Page 24 of Their Wicked Games

“He’s over at the bunkhouse.” She pushed open the screen door and pointed to a building in the distance. “One of the ranch hands had an accident earlier today and he’s checking up on him.”

“I’m Agent Jo Wells and this is Agent Carter.” Jo smiled at her. “Are you his mother?”

“No, I’m his housekeeper. As far as I’m aware, Jesse is all alone in the world.” She frowned. “I’m Ada Crabtree. I’ve been here since he was a boy. His pa died and left him the ranch, must be six years ago. Time moves so fast these days.”

“So he was out this morning?” Jo moved closer to the screen door. “Do you know what time he returned?”

“No. He is in and out all the time.” The woman shrugged. “This is a big spread and he can be anywhere at any time. That’s why he carries a satellite phone.”

Wanting to keep moving, Carter nodded. “Thank you, ma’am. We’ll go and see him now.” He headed down the steps, wondering why she hadn’t asked him the reason they wanted to speak to Jesse. He turned to Jo. “We’ll drive. That bunkhouse is farther away than it looks.” He swung into the driver’s seat.

“She didn’t ask why we wanted to speak to him.” Jo echoed his thoughts as she turned in her seat to pat Zorro’s head. “Don’t you figure that’s strange? People are naturally inquisitive. It would be the first thing I’d ask two FBI agents if they were standing on my doorstep.”

Nodding, Carter shot her a glance. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it’s not unusual for law enforcement to turn up on his doorstep. In the cattle business, I’m sure the turnaround of employees is great. Out here, I’m sure many of them are hiding off the grid and move from ranch to ranch as soon as someone notices them. Not just criminals, men trying to avoid alimony or child support, maybe they have people chasing them for money. I could think of a thousand reasons why someone wants to live off the grid.”

Carter found the bunkhouse without any problem and parked outside. He led the way to the open door, knocked, and ducked inside. As his eyes accustomed to the gloom, he made out a central living area with kitchen attached and hallway beyond with doors along each side. It was a rough log-built structure with unsealed wooden floors worn gray from years of cowboy boots stomping over them, and a stark contrast from the luxurious ranch house. A heavy stench of sweat permeated the air as if those inside believed thatdeodorantwas another word forsissy. Two men sat around a wooden table drinking beer. “Sorry to bother you but we’re looking for Jesse Davis.”

“That would be me.” A tall brown-haired man wearing a cowboy hat, snakeskin boots, and a bull-riding buckle on his belt waved them over. “Come over and join us. You’d be the FBI agents working with Jake Rowley?”

Carter nodded. “The same.” He stood his ground. “We’d like to speak to you in private if that’s okay?”

“Not a problem.” He emptied his bottle of beer, dropped the empty in the trash, and headed toward them. “What can I do for you?”

Carter had been considering how to conduct the interview with this man and decided to take a different angle after discovering that Alicia Palmer had been murdered. Once they were outside the bunkhouse. He took Davis to one side. “Rowley mentioned that one of your crossbow team members is Alicia Palmer.”

“She is, why?” Davis tipped back his Stetson and stared at him.

Carter cleared his throat. “She was found dead this afternoon. We don’t have any information about her next of kin and need someone to identify her body. We were wondering if you could give us any information?”

“Not about her family, no.” Davis shrugged. “We met at the crossbow range a few years back. We needed another member to join our team and she stepped in. I can’t recall her speaking about her family. She mentioned working for the dentist in town, but she didn’t discuss her personal life with either of us.”

The man standing in front of Carter was relaxed. Davis’ hands hung loose at his sides and his direct stare gave him the impression he was confident with nothing to hide. “Who do you mean by ‘us’? Who was the other member of your team?”

“That would be Bill Ripley.” Davis smiled. “It seems I attract loners. Bill is as introverted as they come until you get him behind a crossbow. He beat me in the last competition we entered. Although we ran one, two, and three in our section.”

“Do you hunt together as well as compete?” Jo looked up from her notebook. “Black Rock Falls is the perfect place to live if you like hunting. Don’t you agree?”

“We all hunted together once but it didn’t go well. Our relationship with Alicia is strictly to do with competing.” Davis shuffled his feet and leaned against the bunkhouse wall. “I don’t usually get the time to hunt since my pa died. I need to be here to run the ranch, but if I do, it’s usually with one of the guys from the crossbow club.”

Carter had been on many cattle ranches and recognized the small cabins set aside for the permanent workers and their families. He knew darn well a working ranch of this magnitude would have at least a manager and other people in supervisory positions. It would be near impossible to run a place of this size alone. “I can imagine it would be a ton of work. How many men do you have working for you?”

“It varies.” Davis shrugged nonchalantly. “If you know anything about the cattle business, we have busy times and quiet times. Moving the cattle, cutting out the steers to be sold, moving them from one pasture to another happens at different times of the year. Most of the time, it’s just maintaining the ranch, which is a big enough job on its own.”

“Getting back to Alicia Palmer.” Jo inclined her head as she looked at him. “Did other members of the local crossbow teams have any social contact with her, apart from hunting and competition?”

“Not that I’m aware.” Davis smiled. “She’s one tough cookie. More like one of the boys if you get my meaning?”

“How would you define a tough cookie?” Jo had an interested expression on her face. “Not feminine?”

“Aw, there you go getting all defensive.” Davis chuckled. “Us guys can’t say a word without you gals taking it the wrong way. The day we hunted together, Alicia brought down an elk and field-dressed it herself. I’ve never seen her happier than that day, when she was up to her elbows in blood and guts. Maybe that’s why she liked working with the dentist. It was the masochistic side to her.” He gave Jo a direct stare. “The type of woman who interests me is the high-maintenance type. I hope saying that isn’t sexist, but I mean if they’re squeamish, frightened of spiders, and hate breaking their nails, they’re my kind of gal.”

The hair on the back of Carter’s neck tingled. There was something not right about this guy. He wasn’t acting as if the news of his friend’s death was a surprise. “I couldn’t help noticing that you didn’t ask how Alicia died. That’s usually the first thing people ask when hearing news of a friend’s death.”

“That’s because I assumed something happened to her in the forest. Alicia is reckless and that’s why we don’t hunt with her. I know she hunts alone. It’s not unusual for accidents to happen when people go out alone, even someone like her.” Davis shrugged. “We’d had words, you know, about her not following the rules and risking lives. She mentioned wanting to leave the team, which was fine by me. There was no love lost between us and I was hoping Jake… ah Jake Rowley would take her place.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Jo lifted her chin and stared at him.

“I saw her this morning when I was driving through town.” Davis met his gaze. His expression was nonplussed. “She was coming out of Aunt Betty’s Café.”

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