Author: GMoM

Summary: want to explore what would have happened if Caleb had never answered the call (from Ashley) in 509 while meeting up with Kelly James. He is clearly smitten by this wonderful beauty. Could there be a relationship in the making, will he train her to bull ride or saddle bronc. What, and give you the answer now? Find out and read on

Rated: K+

Authors Note: Are you ready for Ch. 8, you might learn something you never knew before Well I should warn you; this one is quite long. You will learn so much more about my (all time) favorite character. Kelly James. Hmmm, though Caleb remains my favorite O'Deliciousness ! Happy reading.

Ch. 8

Kelly picked up her notes with the map, after looking at the address for Margaret Tanner she decided on the best route to take. The address was no more than a 15 minute drive into the middle of nowhere, a very picturesque yet desolate area of Elk Head. If she didn't have a map with directions she would have easily gotten lost.

The long sinuous seemingly unending road took her deep into a densely forested area. The road turned off onto a long driveway that leads to a very dreary property, which contradicted how beautiful the drive was. Before reaching the main house on this neglected ranch Kelly stopped the truck and stepped out to take some pictures. She knew Andy would want to know what the property looked like.

The main house was an old style Lincoln log type cabin which was big enough to hold at least four bedrooms and two baths. It was quaint yet tattered. The barn was not large, but could hold three horses, which Kelly noticed were grazing in the distance. The yard itself was badly overgrown and needed some tlc. Behind the barn Kelly noticed another thick densely packed forest. She wondered if the property extended beyond the tree line. If it did that would be the perfect set up because the dogfighting would be out of sight.

Stepping into the truck once again Kelly drove up to the main house, with a spin-chilling sensation that something was off kilter here, she felt uneasy stepping out of the truck. Walking up the rickety steps, and onto the ghastly covered porch, the slats of wood were dry wrote and full of splinters. Kelly knocked on the door with a rap, rap, rap.

A dowdy, cantankerous woman in her mid-50's opened the door,
"Who are you, and what do you want?"
"Hello, are you Margaret Tanner?" Kelly asked.
"Why, who wants to know?"

Margaret was not intending on making this easy for Kelly. She didn't much care for the SPCA sticking their noses where it didn't belong. If Kelly wanted answers to anything, she would have to do better than that.

"Look, ma'am, my name is Kelly and I am with the Alberta SPCA. We have received complaints of a dogfighting ring in the area. I am here to check your property. You can cooperate or the RCMP & I can do this together, if you choose."
Kelly reached for the legal papers to show the woman behind the screen door.
"Do you see any dogs around here?"
Kelly answered,
"Ma'am we are checking the whole area including all of your neighbors and residents of Elk Head. Are you Margaret Tanner?"
Opening the screen door and taking a look at the legal documents, the contentious women said,
"Yes, I am. Who made these claims anyway?"
"Thank you for cooperating Margaret, but you know I cannot give you that information. I will need to take a look at the whole property though. How many acres do you have here?"
Margaret wasn't sure, "I don't know maybe 250 or 300."
Kelly asked, "How long have you been here?"
"We've been here for about 5 years, why? What are you getting at?"
"Nothing Margaret, I just need to clarify some things. Do you mind if I look around your property?" Kelly asked, after she'd taken note of each answer Margaret gave

Scowling at Kelly, Margaret hollered, "JARED!"
"Ya Ma, What Do You Want? Came a voice, hollering back from somewhere inside the confines of the house.
"GET OUT HERE, BOY!"
"Just A Minute." Jared hollered, again
"NOW!" Margaret shouted, looking at Kelly added, "You gonna be long?"
Kelly answered, "As long as it takes."

Jared, who looked to be no more than 18 maybe 19, came up to his mother and said, "What?"
Slapping the back of his head Margaret angrily demanded, "Show Some Respect! Damn it!"
"OUCH!" Winced Jared, "Ok, Ok … geez!"
Looking at Jared, Margaret continued, "You're gonna show this,… uhhh, Kelly around."
Looking at Kelly Jared asked, "Why do I gotta do it?"
Margaret was losing her patience, "Boy, Don't make me slap you again!"
Jared added an insolent, "Fine!"

Jared was a gangly looking young man, who didn't care about his appearance. He was wearing a black tank top, his jean pants were two sizes too big and were belted just half way down his behind which exposed his boxer shorts. His dark hair needed a good washing along with a comb. Glaring at Kelly he walked her to the barn, which surprisingly the stalls looked well-kept and clean. She asked him if the property beyond the forest of trees was theirs. He said they were.

There were a couple of ATV's nearby and Jared said,
"You take that one."

Kelly agreed, and off they went, through the dense forest. There was a sparse, dank trail that they followed through the eerie darkness of trees. Kelly was not sure what to expect, but when they came upon a clearing nothing prepared her for what she saw. That spine-chilling feeling returned with a lump in her throat as she choked back the tears. There must've been 40 to 50 hand crafted small shacks made form scraps of old plywood. In each of the flimsy shacks were American Pit Bulls, American Staffordshire Terriers, Bull Terriers and Bull dogs.
In these make shift flimsy shacks each dog was tethered to bull chains that connected to metal pipes going six feet down into the ground. Each shack was fitted with metal small feeding troughs, two per shack one for food and water. Kelly's heart sank when she noticed that the troughs were empty, all of them. Some of the dogs were in better condition than most, but all had markings of being bitten, deep lacerations that had healed up and they were malnourished. Most of the dogs appeared to be starving because their ribs were visible as they watched Kelly and Jared; possibly wondering if it was time to eat. With looks of sadness, hunger and pain etched on each face Kelly fought for composer.

She had to stop and turn her back for a moment. She had to collect her thoughts and emotions and be professional in front of Jared. With a determined anger Kelly turned around and began taking pictures to which Jared instantly objected.

With a stern warning Kelly glared a fiery gaze at Jared, "Unless you'd like to go to jail right now, and be charged with Animal Cruelty, I suggest you back off and shut up, so I can do my job!"

Kelly continued snapping pictures while walking the grounds. To one end of this property she noticed two barn size sheds. Kelly asked Jared, "What's in there?"
Protesting further Jared declared angrily, "You Can't Go In There!"

Kelly looked at Jared and stated, "You open em, or I will; or we can call the RCMP right now and they can open them for you!" raising her eyebrow with a death stare Kelly made her point.
Jared opened the sheds.

In the first shed there were two treadmills. The dogs would run on them to increase their cardiovascular fitness and endurance, but one of them had a pole in front of it with a short chain attached to the top of it, where another smaller animal would be hung alive wriggling and crying out in petrified fear as the dog aggressively chased for it. Kelly raised her camera as Jared stepped forward in hopes to stop her, but Kelly was in no mood to challenge this miscreant any more so she snapped a picture of Jared standing between the treadmills and a Catmill/Jenny. Jared was not expecting that, he kicked the treadmill and screeched off out of there, racing for his ATV.

Kelly knew what that third apparatus was used for. Shaking her head her eye's filled with tears, as she remembered what Andy had told her about it.

"Catmills look like a carnival horse walker with several beams jetting out from a central rotating pole. The dogs are chained to one beam while another small animal; say a cat, smaller dog or rabbit is harnessed to it or hung alive from another beam, wriggling to somehow free itself and screeching for its life .The dogs ran in circles chasing the frightened animal. "

Kelly knew that the small petrified animal was given to the dogs, after their training session was over, for a reward.

Kelly took more pictures of this building and its equipment when she heard the ATV again. This time Jared was with another older male. Angrily they screeched the machine to a stop and jumped off. Butch, Jared's older brother by five years hollered,

'HEY LADY,.. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. NOW!"
Kelly angrily replied, "No problem, boys. I'm done here", as she knew the second shed was the actual dogfighting ring.

She walked to the ATV she rode in on while the two shady fellas rode back on theirs.
Walking up to the house again, she noticed Margaret standing on the porch smoking a cigarette. Blowing smoke in Kelly's face she said, "You got what you need; get out of here and leave!"
Kelly stretched out her hand and gave the woman her business card stating, "We'll be in touch."

Butch and Jared stepped onto the porch with their mother as Kelly walked to her truck. They were intently watching her when she raised the camera for one last snap, a family photo. Kelly backed the truck up and turned it around and drove off.

It was now 3:30 pm when Kelly pulled the truck into the Jackanapes truck stop to just sit, and cry. What she had just witnessed was extremely difficult for her to fathom. How can people be so disgustingly cruel? How can people justify this? Sitting in the truck she let the emotions she'd held back, come flowing out like a raging river. Once the dam of tears was loosed there was no stopping the torrential flow.

After letting her feelings and rage settle a bit she started the truck and headed back to the office. Once there Kelly handed Andy the camera along with her notes, and said,
"There is definitely a dogfighting ring at Margaret Tanners property. We need to get out there again and quick."
Pausing for a moment Kelly continued,
"Andy, there are 40 to 50 dogs out there, we have to save them, we have to get them out of there. They're in bad shape."
Andy reached out to her with arms open wide for a hug, "We will Kelly, we will. I'll get on this right away. Don't you worry, well take the RCMP with us this time and lock the Tanner's away for good."
He stepped back, placing his hands on her shoulders he said, "Good job Kell, now go home. Unless you want to, I don't need you to come when we get them."
Kelly said, "Thank you. Can I think about it?"
"Sure!" Andy replied, "But let me know soon alright."
"I will." She said as she walked out to her car.

Sitting in her car she thought this would be a good time to call Caleb. Dialing his number the phone rang, and then a delighted, jovial, voice proclaiming,
"Hello Kelly, this is Caleb Odell!"
Kelly smiled thinking she could almost hear that smile of his. Kelly answered him in a subdued, woeful tone,
"Hey there cowboy, I could use a friend right now, is it okay if I come by after I pick up my horse. I could bring him with me, maybe?"
Concerned with how distressed Kelly sounded, he said,
"Sure, I'll ask Lou to set a place for you at the table for supper. Kelly is everything alright?"
Nearly in tears again with a crackling voice she said,
"Ya, I'm fine, and that sure sounds nice. I should be there by five o'clock. Bye Caleb."
"Bye Kelly."

Amy walked into the barn as he hung up his phone. She noticed the look of concern on his face. Reaching her hand out and grabbing his arm she asked,
"Hey is everything ok?"
Caleb responded,
"I just got a call from Kelly, and she didn't sound so good."
"Oh, is she coming by?" Amy asked.
"Ya she is. She'll be here around five."
"Good, she can stay for supper. Everything is ok, you'll see."
Caleb added, "I guess." with a doubtful grin.

Kelly pulled into Heartland and parked next to the barn. Stepping out of her car she saw Caleb and greeted him with a needy hug that seemed to last for quite a while. Finally they both pulled away as Caleb said with a smile
"Let's get your horse settled in a stall, eh?"
"Ok," Kelly responded.

They both walked to the back of her trailer where she opened to door as Caleb stepped in with the lead rope and escorted Kelly's horse out and into a stall. As her horse was getting settled Caleb, ever so gently, leaned forward and gave her a welcome kiss. Looking in her eyes he could sense the pain of her day and invited her to the main house for some supper. She willingly accepted placing her hand in his as they slowly walked side by side, together.