She climbed quickly. She could still hear Tom on the phone doing his best to end the conversation, but she really needed to splash a little cold water on her face. This wasn’t like her. She found herself questioning why she’d come here. Did she really expect Tom Eaton to remember some cowhand who’d worked on the ranch almost twenty years ago?

  Once upstairs she headed down a hallway and found a bathroom almost at once. Closing the door, she went to the sink and splashed her face with the cold water. It took a moment, but she began to feel better.

  As she stepped out of the bathroom, she could still hear Tom on the phone. A little turned around, she headed down another hall. She saw a sunroom at the end of the hall that glowed from the afternoon rays. The room drew her because of the array of colors on the furniture inside it as the sun lit up the room.

  But she hadn’t gone far when a door opened, and a woman stepped out. Startled, all Luna could do for a moment was stare. She knew at once who the woman was from her bearing alone. Bethany Eaton was beautiful with her dark hair so like Avery’s and pale blue eyes against her even paler translucent skin. She was much taller and more formidable-looking than Luna would have expected of a woman afraid to leave her house.

  “What are you doing up here?” Bethany Eaton demanded. “This part of the house is off-limits. I’m sure you were told that the caterers and staff were to stay on the lower floor.”

  “I’m sorry,” Luna said, seeing that the woman had also been startled and now looked both angry and scared. “I’m not with the caterers or the wedding staff. I was waiting to talk to Tom on another matter. I had to use a restroom and then I saw your beautiful sunroom. I apologize.”

  As she heard Tom finish his call, she quickly turned and hurried back the way she’d come, barely reaching the ground floor before he came down the stairs.

  Tom Eaton was a large handsome, imposing man with distinguished graying hair at his temples and Avery’s smile. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” He held out his hand and Luna introduced herself as she shook it.

  She was still a little taken aback by her encounter with his wife.

  “You’re the local hairdresser,” he said. “If you’re looking for Avery, she isn’t here.”

  “Actually, I wanted to see you. I’m hoping you can help me solve a mystery.” He looked intrigued as she pulled out her phone. “Do you remember this man?” He took the phone. “He worked for you seventeen years ago.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’ve had a lot of people work for me over the years,” Tom said. “Seventeen years?” He glanced at the photo and quickly handed it back. Had his eyes widened or had she just imagined it?

  “His name was Owen Henry,” she said, but Tom merely shook his head.

  “What about this woman?” She took the phone back to flip to Amy Franklin’s photo.

  Tom Eaton took even less time to study this one. “Sorry. Did she also work for the ranch?”

  Luna shook her head. “I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.”

  It surprised her that Tom wasn’t more interested in the mystery she’d mentioned. He seemed distracted. From his earlier phone call? Or by the upcoming wedding of his daughter?

  Luna saw him look back up the stairs. She followed his gaze to see Bethany standing at the railing. She was holding a long-stemmed rose. At first, she appeared to be caressing the bloom, but then the bright red petals began to fall over the railing and drift down toward where Luna and Tom were standing.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t help,” Tom said, both of them still watching Bethany and the rose petals pirouetting down on them. “I need to see to my wife. If you wouldn’t mind letting yourself out.” He turned and rushed up the stairs as Bethany Eaton dropped the denuded rose and turned away.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  SOMEONE HAD TRIED to kill Johnny Berg? Jaxson felt sick. Berg had seen the killer and now he was lucky to be alive. Hadn’t Jaxson worried that something might happen? And now Luna had possibly seen the killer. He tried her number again. Voice mail. This time he didn’t leave a message. She was out horseback riding. She was safe with Tucker Price, right?

  He’d been worried about Berg, but he really hadn’t thought the killer would go after the teenager, had he? He’d mentioned the possibility to Yarrow... He wondered how the acting marshal had taken the news. Yarrow would have to be heartless not to be upset and Jaxson didn’t think that was the case.

  What the hell? He’d thought that whoever killed Vi had done it spur-of-the-moment out of anger. But to try to kill an innocent young man to cover up the crime?

  Jaxson swore, terrified for Luna, but hopeful that Yarrow was right and he had a lead. He thought about the rest of the text. Amy’s DNA sample was at the crime lab. The state medical examiner had put a rush on it.

  He felt the past closing in. Unless he could find Amy’s killer, he was about to lose everything. But the one thing he couldn’t bear losing was Luna. He reminded himself that he might have already lost her.

  * * *

  IT WAS A beautiful day for a horseback ride. Luna wished that her mind wasn’t on everything but the bright blue cloudless sky overhead and the shimmering pine-covered mountains close by. She was still upset over what she’d seen at the Eaton house. Bethany had clearly been in pain and Luna feared it was all her fault. She’d heard that Avery’s mother was agoraphobic, but she hadn’t expected a woman of her obvious physical and economic stature to be so mentally fragile.

  She’d seen that Jaxson had left her a voice mail, but there hadn’t been time to listen to it as she’d hurried to the Price Ranch and parked near the stable.

  She couldn’t help looking over at the Eaton ranch house though, remembering her short conversation with Tom Eaton after she’d upset his wife. Had he recognized Owen Henry? Or had it just been her imagination that she’d seen a reaction?

  Tucker was already inside the stable finishing saddling the horses. He smiled when he saw her. A lock of his blond hair hung over his forehead as he pushed back his straw cowboy hat and considered her. “I was afraid you’d forgotten about our ride.”

  She shook her head. “What a wonderful day for it. Can I help?”

  “You know anything about horses?” he asked with a teasing grin.

  “I know one end from the other,” she said as she stepped closer to the horse he’d just finished saddling to let the palomino snuffle her hand before she rubbed the beautiful horse between his eyes. She’d taken riding lessons as a girl and had always wanted her own horse. Fortunately she had a friend she’d ridden with a couple of years ago. She hoped riding a horse was a lot like riding a bike and that she hadn’t forgotten everything she’d learned.

  He chuckled as he handed her the reins to a beautiful buckskin, and they walked their mounts out of the stable and into the bright warm sunshine.

  “Excited about the wedding?” Luna asked as she realized the white tent going up behind the Eaton house appeared large even from here.

  Tucker stopped to glance over at the Eaton ranch. “They better hope we don’t get a storm before the wedding.”

  She realized that he hadn’t answered her question. “Your brother must be getting excited,” she said as she swung up into the saddle.

  The sound the cowboy made was noncommittal as he mounted his horse. Luna found herself still looking over at the ranch. In the distance she saw a vehicle pull up and Avery Eaton run into the house. Had her father called her about her mother?

  Apparently not, because a few moments later Avery exited the back of the house, walking fast toward the tent. Luna thought again about the patch of missing hair and the bruises she’d seen.

  From the barn, a cowboy ran after her. Even from a distance, Luna could tell that it wasn’t her fiancé, Jory Price. The two seemed to be arguing because when the man touched Avery, she jerked away before storming back inside the house. It was too far away to tell who the man was, but Luna knew that hat from when Carson McCabe came in for a haircut. Black with a hatband of silver conch shells that gleamed in the sunshine.

  As if sensing he was being watched, Carson turned in her direction.

  “I thought we’d ride up into the mountains,” Tucker said as he drew alongside her, blocking her view of the neighboring ranch—and Carson McCabe. “You okay?”

  “Sorry, just daydreaming. Avery asked me to do her hair for the wedding. I’ve never been out here before and had no idea the Price and Eaton ranches were so close together.” She raised her gaze to Tucker’s handsome face.

  Tucker huffed. “A little too close, if you ask me.” He quickly changed the subject. “I’d be happy to show you around after our ride.” He grinned and spurred his horse.

  Luna warned herself to be careful. She liked Tucker. But Jaxson already had a piece of her heart. She didn’t want to lead either man on—especially now when she needed to be watching out for a killer.

  * * *

  ON THE HOUR’S DRIVE back to his office in the next town, Ken had plenty of time to think about the cases that were piling up. He needed a break in the worst way. If he could just get a handle on Vi’s murder...

  The young man who’d called was waiting for him, looking nervous and upset. Like Berg, he appeared to be in his late teens. Ken ushered him back to the marshal’s office and offered him a chair, even though all he wanted to see was the letter he’d been told about on the phone. But first he had to know who he was dealing with. The teen’s name was Cody Leigh. He worked at a fast-food joint in town, was saving money for college and had been friends with Johnny Berg as far back as he could remember.

  “And you were drinking with him the night he was attacked? Neither of you were twenty-one at the time.”

  “It was at a friend’s house. And only a couple of beers,” Cody said quickly. “Johnny was good to drive home. That’s why I don’t believe it was an accident.” He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket. “He was afraid someone was going to kill him. The same person who slayed that old lady in Buckhorn.”

  Ken bristled at the old lady comment. Vi had been his age. “He told you that when he gave you the envelope and made you promise to give it to us if something happened to him, right? Have you opened it?”

  Cody nodded. “I thought it might be a joke. I didn’t want to give it to you unless it wasn’t.”

  Holding out his hand, the teen finally handed it to him. He saw what was written on the outside of the envelope before he opened the flap and read the contents, his pulse picking up with each word—not to mention the drawing.

  “He wanted to be an artist,” Johnny’s friend said, his voice going froggy. “He was really good at drawing stuff.”

  So it seemed, Ken thought as he thanked Cody, tried to assure him that his friend would pull through and sent him on his way. Then he photographed the envelope and its contents, made copies of the drawing and put the original in a plastic evidence bag.

  Finally they had a lead. Not that he wasn’t furious with Johnny Berg. Why hadn’t he come forward right away with this information? Keeping it to himself might have cost him his life and Ken a lot of wasted time.

  He was getting ready to leave when he got a call from the coroner’s office telling him he could pick up the victim’s suitcase.

  He texted Jaxson. Meet me at the motel.

  * * *

  JAXSON HAD JUST finished interviewing one of the suspects on his list when he got a call from Carson McCabe. He’d thought for sure that he wouldn’t be hearing from the cowboy. “Carson,” he said into the phone. He couldn’t help sounding surprised.

  “I’m not sure you’re going to want to hear this, but I did see someone that morning,” McCabe said quickly. “Not in front of the store, but down the street from the store. Luna Declan. I’d forgotten about it until a few minutes ago when I happened to see her over at the Price place and it reminded me.”

  The deputy’s pulse jumped. “Luna? You saw her the morning of Vi’s murder?”

  “Yeah. When I was leaving the bar, I’d pulled up to the highway and I looked to the west. I saw her standing at the edge of the sidewalk in front of her salon next to that huge pot of flowers that she keeps out there. I could see that she was on her cell phone as she bent over, messing with the flowers like she was cleaning out the pot. As I started to drive away, a semi roared past, kicking up a cloud of dust. I remember her looking straight down the street in my direction. But I got the feeling that she didn’t see me with that thunderstorm that was rolling in.”

  Luna had been outside on the street at the time that the killer might have walked out the front door of the general store. “Did you see her go back inside the salon?”

  “No, when I left, she was still outside.”

  Jaxson could practically hear the cowboy’s shrug. “Did you see anyone else? Someone crossing the street right behind the semi?”

  “No. Like I said, I could barely see out of my one good eye and that semi kicked up so much dust...”

  How could McCabe not have seen the killer? Because the killer had already passed behind the semi before the cowboy looked down the street and saw Luna? But then who had Luna been looking at on the surveillance video? Not McCabe. It had to have been the killer and the killer had been looking right back at her.

  Jaxson thanked McCabe. Trying not to think about Luna horseback riding with Tucker Price, he called her cell. It went straight to voice mail again.

  He pulled in front of the motel and parked next to Yarrow’s patrol SUV.

  * * *

  LUNA DIDN’T LISTEN to Jaxson’s voice mail until after she’d returned from her horseback ride with Tucker. She had turned off her phone after talking to Tom Eaton and not turned it back on. She’d been determined to enjoy being on the back of a horse for a little while and not worrying about Jaxson or these murder cases or what had happened earlier at the Eaton house.

  It was one of those amazing Montana spring days that make people move to the state. Cloudless blue sky, sunshine and air that feels so fresh a person couldn’t breathe in enough of it. They’d ridden out of the valley and up into the pines. Rocky cliffs jutted out above them as they took a trail to the top of one of the vistas.

  “The view is stunning from up here,” she said as they ground-tied the horses and walked to the edge of the mountainside to look down at the long valley. She could see Buckhorn in the distance. Closer she could make out the Price and Eaton ranch buildings. “Looks like they got the tent up.” When Tucker glanced in that direction and said nothing, she asked, “How long have Avery and Jory been dating?”

  Tucker pulled off his straw cowboy hat and turned his face up to the sun for a moment. “Jory says he’s been in love with her since they were kids. I guess he finally convinced Avery to marry him.”

  Had Avery needed convincing? “Are you and your brother close?” she asked, guessing they were not.

  He put his hat back on before answering. “Off and on.” Turning, he smiled over at her. “I love my brother but sometimes he doesn’t have the good sense God gave him.”

  “You’re the older brother by a couple of years, right? So I can understand if you feel like you need to protect him.” She kept thinking about Avery’s lost hunk of hair and her bruises. “I get the impression that you aren’t for this marriage?” No answer, so an answer in itself. “Have you told your brother your concerns?”

  Tucker chuckled at that. “Even if I did, he wouldn’t listen. He thinks he has it all figured out, knows everything.” The cowboy shook his head.

  “If you have reason to be concerned—”

  “Maybe I just think he’s too young to get married.” She didn’t think that was it as he shrugged it off. “We best head back if you want to have a look around the ranch.”

  It wasn’t until they reached the stables that she found herself looking over at the Eaton ranch house again. She didn’t see anyone, but she couldn’t help thinking about Avery and what Tucker wasn’t saying.

  After unsaddling the horses, they were headed for the main house when she heard a pickup come roaring into the ranch. The truck came to a dust-boiling stop just yards from them.

  Jory Price jumped out. “I need to talk to you,” he yelled at Tucker as he strode in their direction. He didn’t seem to even see Luna and he headed for his brother like a heat-seeking missile.

  “Maybe some other time for that tour,” she said quietly to Tucker and veered away toward her SUV. She wondered what had Jory so worked up. He seemed furious at his brother. Did it have something to do with the wedding? With Avery?

  It wasn’t until she left the two arguing next to the ranch house and drove away that she pulled out her phone and listened to Jaxson’s message.

  * * *

  JAXSON TRIED TO concentrate on the drawing of the set of keys, but after hearing about the attack on Johnny Berg and the coroner’s suspicion that it had been attempted murder, he was even more afraid for Luna. If the killer had seen her out watering her flowers the morning of the murder...

  He’d filled Yarrow in on everything he’d learned from McCabe and given him a copy of the video clip from the filling station’s surveillance camera. Yarrow hadn’t recognized the figure the camera had captured but was excited about the drawing of the keys.

  The deputy stared at the carefully drawn set of keys, hoping his boss was right about this being the clue that would blow the case wide open. “No key fob, just two keys on a nondescript ring,” Jaxson said, stating the obvious. “Those two keys definitely look like car keys back when you needed one for the trunk and one for the ignition. So an older model vehicle, a truck?”