Wild Trail (Clean Slate Ranch #1)(68)

“Okay, who is she?” Avery asked.

Mack glanced at his passenger, then concentrated on merging into his lane. “She?”

“You got this distant, moony look, so I assumed it wasn’t about my research. Was I wrong?”

“Half wrong.” If the guy had a history with Colt, he was bi at the very least, and unlikely to give Mack shit. “Thinking about a he, not a she.”

“Aha.” Avery grinned at him. “Something new, I assume?”

“Pretty new, and not really open for discussion.”

“I understand. I’ll keep things professional going forward, I promise. After I say congratulations, and I hope it works out.”

“Me, too.”

After a quick stop at a Kwik for a bathroom break and snacks, they hit the road for the drive east. Mack gave Avery a more detailed account of how Wes stumbled into the ghost town, and a very brief overview of their relationship. Avery listened with rapt enthusiasm, seeming genuinely happy that Mack had found someone. It made Mack somewhat curious about Avery’s own dating status, but the guy didn’t have a ring on his finger, and he didn’t offer up any hints as to being with someone.

Mack decided to go fishing. “So the job would require you to be on-site for at least three months, maybe longer, depending on our assessment of the project scope.”

“That’s absolutely not a problem. I know several people who’d love to sublet my apartment in Los Angeles, and I don’t have any pets to worry about. No plants, either. I live a life that lets me travel at a moment’s notice.”

“No family to worry about?”

“None in the area.” Avery’s tight tone suggested danger zone.

Mack backed off. “So tell me more about your work experience.”

That did the trick. Avery launched into a monologue that filled the rest of the trip to Garrett. He didn’t stop during the short ride through town, or when they passed the two boulders marking the road to Clean Slate Ranch. Mack skipped the new road to the ghost town for now. Arthur had asked to be included in this, so Mack drove to the main house to pick him up. After quick introductions, Arthur climbed into the truck bed with his shotgun.

“What’s with the gun?” Avery asked.

“We’re pretty far out into some wild land,” Mack replied. “Precaution is all.”

“Gotcha.”

As Mack turned the truck around, he caught a glimpse of Colt standing by the barn, watching the truck.

Colt ducked into the barn.

Interesting.

Mack headed back down the dirt road to the new path they were slowly creating. They’d put down gravel eventually, but for now he followed the little orange flag markers. Avery’s excitement grew with each passing mile, until he was nearly vibrating in his seat.

Since Mack had seen the town several times now, he leaned against the truck while Avery darted around the grounds, poking into buildings, constantly making notes on his tablet. He looked like a child let loose in his favorite toy store, and Mack allowed Avery’s enthusiasm to wash over him.

“I think you picked a good one,” Arthur said.

“His resume is impressive, and he even did some advanced research,” Mack replied. “I think he’s the one, but I wanted to give him a chance to see what we’re working with. It’s not a lot.”

Avery gave a mighty screech. They took off, Arthur clutching the shotgun. Avery was a dozen yards away, hidden by one of the smaller buildings, both hands covering his mouth. Mack saw what had offended him pretty fast—a mangled deer carcass.

Arthur chuckled. “Well, that’s a city slicker’s reaction to a dead deer.”

“That’s not a deer,” Avery said, “it’s a traffic accident. What did that?”

“Probably a mountain lion.”

“Lion would have killed it for food,” Mack said. “This thing was torn apart, not eaten. And it’s not fresh, so the truck didn’t scare off a predator.”

“Pretty strange,” Arthur said. “And a waste of good meat.”

Avery looked kind of green at that comment. Mack would put good money on him being a vegetarian.

“I’ll drag it away from the town a ways,” Mack said. “You guys can go back.”

“Thank you,” Avery said. “Sorry for screaming like that.”

“Not a problem.”

“Could wild lions cause a problem for your restoration?”

“Doubtful, but that’s why we bring protection.”

Arthur hefted the shotgun.

While the other two wandered off, Mack grabbed the beast by its back hooves and pulled it toward the wilder edge of the town’s perimeter, closer to the mountain line. Left a streak of gore, too, but the next rain would take care of that. He left the deer carcass near a boulder, then turned to return. A few feet away, something flat and white caught his attention. Mack squatted and picked it up.

A used cigarette butt. Hard to tell how long it had been there, but it made Mack’s stomach turn. No chance this had blown in the wind all the way from the ranch, and even the hands who smoked were very careful to dispose of the butts. It meant someone had been up here in the past year or two. Someone had seen the ghost town and not reported it. But who? And why had they been trespassing on private land?