Should I?

Ch. 12- Suspicions and Evidence

Jake wrapped his arms around Sam, "I'm so sorry Sam." They sat there for a few minutes. Sam looked up at Jake with her tear-stained face, "Jake, we have to find Danny. Do you have any idea what happened to Snow White?"

Jake shook his head, "When we first rode up I thought that maybe wolves had gotten her away from the herd, but now I'm not so sure. I think a person did this." He looked the mare over and finally found what he was looking for. "Someone strangled her. I can see the rope marks around her neck. I don't know if they actually meant to strangle her, or if she just struggled so much that the rope tightened and she couldn't breath. I have my suspicions on who did it, but we can't assume. I think Slocum might have done it to get you back for putting Rachel and Ryan in jail. I think he has Danny."

Sam stopped crying and her eyes hardened, "We have to find her."

Before Jake's truck even pulled to a stop at Gold Dust Ranch, Sam opened the door and jumped out. Jake quickly parked and followed her. They walked to the front door, rang the door bell, and waited. Sam was about to begin beating on the door when Slocum opened it.

"What do you two want? You've already caused enough trouble lately, haven't you?"

Sam sneered at him, "You know exactly why we're here. Where is the black filly?"

Slocum sneered back as Jake lightly grabbed Sam's arm, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not interested in any black filly of the Phantom's."

"And how did you know I was talking about a filly of the Phantom? Where is she? Tell me NOW!"

Slocum smiled, "I still have no idea what you're talking about." And with that he slammed the door in their face. Sam began to beat on the door hysterically. Jake grabbed her and turned her to face him. At first she resisted and tried to turn around and pushing him away, but then she collapsed into his arms sobbing. He held her for a moment before she pulled away to look at him.

"Jake, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to get the help of the great Jennifer Kenworthy!" Sam couldn't help smiling through her tears. She ran down the steps and across the yard to where Jen and her parents live. She lightly knocked on the door resisting the urge to beat it down.

Jen opened the door, "Hey Sam," then she saw the tears that still remained on her face, "What's wrong?"

"We found Danny's mom dead, and I think," Jake cleared his throat, "I mean, we think that Slocum strangled her or at least tried to catch her to capture Danny to get back at me." Sam was breathing hard now after jumbling all of those words together into one big word. "Did you see Slocum bring Moonlight Dancer here?"

Jen shook her head, then stopped, "Wait, she's a solid black filly right?"

"Yeah! Did you see Slocum bring her here?"

"Yeah, I think I saw him struggling to lead her to the back corral."

"What do you mean back corral?"

"After Ryan and Rachel were gone, he got his cowboys to build a paddock in the back that can't be seen from the front."

Sam turned to look at Jake and stopped dead in her tracks. Jen's eyes widened and Jake turned around slowly. Slocum was standing right behind Jake. Slocum knocked Jake to the dirt, "You're going to pay for that Kenworthy!" Sam's eyes were still wide as she was glued to the spot, but now, for a different reason. Suddenly, the Phantom reared up and came down directly behind Slocum just meaning to scare him and he succeed. Slocum turned around to see the Phantom and ran straight to the house tripping as he ran in the door.

Sam ran to Jake's side, "Are you ok Jake?" He nodded and Sam helped him to his feet. She threw her arms around his neck, "Are you sure you're ok Jake?"

"Yeah Sam, I'm fine."

"I was so scared Jake, for you and Jen."

He stroked her hair, "Everything's ok. Your horse saved us. Maybe he's not such a bad thing after all."

Sam smiled and then without a word began to make her way to the back of the house with Jake, Jen, and the Phantom following close behind. She was worried Slocum would come back out and hurt someone, so she walked faster while Jake and Jen matched her pace. She walked up to the fence of the corral and looked through the boards. I knew it!

"Jake, Jen, over here!" Jake and Jen came running over. The filly obviously hadn't been there too long, but she looked weak after being away from her mother's milk. She also had scrapes all over her body. She had been struggling to escape from this prison and return to her mother without success. Sam carefully opened the gate and stepped in. The filly shied and ran to the other side of the corral as far away from Sam as she could get.

"Moonlight Dancer, come here pretty girl. It's ok Danny, we're here to help." Sam was disgusted by the conditions Danny was in. The halter that she had on was too tight, the ground was hard on the filly's feet, and she could easily get her leg under the fence and get stuck. Obviously he doesn't care at all what happens to her. Slocum just wants to get back at me. Sam could hear the Phantom pawing at the fence behind her waiting to see if both of them were alright. Sam carefully hooked a lead rope that she had grabbed off of the fence onto Danny. She reared slightly then stood still. Sam stood talking soothingly to the filly.

"Sam, we need to go before Slocum gets the courage to come back out here and keep us from taking her," Jake urged. Sam nodded and carefully began to lead the filly towards the gate where the Phantom, Jake, and Jen were waiting. At first the filly resisted but she was too weak and tired to do much at all. Jake took the lead rope when Sam got to the gate and led the filly to his truck. Sam lowered the tailgate and climbed in while Jake lifted Danny into the bed of the truck. Danny struggled at first then submitted and stayed still. Jen and Jake climbed into the truck as Slocum came running out of the house. "Go Jake!"

Hopefully this will make up for the last chapter being so short! And sorry about the long wait! Kat