In the silence of the cabin, the trill of Bryson’s phone was loud enough to wake the dead. For the fourth time, he rolled his eyes to confirm the number on the screen; for the fourth time, he ignored the call. The first two had been his mother, no doubt follow-ups to the call she would have received from Lew, or the stable manager, or the owner—and in all honestly, she’d probably received a call from each and every one of them. Bryson might be their client, and Beau might belong to him and him alone, but she was the one to whom they’d be reaching out. In their circles, matters with as much significance as this were always presented first to the person who could do the most damage, and in all but a handful of cases, that was the family matriarch.
The last two calls had been from Amaya, whi
