Page 16 of Killer on the Homestead
“Yeah…” She knew she wasn’t invincible. And she knew Audra and Franny weren’t weaklings. It was just…
She was the protector. Always had been. Always would be.
“And I thought you all were armed and knew how to shoot. Wasn’t that the warning you gave me?”
She scowled at him. “Sure, but… Well, that’s all true, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about a murderer lurking about. I protect my own.”
Duncan looked back at the house, where his parents had gone inside. His expression was deadly serious. “So do I.” Then he turned that serious expression onto her, and thatflutteringwas back, with a full set ofjitteringto go along with it. “I’m no detective or investigator, but I want to help. I’mgoingto help.”
“How?”
“You tell me.”
Chapter Five
Duncan wouldn’t say he’d caught Rosalie off guard with his intention to help, but she didn’t have a quick answer for that. In fact, when she did speak, it was with a question of her own.
“Where’d all the ranch hands go?”
“The detective said they could go back to their bunks, but no one is supposed to leave the property. They’ll be back in a few hours with more questions.”
“More questions and search warrants, I imagine. They’ll want to go through all the buildings. Bunks, stables, the house. I don’t know how long it’ll take Gracie to determine time and cause of death.”
“Gracie? Gracie Delaney?” He knew he’d recognized the woman. They’d gone to high school together. Though he couldn’t remember much else about her besides the name and the vague look ofDelaney—the family that had run Bent, more or less, back then.
“Gracie Cooper these days,” Rosalie said offhandedly. “She’s the coroner.”
Coroner. Death.Murder.“I’m guessing the cause of death had something to do with the way his head was blown to hell.”
Rosalie slid that pretty, blue gaze to him. “Noticed that, huh?”
“Hard not to.” And yeah, it was going to haunt the hell out of him for a very long time, no matter how tough he tried to act.
“They’ll want to find a murder weapon. It was a gunshot wound to the head, so they’ll do what they can to identify a murder weapon, get search warrants and the like for anything that might match.”
“You don’t think one of the other ranch hands did it, do you?” The thought filled him with different kinds of dread for all sorts of reasons. The toll it would take on his parents. The danger they all might be in with a murderer running around.
What on earth had he come home to? At least hewashome. This was the first time he was truly grateful for the timing. Because his parents would need him.
“Impossible to say just yet,” Rosalie returned. She surveyed the crime scene, the rest of the ranch. “Let’s go talk to Owen. See what he had to say about his friend.”
Duncan hesitated. The poor kid had just stumbled upon his murdered friend and already answered a bunch of questions from the police. Should he let Rosalie pile on?
“Look, Duncan, you can either spare everyone’s feelings or you can find the truth, but let me tell you from experience, you can’t do both.”
She said it kindly enough, but he feltjudgedall the same.
“Let’s get the truth.”
She nodded, then started striding away from the house. Since it was in the direction of the bunkhouse, he figured she knew where she was going. Though he wonderedwhyshe was so well-acquainted with the layout of the ranch. He followed her.
“Your shoulder holding up okay?” she asked pleasantly enough as they walked. She wasn’t even looking at him, but he knew it wasn’t a casual question. She’d noticed him wincing or something. And now she was slowing down, like he needed someone to slow down for him.
He focused on walking without showing any pain, and walked faster just to prove all was well. “I’m fine.”
“Not what I asked.”
He supposed it wasn’t, and he didn’t particularly care for her calling him out on it. So he grinned at her. “Worried about me, Red?”
