Deaths.
Sales.
Transfers.
The books looked chaotic.
They were not.
Someone had maintained them carefully.
Too carefully.
Lila found the first discrepancy at 10:17.
Eleven cattle listed dead after a winter storm.
No burial or hide record.
Second discrepancy.
Fourteen animals listed transferred north.
North ledger showed seven.
Third.
Nine listed injured and destroyed.
No veterinary entry.
Lila pulled another book.
Then another.
By noon she had forty-three cattle unaccounted for.
Enough to be suspicious.
Not enough to threaten an empire.
Then she checked sale weights.
Her stomach tightened.
The missing animals were not random.
They were young breeding stock.
High-value.
Easy to move.
Someone was not stealing meat.
They were building a herd.
Lila heard footsteps.
Cole entered without knocking.
She looked up.
“You could knock.”
“This is my office.”
“It became mine when you gave me the key.”
He almost smiled.
Then saw the papers.
“What?”
“Forty-three.”
His expression sharpened.
“Missing?”
“Yes.”
“How far back?”
“Seven months.”
“Value?”
She calculated.
“Depends bloodline.”
“Average.”
Lila gave a figure.
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“Too much for ranch hands.”
“Unless someone has a buyer.”
“Or land.”
She looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“To keep breeding stock, you need pasture.”
“So whoever is doing this owns land.”
“Or uses somebody else’s.”
Lila turned another page.
“Who owns neighboring ranches?”
“Half the county.”
“Helpful.”
Cole pulled a chair beside her.
Their shoulders nearly touched.
Lila became intensely aware of it.
Ridiculous.
Murder investigation.
Cattle theft.
And her body still noticed him.
Cole leaned over the ledger.
“Here.”
“What?”
“This mark.”
Lila followed his finger.
A small notation.
M.R.
“What is it?”
“Medicine reserve.”
She frowned.
“For cattle?”
“Yes.”
“Why is it beside transfers?”
Cole stared.
“It shouldn’t be.”
They opened veterinary accounts.
Medicines purchased.
More than used.
Much more.
Lila calculated.
“Enough tranquilizer for hundreds of animals.”
Cole looked at her.
“They could move cattle at night without noise.”
“Or treat brands.”
Silence.
Lila knew branding fraud existed.
She did not know details.
Did not need to.
Cole did.
His face hardened.
“Somebody is changing identities.”
Her stomach tightened.
Then she saw another mark.
A supplier name.
Harker Veterinary & Feed.
“Who owns Harker?”
“Silas Harker.”
“Friend?”
“No.”
“Enemy?”
“Depends day.”
“Does Earl know him?”
Cole looked up.
“Why?”
“Earl approves bathhouse and maintenance supplies.”
“So?”
Lila pulled household invoices.
Same supplier.
Soap.