SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH 8

the next morning in the dark del is loading his horse in his stock trailer. he feels a presence and turns to find sharon standing there in the dark she hands him a brown bag and a thermos. " you might get hungrey before you get back" was all she said. " thank you." del went to the cab of the ruck and got in fireing the engine. he poured a cup of coffee and pulled out of the yard headed to jakes. it was just getting light when he pulled into the yard att jakes, the brand inspecter was right behind him. del took the inspecter to the corral that held the cow with the misbranded calf. the inspecter looked them over and agreeded it was a mis branding. " did you see who did it?"he asked. " no, i just found them i wanted tolet you know this was going on."del stood his ground. " rebrand the calf, bar out the wrong brand. i cant do anything until we have at least a name of who is doing it. this is the hardest thing to prove with out a witness. and yes, i know the scavengers are going to be moveing in from all directions. i wish i could do more." the inspecter was shakeing his head on the waay to his truck. del stood there clinching his fist. when the inspecter had left he unloaded his horse and put his chaps on then mounting and calling brother he headed back up country. reaching the back of the pasture he turned to the area where jake had been found. what he expected to find he didnt know but the fact jake rode so well still lay heavy on him. what had caused him to fall off and crack his skull? as he and the dog approached the site he slowed down and rode away from the actual site and began makeing a circle, rideing slow. the horse tracks were still visible. on his ssecond circle he came to a spot where a horse had stood for a while. a large pile of dried manure marked the spot behind a large boulder. del stepped off his mount and didnt let him walk close to the site. as he walked up behind the boulder he could see that useing it for a blind you could look back up toward the spot he had found jake. then at the base of the boulder he found two shell caseings. useing his handkerkeif he picked them up and wrapped them and put them in his chap pocket. turning to go he saw the scratch on the moulder. he stood there a moment before he realized that who ever was doing the shooting had used the boulder to rest his rifle while he sighted in on what ever he was shooting at. but jake hadnt been shot. del mounted and rode back to the spot where jake had died. once there he tried to mentaly draw a line from the shooters boulder. they didnt match up. he moved until he did line up. it wwas with a big rock and searching around he found where chips had been knocked from the rock, maybe by bullets. he would have to have a look at jakes horse when he got back to the ranch. it had been a while but maybe something remained.