Play It Safe(86)

Which made Lash wonder why it was clear that for years someone had been f**king with him.

Then it hit him, Cody was a challenge.

He presented a challenge. Man like that with looks like that coupled with natural authority, easy confidence, a lesser man with a sick twist in his head would stew on that, want to take him down a peg.

Obsess about it.

Fuck.

“I can assume,” Cody started, “you both are in the know ‘bout all that went down, then and now.”

“You’d assume correct,” Lash replied, he’d briefed Freddie on the way to visit Cody the day before.

Cody nodded. “That shit you all did a day ago, that shit’ll rile Bud Sharp.”

“Not a surprise, dude,” Freddie muttered. “Saw the guy, one glance, instant dick.”

“Right,” Cody muttered back then, “You get that, you’ll probably get that he had a focus. Now he has two.”

Freddie and Lash had talked about this but having it confirmed made Freddie growl.

Lash sighed.

“Rue,” Freddie grunted.

“Yeah,” Cody confirmed. “I figure she’s told you about our history. Somethin’ that was probably throwaway to her was not throwaway to Bud and if you don’t know about it, you need to know about it. Man hates me. He’s been gunnin’ for me since junior high. May have a lock on why but still don’t get it. But Ivey bested him at pool and when I say that, she made short work of makin’ a fool of him. Worse, he was hopin’ to get in her pants at the same time and he’s not used to not gettin’ what he wants. Whole thing lasted maybe half an hour. Still, he rounded up his boys to pay her hotel room a visit. What they intended to do, I have no clue. I’m not a man like that. Four men, one twenty-two year old girl, turns my stomach but I could guess. She beat him in two games of pool and didn’t respond to his flirtin’. Whatever four men could do to a lone girl in a hotel room is not fair payback for that, then again, it’s not fair payback for anything.”

He stopped talking, the air in the room was thick and when neither Lash nor Freddie spoke, processing their own thoughts, Cody gave them time then he continued.

“With you two, she bested him again a day ago and not a handful of people in a bar saw it. Probably by this point, everyone in two counties is talkin’ about it. He is not the kinda guy who makes a lot of friends. Folks in Mustang, his home, especially are not real fond of him. They are eatin’ this shit up. Janie’s spreadin’ what went down with Ivey and me and if Ivey had folks who didn’t think much of her, what you all did a day ago and with Janie sharin’ what went down, that’s gonna change if it hasn’t already. They’re lovin’ this and Buddy Sharp is gonna feel that and he isn’t gonna like it.”

Cody quit speaking, letting that sink in then he went on and when he did his voice got quieter and his tone made both Lash and Freddie, already alert and hyper-attentive, become acutely so.

“Last year, had a situation with my trees. Had to cut down and burn a quarter of my orchard.” He took in a breath, clearly still pissed about this then kept speaking. “They were diseased. Shit happens in my business, you roll with it. I was expanding operations anyway seein’ as I had a bank loan to pay, planted a f**kload of trees two years before. Still, it’ll take time for those to produce. But this disease hit the mature trees.”

When he stopped, Lash said softly, “Sorry that happened, Cody,” and Cody’s eyes focused on him.

“Yeah, me too. Sucked. My Granddad planted those trees.”

Lash nodded.

Cody kept going.

“Weird part of that is, no other orchard had this problem and when I say this not only no other orchard around Mustang but no other orchard in the entire f**kin’ state of Colorado. That shit isn’t unusual. It’s impossible.”

Fucking hell. This information ratcheted the danger level up about seven f**king notches.

Knowing it, Freddie pushed away from the wall and Lash leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees.

Cody kept speaking.

“There’s an origin to that kinda shit and that kinda shit spreads. No origin could be traced because there was no other outbreak in the entire western half of the United States. And I caught it quick so it didn’t spread.”

“Someone diseased your trees,” Lash guessed.

“Yeah,” Cody answered. “And that’s not all.”

Fuck.

“What?” Lash prompted.

“Had a mare go down, sick, had to destroy her,” Cody answered.

“Jesus Christ,” Lash whispered, sitting back.

“Right,” Cody replied. “That’s tough. Again, shit happens and it’s happened to me. Rare but it has. Two months later, had a stallion go down.”

“Fuck me,” Freddie muttered.

“Right,” Cody repeated. “Now that shit has never happened to me. Talked to the vet, he investigated, stallion was poisoned. Stallion had the same symptoms as the mare. Fair guess, they both got slipped the same shit.”

“God damn it,” Lash clipped.

Killing horses, living beings.

Now the danger level ratcheted up about fourteen notches.

Fuck.

Cody kept on with his story. “No way I can afford a security system so I rigged the doors to the barn with a shotgun, the blast aimed to wake me not take anyone out. Month later, that shotgun blasted.”