Page 50 of Wyoming Bodyguard
Irritation rolled off Lily in waves. She watched Deputies Silver and Hill drive away, followed by the coroner office’s white van, and wanted to scream. Nothing at the scene pointed to a murder, and the two sheriff’s deputies all but patted the top of her head and called her pretty when she voiced her theory.
But Madden believed her.
For the first time in her life, Madden made her feel like she could contribute more than what was expected of her. She was smart, capable and, damn it, she was the only one here who knew the man who’d just died.
“I don’t care what they say. He didn’t kill himself. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Madden rested a hand on her shoulder and gently kneaded her stiff muscles. “What you said makes a lot of sense, and I think they listened to you. They agreed to look into the death more, even though nothing on the body or in the barn showed evidence of anything happening beyond what it appears.”
“How hard will they look? I could see the doubt in their eyes, in the way they exchanged glances when they thought I wasn’t paying attention. Not to mention everything else they have on their plate. Proving what they think was a suicide was murder can’t be that high on their priority list right now, especially when it helps check boxes in their investigation.”
He stopped the motion of his magic fingers along her neck. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “He was a person of interest and now he’s dead. This makes him look guilty. Like he was sorry for whatever it was that drove him to commit these crimes in the first place. It’d be easy for the deputies to lay all the blame at Daniel’s feet and tie it up in a nice tidy bow.”
“All their evidence against him is circumstantial,” Madden said. “I’d hate to think they’d throw in the towel and take the easy way out because they wouldn’t need a conviction anymore. But…”
Her eyes sharpened as he let his voice trail off. “But what?”
“I didn’t lie when I said I trust your gut.” He lifted his palms as if already in surrender of an argument he anticipated. “But if Daniel is responsible for your father’s shooting and everything else that’s come along with it, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.”
“Excuse me?” She fisted her hands on her hips, prepared for a fight. Hell, she half wanted a chance to scream and stomp out her frustration.
The lines of his face softened. “Then you’d be out of danger, and I could stop being terrified someone will take you away from me.”
His words pierced her anger like a needle popping a balloon. She shifted to lean against him and sighed. “I get that, I do. And trust me, I want all of this to be over. I want to rest easy knowing I won’t wake up to a new emergency. But my bones are telling me I’m right about Daniel. Now I need to prove it.”
Madden rested his chin on the top of her head and skimmed his knuckles along the sides of her biceps. “Okay. We can do that. Charlie told us Daniel didn’t have any family or close friends. Is there anyone at all you can think of we could talk to for information?”
Shaking her head, shame filled her. She’d meant it when she insisted Charlie and Daniel were trusted like family, but how could she know so little about their personal lives? “Not really. We could go to his place, but I don’t have a key. Hopefully the deputies will be diligent enough to at least look in his home.”
“I’m sure they will,” he said. “What about the bunkhouse?”
“What about it?”
“You mentioned the ranch hands using the bunkhouse when you had a lot of guests and their workload increased. We did a quick glance the other day but didn’t look too hard. Do Charlie or Daniel ever keep personal belongings there?”
“I wouldn’t know. I respect their space and stay out. I’m not even sure if my dad goes in there.”
“Maybe it’s time we take a closer look.”
A beat of anticipation had her pulling away. There had to be something they’d missed. “Let’s go.”
She quickened her pace, leading the way to the bunkhouse. Determination set her jaw as she swung open the door and walked inside.
The interior of the structure resembled the guest cabins dotting the property, except wood paneling lined the walls instead of rounded logs. Two sets of bunk beds took up most of the room, with a ratty brown recliner facing the old-fashioned tube TV on a tall stand. A white oven and refrigerator nestled between a short counter and a farmhouse sink. The cabinets were a dark stained oak. A bathroom could be found behind the lone door at the back of the space.
“Is it always unlocked?” Madden asked, stepping in behind her.
“Not sure. I assume they’d lock it if they were staying here, but there’s not really a reason to now.”
“Unless there’s something inside to hide.”
She studied the neat room, searching for anything that appeared out of place. “Guess we’ll find out. But I’ll ask Charlie. If they usually lock it, we should let the deputies know it wasn’t locked today.”
“Agreed. Let’s start looking.”
They went to work in silence. She was grateful that Madden went straight to the bathroom while she peeked inside the TV stand. When nothing but dust greeted her, she flipped up the footstool of the recliner to glance underneath and dipped her hand inside the crevices of the material.
