Page 7 of Barry

His thumb rubbed the side of her neck in a possessive and soothing motion. “I don’t deserve you.”

She smiled and leaned in, whispering against his lips, her breath mingling with his. “That’s where you’re wrong. You deserve the best life has to offer.” She closed the distance, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her onto his chest. The feel of his shaft under her pushed a moan from her throat, igniting that banked fire deep within her. He broke the kiss, and they both panted for air, their breath mixing in the charged distance between them. “I want to do things with you. Things I have no right imagining.”

She lifted her finger and traced his lips with her fingernail,the touch sending shivers of desire through her. “You have every right.” She lifted her eyes from his lips to meet his gaze. “Every right.”

They held that connection for a long moment before he nodded once and said the word that sent a shiver of lust through her, “Soon.”

She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, relishing the promise before leaning against him and letting her head drop to his chest. “Whenever you’re ready.”

CHAPTER 3

Barry worked in the stall with his horse, who’d he’d been calling Buddy. It wasn’t a real inventive name, but it worked. He used the pitchfork to clean the horse's stall before he would spread new straw out. Buddy stayed on the other side of the stall, but he didn’t cringe in fear like he did a couple of months ago. Barry whistled as he worked, making sure the horse knew where he was at all times. When he finished, he pulled a baggie out of his back pocket and leaned against the stall wall. Buddy tossed his head when Barry held out the carrot. “No?” He popped the end of the carrot in his mouth and took a bite. “Cutting your nose off to spite your face?” He extended his arm again, and Buddy sniffed at it. He took one step closer and stretched his neck as far as he could. He lipped the stalk into his mouth and moved away. Barry smiled. It was thefirst time Buddy had actually taken something from his hand.

“He’s coming around,” Ryan said, startling Barry. He pushed away from the wall and turned around.

“Taking his time with it,” Barry acknowledged. “What you doing out here so late?”

“Sheriff pulled in and is at the bunkhouse with Andrew. He wants to talk to you.”

Barry dropped his head. “I can’t take this shit much more, Ryan. I haven’t done anything.”

“You don’t know what he wants, so don’t get riled up. You done here?” Ryan nodded toward Buddy.

“Yeah.” He shoved the empty bag into his back pocket and whistled for Honey. The little dog popped off the hay bale where she’d been perched and hustled to his side as he exited the stall. “Ten bucks says he’s here to pin something else on me.”

“I’ll take that bet. Better yet, you buy breakfast in the morning if you’re wrong. We’re picking up feed and helping Gen over at the diner. She has a big delivery scheduled for nine in the morning. Was going to do it myself, but damned if I’m going to hurt my back if I can have a young one use his muscles.”

Barry frowned and turned his gaze to Ryan. “Since when? I thought I was working on that old shed with Dusty.”

“Dusty got thrown again. He ain’t gonna be of no use to anyone for a day or two. So the shed will keep.”

Barry stopped. “Ryan, I know you’ve been keeping me paired up so I have witnesses to my whereabouts, but I can work on the shed by myself.”

“You could, but we aren’t taking that chance. You’re too damn important to us, so suck it up and deal with it. Friends ain’t going to desert you, my man.” Ryan ambled forward, leaving Barry standing in his tracks.Important?Him?Friends?Since when?He shook himself out of that surreal comment and followed Ryan out of the barn.

As they walked into the bunkhouse, all the hands scattered, leaving the main common room vacant except for Andrew and Ken. He walked over to them and crossed his arms. “I can account for every minute of my day.” Except for the drive from and to the ranch, but he had witnesses to when he left and when he returned.

Ken sighed. “I guess I deserve that. Hate that I only show up when there’s shit going on, but this time, it isn’t about what’s happened, well, directly about it.” Ken rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, that ain’t the truth either. Hell, just let me explain.” He pulled a chair out from around the massive table and sat down. Andrew did the same. Barry wasn’t too keen on sitting with the sheriff, so he kept his stance. Ken looked up at him and realized he wasn’t going to sit. He leaned forward and stared at Barry as he spoke. “That pylon you and Tegan found, we figured out what happened to it.”

Barry’s arms dropped to his sides as his gut dropped tothe floor and then bounced back up into his throat. He took a step forward. “What?”

“A new lab tech who was collecting evidence saw the pylon and collected it. She was one of the first to leave the site with the supervisor, and that’s why no one knew what had happened to the evidence. I saw the pictures this morning on a file they forwarded to our office. A courtesy because the State has assumed control of the investigation. I called them immediately, and the tech admitted to taking the evidence without logging it. A newbie mistake, but it also puts this investigation in a bind.”

“A bind? How?” Barry’s mind reeled.

“Evidential chain-of-custody is nothing to mess with. Of course, it’s all a big dust-up about nothing if we don’t catch the killer.” Ken rolled his shoulders. “The colder this case gets, the less chance we’ll find out who did it. That’s just pure hard fact.”

Barry asked, “And the blood?”

“Matches the dead man,” Ken said. “The thought from the gold badge investigators is it was left as a message as you said. What that message was, we don’t have a clue. That’s why I’m here talking to the two of you.” He motioned to a chair. “Would you please sit down? I don’t need a kink in my neck.” Barry pulled out a chair, sat down, and Honey hopped up on his lap. “She’s looking better than the last time I saw her.” Ken reached out and ruffled Honey’s fur. The pup lapped up the attention. “So, fill me in on that thing. What does it mean? What is it used for?”

Barry looked at Andrew and nodded, deferring the answer to his once commanding officer and now boss.

Andrew puffed out his cheeks and released a lungful of air. “That depended on the squad or unit using it. For us, it was a guide. If one of our guys got separated, we’d build those pylons, and the top rock would indicate the direction of travel. A rock with some type of pointed side indicating the route of travel. With so many variables and units, it could mean anything.”

Which was the truth. Barry hadn’t considered the other units that used pylons. He continued to pet Honey as he spoke up. “There is another option. I brought it up to Doc Wheeler today when I saw him.”

Andrew frowned and tilted his head. “What’s that?”

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