Page 53 of Dairy and Deadly

“Now, Ash,” he insisted. “Two men have already died.”

“Four men,” she corrected with a sigh.

They’d almost reached Chester Farm, but he laid on his brakes and yanked his Jeep to the shoulder. They rolled to a stop, and he engaged his emergency brake. “Give me one good reason why I should keep driving.” He had no interest in leading her into another ambush.

“For starters, we stand a chance of saving Farmer Monty’s life.” She gestured in agitation at the road. “Come on, Johnny! I don’t know how much time we have left before The Black Widow strikes again.”

He tipped his head back against the seat, stifling a groan. “I’m trying to keep up with you, Ash. I really am, but what in the world does a poisonous spider have to do with anything?”

“Sorry,” she muttered, sounding shamefaced. “That’s what I call her.”

“Who?” And then he knew. “Please don’t say Caro Madison.”

“Fine! I won’t say it.” She hunched herself closer to the door. “But she performedlight housekeeping,” she placed air quotes around the words, “for all three dairy farmers who allegedly offed themselves in Dallas. At first, I assumed she was up to her eyeballs in some sort of financial fraud scheme. You know how it goes with Black Widow crimes. The perp gets close enough to move the victim’s assets into their name. Then they eliminate the only witness.” She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering. “But what if it’s more than that? What if all this stuff is related, and she and her associates are using her murderous crime spree to fund something even more insidious?”

“Like what?”

“Like a bioweapon, Johnny! One that has the potential to drop more bodies than any of us can imagine.”

That was a stretch for him to believe. He mentally sorted his way through everything he’d learned so far. “Once you drop enough bodies, you’re gonna bring the full firepower of the law down on your head, babe.”

“Not if you continue to make one crime spree look like a string of suicides and the other one look like a string of salmonella outbreaks.” Her voice grew desperate. She was grasping at straws, and she probably knew it.

“That’s an awful lot of dots to connect, babe.”

“It’s what highly trained police detectives do.” Her voice faded back into discouragement. “Unfortunately, this one couldn’t pass her psych evaluation, which neutralized the viability of my eyewitness report.”

“Which places your ex at the crime scene,” he drawled, hating that detail most of all.

“That’s why I need rock-solid proof.” She pointed at the road ahead of them. “Please, Johnny! This is the whole reason I came into town.”

Her admission made his heart sink. “I’ll take you there under two conditions only.” He leaned past her to open the glove compartment and draw out the Glock he rarely traveled anywhere without. He stuck it in the back waistband of his jeans. “Number one. We’ll take everything we find to the police. Today.” That part was non-negotiable with him. “Number two. You’re giving me a full two-month notice before you skedaddle out of town after this is over.”

Her lips parted. “I think you meant to say a two-week notice.”

“No, I did not.” He knew he was being unreasonable, but he didn’t care. The thought of her leaving Heart Lake without a forwarding address made his chest ache.

“Two months, huh?” She studied him in troubled silence, making him wonder like crazy what she was thinking.

“Yep. Those are my terms.”

“Since you’re holding the keys to the Jeep, you’re not leaving me with much choice.” She bit her lower lip.

“Do we have a deal, Ash?” He held his breath while he waited for her answer.

“We do.” Her voice was clipped with irritation. “Just drive.”

He pulled back on the road, feeling elated. The cock of a pistol made his head whip back in her direction.

She was cradling a weapon in her hands, one he hadn’t known she was carrying, fiddling with the safety. “I have a license to carry.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“You wanted to.” Her voice was bitter. “I’m a woman with cobwebs in place of her memories of what happened that night. I won’t blame you if you’re feeling skeptical.”

He drove to the entrance of Chester Farm and found the security gate propped open. Though Farmer Monty typically left it open for big events, he couldn’t see any sign of a big event in swing as they drove to the barn that served as their main event center. It also housed the loft apartment that Caro now occupied.

He parked in the central parking lot outside the event center and gazed around them. “Any idea which barn he’s got Martin’s milking machines set up in?”

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