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“Well, good morning to you, too,” Kaz drawled.
“Piper trying to declare part of the ranch as a protected wetland?”
Kaz chuckled. “Not yet. That’s plan D, I think. Plan A is eminent domain for the airport expansion project, which just so happens to need a chunk of your land.”
“I heard that, too.”
"And did you hear that someone might be coming to audit you for zoning violations?"
I laughed at that. “Seriously? That’s all she’s got?”
“She’s pissed. She hired your girlfriend.”
“Ex-girlfriend and good luck to her with that. ‘Cause I’m working on getting her disbarred.” I had already asked my team to investigate the Evergreen project and knew we’d find irregularities.
“I’m glad you’re taking this seriously,” he remarked. “’Cause Piper usually gets what she wants.”
“And she wants an airport in Wildflower Canyon?”
“Well, that’s a start. She wants a ski resort, a few hotels, maybe do what they did in Park City or Telluride, bring in a film festival or two.”
I sighed. “Why is she after Wilder Ranch?”
Kaz chuckled. “Been on her radar a long while. With Nash gone, she felt she had a shot, and with you now notselling, she’s angrier than a bull stuck in a barbed-wire fence.”
“That’s pretty angry,” I remarked.
“More angry than pretty,” Kaz drawled.
“You wanna tell me why you’re working both sides of this?”
“I’m a free agent, Duke. I don’t work for anyone. I was onlyassistingPiper.”
“And me, apparently?”
“What is it that you’re asking, Duke?” Kaz sounded lazy, but I had a feeling he was sitting up.
“You don’t have to tell me what your deal is, but I need to ask you, how careful do I need to be?”
Long pause.
“Very.”
“Give me a little more.”
“Last time Piper went after a ranch in Texas, one of the owners died in a suspicious accident. And the time before cattle were killed, some horses, the ranch house was burned down.”
I sucked in my breath. I wasn’t naïve; I knew how this was played, but I never imagined it went this far. Murder?
“Good to know.” I ended my call with Kaz and looked out of the window.
I drummed my fingers against Nash’s old desk, my mind already running through a dozen different scenarios. Did I need to get security for the ranch?
How the hell did you secure 100,000 acres of openland? Cameras and fences weren’t enough. We’d have to rely on what we already had—our people.
I grabbed my hat and headed for the door.
I found Hunt by the paddocks talking to Roy. As soon as he saw me, he nodded, and I tilted my head. He came up to me.