Dishes began moving as the food was passed around the table. Dr. Zell introduced her two guests. The large man, with the clean shaved face and head, she called Judd. Juan thought he looked fatigued. The fat man, next to Lily, was named Carl. Neither one said what they did for a living.
After the introductions, Dr. Zell turned to Juan and asked, “I heard you went up to Aspen Lake today. What did you see?”
Juan felt Judd fix his gaze on him. Carl remained focused on the food on his plate, seemingly oblivious to the presence of anyone else in the room. Juan looked over at his dad, who smiled in return. Juan felt his neck getting hot.
Dr. Zell cleared her throat. “Juan is only eighteen and still a little shy among strangers,” said Dr. Zell. “But once he warms up, he’ll talk at us all night,” she laughed. “We’re all friends here, though, right?” she concluded, giving Juan a friendly smile.
Juan nodded and stirred the food on his plate, and took a deep breath before speaking.
“No, I didn’t make it to Aspen Lake. The snowpack is still too deep. I hit Bull Lake, though. I think we’ll have good fishing for the ranch guests this year. I would have been back earlier, but I was delayed by…”
“That’s good, that’s good,” interrupted Dr. Zell. “Is that all you saw today? Anything unexpected or unusual?”
Juan was hungry from his long day in the mountains. He didn’t want to talk to these people; he wanted to eat, calm his nerves, and tell his dad about Max’s heroism. Plus, that strange person in his cabin had set his mind spinning.
“Well, yes,” began Juan. Then it occurred to him that the woman might be hiding from these men. He hoped no one noticed his hands shaking.
“Yeah,” he started again. “I guess I saw a few things. The wolf pack is back. And at least one hungry bear is out of hibernation.”
Hank spoke up, “How many wolves in the pack now, Juan?”
“I’d say there are eleven.”
“Wolves in Utah? You’re joking,” said the big, bald man. “How do you know that? Did you see them?”
“We occasionally get wolves from Idaho or Wyoming passing through the ranch,” offered Hank.
“Oh Judd, as I told you, Juan has many surprising skills. You’ll come to understand soon,” interrupted Dr. Zell again, with a hint of condescension in her voice. “Juan can do some impressive things. He’s even memorized entire books, including the Christian Bible. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, not all of it,” mumbled Juan.
Carl looked up from his food and scoffed in what Juan presumed was just the slightest German accent, “That is not impressive. Why waste your time memorizing that book?”
“It was something his mother left behind,” answered Hank. “Juan is a voracious reader, and his late mother’s Bible is special to him. Even when he was little, he memorized every book we read to him. Books and things just stick with him.”
“He has a gift, Carl,” interjected Dr. Zell. “But, I want to know what else you saw today, Juan.”
Juan wanted to say “Hey, I’m right here, why are you talking about me like I’m not?”, but he had just taken a large bite of dinner. He chewed it slowly and swallowed before speaking. His nerves were calming a little as food settled into his anxious stomach. And with a clearer mind, he began to think he knew what was going on.
“Yes, I noticed a few things. After we barely survived the high country…” he paused to see if anyone cared. No one asked for details so he continued, “Max and I returned to the valley and followed the river back home. I saw the tracks of two horses that had traveled up and down the north side of the river.”
Dr. Zell winked at Judd.
“How do you know it was two horses?” asked Judd.
Juan looked up at him and wondered why this man was asking such annoying questions. Was he searching for that strange woman? Juan felt a strong desire to hide her and to protect her from these men.
“From the hoof prints. I’d guess it was Bill, one of the horses we keep for guests to use, and Roam, Dr. Zell’s horse.”
“Oh, so you can identify horses by their hoof prints?” remarked Judd. “But there must be a couple dozen horses on the ranch. Are you joking?”
Juan shook his head but didn’t say anything. He took another bite of dinner. He liked Lily’s cooking, and he was famished from his long day of surviving. But his appetite was fading as the pressure to keep talking increased.
Dr. Zell spoke up. “Juan, I’ve been telling Judd about your skill at…noticing…things and tracking things. He doesn’t believe me, though. I’m sure you have more details you can share.”
“Nah, just the hoof prints of two horses,” chuckled Juan with a smile. Then he swallowed his final bite of food. “It was two horses, right? Nobody disputes that?”
After a moment of silence, Juan added, “Good. Oh, and it was a man and woman that rode them along the river.”
“Oh really?” erupted Judd. “How do you know that?”
Juan saw Judd’s thick forearm muscles ripple as he opened and closed his fist in anticipation of an answer.
“Well, Judd, sir, the horse prints were different sizes, and keep in mind it hasn’t rained here for three days. Bill is a big horse, but his hooves cut deeper than usual into the dry earth, so he was carrying extra weight. I’d guess it was about two hundred fifty pounds on Bill, which means it was you riding Bill and Dr. Zell on Roam. No one else rides Roam. Ever.”
Juan didn’t mention seeing the size fourteen army-boot prints in the ground, where a man had dismounted his horse. He also didn’t say that Dr. Zell wore a rock band t-shirt every time she took Roam out for a ride.
Juan took a drink of water, but his quick eyes caught Judd look at Dr. Zell and shrug. She seemed to be waiting for Judd to say something. The doctor finally broke the long silence.
“Juan, you’re right! It was Judd and me and we were on those very horses. Well done! My ranch is so beautiful; I just enjoy showing a new person around it. Don’t you?”
“Two-thirty,” blurted Judd.
Everyone looked at Judd, waiting for an explanation.
“It’s almost six o’clock. What are you talking about?” asked Dr. Zell with a slow blink and subtle head shake.
“I don’t weigh two-fifty, I’m only two-thirty,” answered Judd. “The kid’s off by twenty pounds.”
Juan noted that Carl had finished eating and was now chuckling silently yet almost uncontrollably. Juan had the eerie feeling that Judd and Dr. Zell were lying to him, making a joke of him, or worse, trying to trap him. He felt anger rising, and he never could keep quiet when he became angry.
“Well I think you were out for more than a leisurely horseback ride,” started Juan, his voice rising.
“Oh? And what do you think we were doing?” taunted Judd.
“I, I think you were looking for someone.”