Bill McGee stood still in the yard after the foreman walked away that was news he didn’t want to hear. Jimmy Kelp had told him there had been some trouble up at the squatter’s cabin a girl killed. He shook his head and walked back in the house to call Travis.

Travis was getting ready for bed; in fact he was on the bed waiting for Jan to come out of the bathroom when his cell phone rang.

"Yeah Dad," he said lazily leaning back on the headboard.

"Uh Travis I hate to bother you this time of night but there’s been some trouble," Bill began.

Travis sat up, "what kind of trouble Dad…Mum okay?"

"Oh yeah, nothing wrong with us…up at the squatter’s cabin, Kelp says a girl’s been killed…he uh was out on the road and saw the cops and ambo rolling in and followed them up to the lake."

"Ah…shit," Travis dropped his head, "I’ll be there by daylight Dad give them permission to scour the place…damn I didn’t need this right now."

"Well Travis, I don’t reckon anybody did especially that dead girl."

"Sorry Dad, sorry." Travis folded his phone and looked up there was Jan looking so…

"What is it love?" she asked crawling up in the bed with him.

"Somebody’s been killed on my ranch Jan…I know…I should have had the security in place before we moved in."

Jan pulled his head to her breast and held him, "will you let me help you now?" she whispered.

~~~~~

Joe Sweeny had a hell of a time finding the herders hut in the dark, the dial on his watch said 3:30 AM. If he could stay awake a few more hours he’d be able to get out and find that cell phone. He cursed himself for not going back for it yesterday before it got dark. He wouldn’t have bothered with it, no important numbers listed but his number was given to the only guy that could get him a passport. That was one call he didn’t want to miss. Fooling around sending the guy a new number would spell trouble. He had enough trouble right now. He kicked the leather bag in the door cursing its weight. The few clothes and toiletries weighed nothing; it was the false bottom that contained his money and his ticket out of this hell hole. Fuming with himself and everything else he flopped down on the mattress and lit a cigar.