Page 9 of Murder at Rescue Ridge

The areabehind the stack of wood where Conrad had been working a few short hours ago was taped off, as he’d expected. Staring out at the spot whereHarrison Guidry had been murdered, Conrad ran the events through his head. He’d been chopping wood when the lawyer had come in from a ride. The man most likely stabled his mare here so he could keep an eye on the situation. After a family vote to remove him lost by one vote, Beau being the holdout, Harrison had used every excuse in the book to stop by the ranch. He let his disdain for the changes be known.

After waving the lawyer over, the two had gotten into a heated argument. Conrad was normally the quiet one, but he stood up to bullies or others who couldn’t do it for themselves. Beaumont had called it a weakness. Harrison had been in a mood earlier today, a stark contrast to the fixed gaze and startled expression he’d worn in death.

The ranch hand had overheard the argument when he’d run back to the barn to grab the cell phone that had fallen out of his pocket and then admittedly went back to work with the horses in the exercise ring. The ring was far from the view of the woodpile area. The woodpile was at the farthest point, near the woods.

Anyone could have been waiting in the trees, biding their time until Harrison was alone. Conrad had walked off in a fury after the argument. Hell, during the quarrel. The stubborn lawyer had folded his arms over his chest and said he’d wait for Conrad to come to his senses. That had been the last time Conrad had seen the man alive.

Several minutes passed—maybe fifteen or more?—before Conrad had returned to the spot. Harrison Guidry’s truck was still parked in the lot beside the main house. The barn would have blocked anyone’s view from the house.

The trainer had been working in the barn office as well as going back and forth to the practice ring. The ranch hand had confirmed Lukas Wayne’s whereabouts. According to Travis, fifteen minutes wouldn’t have given Lukas enough time to murder Harrison and then change out of his own bloodied clothes. Unless, of course, Lukas had thrown the ax from a distance far enough to avoid blood splatter as had been the theory about Conrad since his clothes weren’t covered in blood either.

The first thing Conrad intended to do was dig into Lukas Wayne’s background to find out what his hobbies might be. Ax throwing, anyone? Not being one for paperwork, Conrad avoided going onto the computer or digging into the company books like the plague. It was time to roll his sleeves up. Since Lukas worked for the Sturgess family, they would have his personal information on file. Was he married? Did he have children? Did he work for other families, or was his contract with Beaumont exclusive?

Conrad might not know much about the horse racing business, but he knew trainers went where there were good horses to train. Did that mean they bounced around? Because that could give them a list of names to work with if they saw an operation going downhill. Since none of the Sturgess siblings, save for Beau, had wanted to take over the family business, Beaumont’s death could bring out the sharks.

Who would benefit from Harrison Guidry’s death?

“Mind if I ask what you’re thinking?” Nikki asked, her voice softer now. The minute she stepped close to him, he breathed in her clean floral scent. She was like wildflowers after a spring rain.

“Not at all.” He briefed her on how everything had gone down at the woodpile.

“Sounds like we need to dig around in Lukas Wayne’s background to see what comes up in the dirt.”

“Won’t your family be expecting you to come home once they find out what happened to your father?” he asked.

“My phone has been going off,” she admitted. “I’m not ready to leave.”

“These investigations can take time,” he said. “Didn’t you say you were on spring break?”

“I’m not going back to law school,” she said, her tone firm.

“Why not?”

Rather than answer, she walked toward the woods.

The time change meant they’d have an extra hour of sunlight, but darkness would descend soon enough.

Conrad caught up to Nikki halfway across the field.

“Did they bring out dogs?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “They would’ve had to borrow them from another county. There aren’t enough resources.”

“I’m surprised they aren’t still here searching for bloody clothing that had to have been stashed nearby,” she said as they walked a circle around the woodpile and then headed back.

Not fifteen feet away from the stack, she froze. He took note of where her gaze had landed on blood splatter on the yellow grass.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, touching her elbow for reassurance.

“Not really,” she admitted before lifting her shirt over her nose. “I caught a whiff.”

He nodded. He’d already been to the site and was familiar with the sights and smells. Did anyone ever get used to the acrid smell of death? He couldn’t imagine so. Not even Vicks underneath his nose had made the smell go away after it had blasted him in the wind not long after the body had been found.

“What about fingerprints?” she asked, bracing herself with a hand on his arm.

“On the ax?”

She nodded.

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