Kidnapped Colt by Terri Farley Page A

looked shocked. Gram had reprimanded Linc Slocum as if he were a kid.
    Sam felt a cranky spurt of satisfaction.
    He shouldn’t act like one if he doesn’t want to be treated like one, Sam thought.
    â€œSorry, Grace,” Linc said as he complied.
    Despite the sheriff’s refusal, Sam noticed Gram had loaded two plates with chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
    Linc didn’t seem interested in anything except the two biscuits left in the bread basket.
    He eyed Sam with a raised eyebrow.
    There was something kind of warped in the way he silently encouraged her to give permission for him to have hers.
    Fat chance , Sam thought, but what she said before she even settled in her chair was, “Please pass the biscuits.”

Chapter Nine
    â€œS o the horses were just gone?” Jen asked, after Sam had eaten a few bites of dinner.
    Sam noticed Jen covered her lips right after asking, as if the subject were too awful to discuss. Jen understood the horses’ danger, and she was sharing the blame.
    Linc Slocum didn’t seem to. He swallowed a bite of chicken and gave Sam a smirk.
    â€œAnd I suppose you know nothin’ more about their disappearance than a hog knows about a sidesaddle,” Linc said finally.
    â€œI don’t,” Sam said. She was too tired and heart-sick to fight, so she took a sip of milk before adding,“The last time I saw Hotspot and Shy Boots, they were in that corral.”
    Linc shook his head with a snicker.
    Sam was pretty sure it was the laugh that pushed Dad to the edge of his patience.
    â€œLinc…” Dad began. He looked down as if addressing his plate, but Sam saw his knuckles were white from holding his fork so tightly. “Neighborliness has limits. If Sam says she doesn’t know what’s become of those horses, she doesn’t.”
    â€œAnd you still haven’t talked with your son,” Sheriff Ballard pointed out as he took a bite of mashed potatoes.
    â€œAs a matter of fact, I have,” Linc said. “Got him on his cell phone, which is why, and I hope you’ll pardon me, Wyatt, but I’ve got to say it straight out, I’m convinced Samantha knows what’s happened. Ryan told me she’s the only one who knew where those Appaloosas were, and she promised to take care of them while he was gone.”
    â€œHe told me—no, he promised me—he’d be back before nightfall!” Sam yelped.
    Ryan was lying.
    Her anger built as she thought of Ryan in San Francisco, a city she loved. She imagined him eating freshly caught crab and warm sourdough bread on Fisherman’s Wharf. Or maybe he was sipping jasmine tea and breaking open a fortune cookie in Chinatownwhile she worried over the colt he claimed to care about.
    â€œGive me his cell phone number,” she told Linc, “and I’ll find out what’s really going on.”
    â€œI don’t think so, young lady,” Linc said.
    Jen jabbed Sam with her elbow.
    â€œOw!” Sam said, frowning at her friend.
    â€œSorry,” Jen said, but Sam could tell she wasn’t. Her eyes were hinting at a secret.
    â€œSam’s been home since two o’clock, Linc,” Gram said. “Ryan dropped her off just before Jen arrived. Sam didn’t have a chance to go anywhere.”
    â€œSam didn’t take the horses out of there,” the sheriff said. “Unless she’s taught herself to drive.”
    â€œThat so?” Dad asked.
    â€œMost likely,” the sheriff said.
    Sam was surprised, but heartened, when both Mikki and Gina gave her a thumbs-up and said, “Yeah!”
    It was cool that they were on her side, Sam thought, remembering how Sheriff Ballard had bent to play his flashlight beam over the dirt before they even started up the hill. He must have been looking for tire tracks.
    That let her off the hook, in one way, but her feelings were still all snarled up. Neither she nor the Phantom were directly to