Page 7 of Dairy and Deadly

So far, the only commonalities between her alleged victims were old age and big life insurance payouts to undisclosed younger girlfriends. Not that having younger girlfriends was a crime, but it was quite a coincidence to have three nearly identical crimes committed so close together in time and proximity.

Ashley’s theory was that the three so-called “younger girlfriends” were one and the same woman — Caro Madison.

Caro had served dozens of other clients of all ages and backgrounds, from Dallas to Galveston, most of whom were very much still alive.

She moved around a lot, never staying in one town for long.

It wasn’t yet clear why Caro had stepped away from Sunrise Solutions to become an events manager in Heart Lake. Maybe she was still operating her personal services business on the side.

Her new employer was Monty Chester, a beloved local citizen that most folks called Farmer Monty. A man who fit the general description of Caro’s alleged three other victims in terms of age and vocation.

Washe the next unfortunate fellow who’d landed in Caro Madison’s crosshairs? If he was, why was she so blatantly pursuing Johnny Cuba as well? Was she spreading her web by targeting two men simultaneously this time around?

Ashley had so many questions tumbling around inside her head that it was making her temples ache. It might take a while to dig up the answers she was looking for — more time than the balance in her checking account would keep her in a motel room, unfortunately. Maybe she’d been a little hasty in discounting her retainer fee for Mr. Clark’s grieving daughter. Sympathy alone wouldn’t keep her afloat now that she was no longer drawing a government salary. She was going to have to sharpen her business skills if she was going to make it in the world of private investigating.

Ashley rubbed her temples and stretched, twisting from side to side to work out the kinks in her lower back. The movement caused her gaze to fall on the business card she’d tossed on the nightstand.

She smiled at the sight of Johnny Cuba’s phone number written in his careless scrawl on the back of it. Maybe she should take him up on his offer to give her a tour of his farm sooner rather than later. Not only would it give her the opportunity to delve further into Caro’s interest in him, it would also allow her to find out more about his job opening for a farm hand.

She’d run across his advertisement on a social media page for local classifieds. At the time, she hadn’t thought anything of it. But now…

But now she needed a cover story for what could easily turn into an extended stay in Heart Lake, and an extended stay would cost money. The way she saw it, snagging an interview as a farm hand would kill both birds with one stone. It sounded like Johnny was looking to hire someone right away. She didn’t know the first thing about dairy farming, but how hard could it be? Fortunately, she was a quick learner.

One way or the other, I’ll figure it out.She would do whatever it took to stop The Black Widow.

She waited until the glow of dawn was sweeping across the sky before pulling her phone off its charger and dialing Johnny Cuba.

He picked up right away. “Lemme guess. This is Ashley?”

His husky baritone sent a wave of delicious warmth through her. “I see you know your Dallas area codes, Wyoming Boy.” It was going to be fun matching wits with a fellow PI. She’d have to really be on her toes around him to keep him from discovering her real mission.

“I wasn’t sure you’d call me.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d be awake.” It was Saturday, the day a lot of Monday-to-Friday workers slept in.

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