by Kat Martin
Ellie nodded. “Oh, I will.”
Fran seemed satisfied her advice had been taken. She was clearly the town gossip, or maybe it was just that there were so few people who lived in the area that gossiping was a sort of recreation.
“You know there is one thing that bothers me about living out at the ranch,” Ellie said as they headed for the checkout register.
“What’s that?”
“I heard Kade Logan’s wife was murdered and they recently found her car. It kind of makes me nervous, you know? I mean, they’ve never found the woman’s killer. He could be right there on the ranch.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about Kade. That man worshipped his wife.” Fran sighed. “She was the most beautiful creature you ever did see. Tall and blond, like an angel. They were high school sweethearts, you know.”
“I heard that. Maybe now that they’ve found her car, they can find the guy who killed her.”
Fran leaned toward her. “Just between you and me, that woman was lucky someone didn’t kill her sooner. Why, she was always flirting with some fella. Didn’t matter if he was married or not. Liked to make men jealous. Kade just seemed to close his eyes. He didn’t want to lose her, I guess.”
“You think she and Jonas were . . . ?”
“No idea. If they were, I never heard.”
They reached the register, and Fran went behind the counter to ring up Ellie’s order. She paid for her purchases and left the store. As she walked down the street, she smiled. For her first few days on the case, she had gleaned a surprising amount of information.
She wondered what Kade would say about her upcoming lunch date with Jonas Murray.
CHAPTER SEVEN
KADE SAT BEHIND THE WHEEL, WITH ELLIE IN THE PASSENGER SEAT as he pulled the pickup around to the back of Murray’s Grocery. Jonas’s son, Sean, was waiting, and the two of them loaded the food and supplies into the bed of the truck.
“Thanks, Sean,” Kade said when they were finished. He liked the lanky teenager, who was a hard worker and always friendly.
Kade returned to his seat and cranked the engine, firing the truck up again. “Hungry?” he asked Ellie.
“Starved.”
He drove the truck out from behind the grocery store into the street. “So how’d it go? Learn anything useful?”
“Maybe. People were easy to talk to. I remember that’s the way it was when I was growing up in Wyoming. Frances Tilman over at Rocky Mountain Supply could be a well of information.”
“You got that right. Woman’s got her nose stuck in everybody else’s business.”
“She talked about you and your wife, among other things.”
Irritation trickled through him. He didn’t like the idea of people talking about him behind his back. “What did she say?”
Ellie slanted him a look. “If I tell you this stuff, I want your word you won’t mention where you heard it, and you won’t confront the people who told me. Once I break their trust, I’ll never get it back.”
He frowned. “I don’t gossip, never have. Whatever you say goes no further.”
“Fran said Heather liked to make men jealous. She said you pretty much ignored it because you didn’t want to lose her.”
A muscle jerked in his cheek. “She was my wife. I took a vow. I planned to keep it.”
“But there is only so much a person should have to take. I know because I divorced my husband for cheating. And I don’t regret it one little bit.”
He turned his head to study her from beneath the brim of his hat. Why a man would want to cheat on a woman who looked like Ellie he couldn’t imagine.
He slowed the truck and pulled into the parking lot of the Coffee Springs Café. “Maybe if Heather hadn’t been murdered, I wouldn’t regret it, either. Unfortunately, I’ll never know.”
Ellie’s eyes, green as spring hay, shot to his. Today she’d pulled her glorious auburn hair into a pony tail that swung appealingly back and forth across her back. He tried not to imagine what those shiny curls would look like spread over his pillow.
They climbed out of the truck and went into the café, which had old-fashioned molded-tin ceilings and branding irons on the walls. Kade waited till Ellie slid into one of the red-vinyl booths, sat down across from her, and picked up a menu, though he knew it by heart.
“So what else did you learn?” He perused the menu, trying to appear casual. He didn’t really like hearing what people said about him. It was none of their business how he ran his life, but he needed answers, and it looked like Ellie might actually have a chance of getting them.
“Well, I met Jonas Murray when I was getting groceries. When I asked Frances about him, she said he was a real hound dog. That’s the reason his wife divorced him.”
“I could have told you that.”
“Jonas asked me out. He said Mabel came in at least a couple of times a week. I’ve got a lunch date with him the next time I come in for groceries.”
The news hit him like a punch in the solar plexus. Jealousy was an emotion he’d learned to control when he was with Heather. He’d thought he’d buried it completely with his late wife. “What the hell?”
“Take it easy. There’s a chance he had an affair with Heather. If he did, that puts him on our suspect list.”
Kade leaned back against the seat. He tolerated Jonas Murray, but he didn’t really like the man. Jonas was a good-looking, athletic guy women were drawn to. Kade didn’t like the idea of Jonas with Ellie.
Kade closed the menu. When the waitress walked up, Ellie ordered a salad, and Kade ordered a burger. Both of them ordered coffee. Wendy, the daughter of the café owners, Sally and Chill Cummings, filled their cups with the steaming brew. A few minutes later, she returned with their orders, set them down with a thud on the table.
She smiled. “Nice to see you, Kade. It’s been a while.” “Wendy, this is my new cook, Ellie Bowman. She’s taking Mabel’s place till she gets back from Phoenix.”
Wendy darted a quick glance across the table. “Good to meet you, Ellie.”
“You too, Wendy.”
Her attention returned to Kade, and her smile broadened. “Anything you need, just let me know.”
“I will. Thanks.”
Wendy sashayed away, hips swinging. She had a great figure, and she knew it.
“That woman has the hots for you,” Ellie said.
Kade nearly lost the mouthful of coffee he had just taken.
“She’s Chill Cummings’s daughter. She’s only twenty-two.”
“So? You’re what, fifteen or sixteen years older? Thirty-seven or eight?”
“Thirty-seven. The way I feel lately, I’m surprised you didn’t think I was a lot older than that.”
Ellie laughed. It was a soft rumbling, sexy sound that sent his blood heading south.
“So . . . you prefer more mature women?”
Was she flirting? He could only hope. He wasn’t interested in twenty-two-year-old Wendy Cummings, but he was sure as hell interested in Eleanor Bowman.
“A lady about your age would do just fine.”
Faint color rose in her cheeks. She took a drink of coffee. So did Kade.
He set the china cup down on the table. “If you want to meet some locals, there’s a country western band plays at the Elkhorn on Friday nights. Just a couple of musicians who drive up from Eagle, but they’re really not too bad. I’ll take you if you want to go.”
She eyed him across the table, clearly reluctant. “That’s a good idea, but it might be better if I went by myself.”
Kade picked up a french fry and dabbed it in the ketchup he’d squeezed onto his plate. “Women around here don’t go to bars alone. That might be old-fashioned, but that’s the way it is.”
Ellie’s forkful of salad paused halfway to her lips. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Kade knew exactly what she was thinking. That she didn’t want to go out with him. It didn’t take much for a man to recognize th
at look in a woman’s eyes. He stopped eating as a thought suddenly occurred. “You don’t think I killed Heather, do you?”
Her gaze met his and didn’t move away. “From what I’m hearing around town, you definitely had motive. But I doubt you’d be dumb enough to hire two different detectives to find Heather’s killer if you were the guy who did it.”
He relaxed back in the booth, more relieved that he should have been. He thought of the way she had looked at him in the barn last night. He wasn’t an expert on women, but he was pretty sure the attraction was mutual.
“All right,” he said. “Then we’ll go to the Elkhorn on Friday night, and I’ll introduce you around.”
Ellie just nodded, obviously not excited at the prospect. If she really wasn’t interested, he’d find out Friday night.
She went back to work on her salad. “What did Sheriff Carver have to say?”
“I asked him if there were any other reports of cattle being killed in the area, but so far, there haven’t been any.”
“So maybe the shooting was personal.”
That’s what Kade had been thinking, though he hadn’t come right out and said it, didn’t really want to believe it. “You could be right. I was hoping it was just some bastard who got a kick out of shooting a moving target, but it could be he’s zeroed in on the Diamond Bar.”
“Or you, specifically. You’re a powerful man in the area. You must have enemies. You need to make a list, Kade.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I wish you weren’t.”
“Maybe whoever you pissed off will consider two dead steers enough of a payback.”
“I sure as hell hope so.”
They finished the meal, and he followed her out to his truck. They were just driving out of town when his cell phone rang. The call came out through speakers on the dashboard.
“Kade, this is Will Turley. We’ve got a problem out at the mine.”
“Since when do you call me about a mining issue?”
“Since someone blew up one of the shafts and damn near killed one of my men. You’re the leaseholder, so I figured you’d want to know.”
Kade’s hand tightened around the steering wheel. “You’re right. I’m on my way.” He turned to Ellie. “Phone Maria and tell her to go ahead and start making supper. You’re going to be late getting back.”
Ellie pulled out her cell and made the call, then settled back in the seat. “I didn’t realize you owned a mine. I guess I should have done a little more research.”
“The mining operation is owned by Red Hawk Mining, which is part of Mountain Ore, a big international conglomerate. They lease the mine, but the claim sits on the original Diamond Bar homestead, 619 acres south of Copper Mountain down in Summit County. Dad moved the ranch headquarters when he bought the acreage up near Coffee Springs.”
“How far away is it?”
“From here, about an hour and half.” Kade rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Two dead steers and now this. There’s always problems to deal with on the ranch, but this feels different. I don’t like it.”
“You’re thinking there’s a chance killing the steers wasn’t enough payback after all.”
That was exactly what he was thinking. Ellie seemed to have a knack for reading his thoughts. His glance strayed to the tempting swell of her breasts beneath her pale blue turtleneck sweater. He hoped to hell she couldn’t tell what he was thinking right now.
He fixed his gaze firmly back on the road. “You’re a detective. You made some solid observations at the scene of the shooting. Maybe you’ll pick up on something at the mine the rest of us miss.”
“I’m on your payroll. Up to you to decide where I can be the most useful.”
His mind slid immediately into the gutter. Kade clamped down on his lustful thoughts. He had more important matters to deal with than the throbbing in his groin.
Kade stepped on the gas.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ELLIE SETTLED BACK FOR THE DRIVE FROM COFFEE SPRINGS TO THE Red Hawk Mine. The case she’d undertaken had turned out to be far more complicated than she’d expected. And far more intriguing.
She was too much of a professional not to wonder if the dead steers and the explosion at the mine were connected. She’d know more once they got there and she took a look around. In the meantime, she planned to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Kade drove Highway 131 from Coffee Springs to I-70, took the interstate east through Vail, past Copper Mountain, then turned south on 91. A sign read LEADVILLE and GRANITE. Their route had started in high mountain country, dropped down to a drier, more arid landscape, then started climbing again, winding through soaring mountains, clear, glassy lakes, and deep green, forest-lined canyons.
It was in those canyons that silver, copper, and lead were discovered in the 1870s and ’80s, producing huge amounts of ore, creating the great Colorado silver boom. Some of the mines were still producing today.
Which was about all Ellie remembered from her history classes.
The pickup pulled onto a single-lane asphalt road that ran parallel to a rushing stream and climbed slowly higher. At one point, it forked, and she could see a timber gate just like the one leading into the Diamond Bar, with a pair of elk antlers on each end of the sign. Instead, the pickup took the left-hand fork in the road.
“The old ranch is that way.” Kade pointed toward the gate. “The original cabin is still there, built by my great-grandfather, along with a couple of outbuildings and the original barn.”
“Do you still use the cabin?”
“I usually stick close to home in case I’m needed, but whenever I get the chance, I come up here and stay a few days, do some hunting and fishing. Sometimes getting back to basics feels really good.”
“So you keep the buildings maintained.”
He nodded. “Seems like I owe that much to my family, the men and women who came before me. It took a lot of hard work to build the homestead into the ranch it is today. Besides, it’s good to have a place to get away once in a while.”
“You ever bring anyone up here with you?” she asked, though she didn’t think the cabin sounded like Heather’s kind of place.
He sliced her a look from beneath the brim of his hat. “You mean like a woman? No. Heather would have hated it, and there hasn’t been anyone else I wanted to spend that much time with.”
She didn’t say more as the pickup began to climb a steep gravel road that wound through a narrow canyon. Kade pulled up in an open area in front of a group of wood and metal buildings and braked to a stop. Off to one side, Ellie could see the mine entrance, a dark hole in the steep side of the mountain.
“It’s a small operation,” Kade said. “The claim started producing in the 1890s. It closed after World War Two for about thirty years. When prices went up, Mountain Ore Mining bought the Red Hawk, renewed the lease, and started production again.”
He cracked open the pickup door and stepped out of the truck. Ellie got out and walked around to his side of the vehicle.
“I assume this is a silver mine,” she said as they crossed the open area toward a wooden building with a sign that read OFFICE above the door.
“Mainly silver, lead, and zinc. Also some sphalerite, galena, and pyrite, a little gold.”
“Gold?”
“Not enough to be profitable. It’s the other stuff that makes the money.”
She glanced around the operation, watched a group of miners at work. A skip loader rolled one way and then another, picking up rocks and carrying them from place to place. One of the workers, a tall, lanky man with curly red hair, broke away from the others and strode toward them.
“Kade, thanks for coming.” He stuck out a hand Kade shook.
“You wouldn’t have called if you hadn’t thought it was important.”
“The mine is on your land. That gives you a certain liability. This wasn’t an accident. I figured you’d want to know.”
Kade turned. “Will Turley, this is Ellie Bowman. Will’
s the supervisor here. Ellie works for me at the ranch. She was with me in town. Faster to come straight here.”
Turley tipped his head in her direction. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Bowman.”
“Ellie,” she corrected.
Turley smiled. “Ellie.”
“Where’d this happen?” Kade asked.
“Follow me.” Turley started striding away, and Kade followed, while Ellie hurried to keep up with the two tall men.
Turley led them toward the hole in the mountain and disappeared inside. Kade followed, but Ellie hung back. Her heart was pounding, her palms sweating. Her breath hitched in and out a little too fast.
She was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but she’d had a fear of tight places since she was a kid. Since the dirt-and-log fort she’d built and played in with her dog, Tuff, had caved in on her. She’d been buried up to her neck for hours when the rain had started, turning the dirt to mud. She’d been sure she was going to die that day.
Kade paused and looked back. “You coming?”
She moistened her lips and nodded. She could do this. The accident had happened a long time ago. She just needed to take a few deep breaths. She followed Kade and Will Turley into the mine, which felt cool and damp, the air heavy with the scent of moist earth.
Kade fell back to walk beside her. “You okay?”
“I’m not crazy about places like this, but I’ll be all right.”
“You can wait in the truck if you want.”
“I’m fine.” He kept an eye on her as they headed deeper into the main shaft. She could see quite a way down the tunnel, which was lit by a string of overhead lights. A compressor pumped air along a tube that ran deep into the mountain.
When Turley halted, Ellie forced herself not to turn around and run back outside.
“There.” Turley pointed toward a dark hole off to one side. “That’s a tunnel we just started digging off the main shaft. The explosion turned it into a pile of rubble. A small crew was preparing to go in. Dick Murphy had just started to check the air when the explosion went off. We drove him to the hospital. He was hurt real bad.”
