in touch. She debated staying home. Maybe she’d be in the way, even though Liam had suggested he wouldn’t mind the moral support. Besides, she was finding it hard to persuade herself it was safe to leave the house.
That was silly, though. No one had pursued her when she’d raced home from the Ridley property the day before. There probably hadn’t been anyone there—
Or Steel had warned them off.
She’d called him several times since she’d made it back to the barn, but Steel hadn’t answered. He hadn’t replied to her texts, either, and while her brother often disappeared for days if not weeks at a time, his silence was scaring her. What had he gotten mixed up in?
It pained her not to call the sheriff about what had happened at the ranch, but nothing really had happened. The movement she’d seen in the outbuilding could have been any number of things. It was Steel’s reaction that had frightened her. No one had chased her home or threatened her. Besides, if the sheriff checked out the Ridley property, he’d find the pot crop. Much as she didn’t want to admit it, Steel obviously was responsible for the illicit plants.
That knowledge hurt more than she cared to admit. She’d known for a long time Steel was skirting the law, but until she’d seen the crop with her own eyes, she’d been able to pretend it wasn’t true. Now she had to face it. Steel was as bad as Dale. Maybe worse.
Where did that leave her?
She couldn’t even talk it over with Olivia or Lance without adding to their burdens. Maybe they already knew the extent of his criminal activity, though.
That left her feeling more alone than ever.
Her first mistake had been thinking she could come home and have a different experience this time around, Tory told herself. There was no getting away from who the Coopers were. Time to face up to it.
That didn’t mean she had to act like the rest of them, however. She’d said she would support Liam, and she decided she’d keep that
