made small talk about dogs, the weather and the upcoming wedding of Gage’s brother, Sheriff Travis Walker. “We’re thinking of throwing some kind of bachelor party thing in a couple of weeks,” Gage said. “I’ll let you know when I have all the details. We may have to stay in town, if the weather keeps up like this.”
“That should be an exciting party—not,” Maya said as she returned her wallet to her purse. “All the local law enforcement gathered at Moe’s pub, with the entire town keeping tabs on your behavior.”
“This is my brother we’re talking about,” Gage said. “Travis isn’t exactly known for cutting loose.”
Laughing, they said goodbye to Ryder and left.
“What can I do for you?” Darcy leaned back against her front counter and studied the trooper. He was young, fit and good-looking, with closely cropped dark auburn hair and intense blue eyes. She had only been in Eagle Mountain four months, but how had she missed running into him? She certainly wouldn’t have forgotten a guy this good-looking.
“Are you Dr. Darcy Marsh?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Is Kelly Farrow your business partner?”
“Yes.” The room suddenly felt at least ten degrees colder. Darcy gripped the edges of the front counter. “Is something wrong?” she asked. “Has Kelly been in an accident?” Her partner had a bit of a reckless streak. She always drove too fast, and with this weather...
“I’m sorry to have to tell you that Ms. Farrow—Dr. Farrow—is dead,” Ryder said.
Darcy stared at him, the words refusing to sink in. Kelly...dead?
“Why don’t you sit down?” Ryder took her by the arm and gently led her to a chair in the waiting room, then walked over and flipped the sign on the door to Closed. He filled a paper cup with water from the cooler by the door and brought it to her. At any other time, she might have objected to him taking charge that way, but she didn’t see the point at the moment.
She sipped water and tried to pull herself together. “Kelly’s really dead?” she asked.
“I’m afraid so.” He pulled a second chair over and sat facing her. “I need to ask you some questions about her.”
“What happened?” Darcy asked. “Was she in an accident? I always warned her about driving so fast. She—”
“It wasn’t an accident,” he said.
She made herself look at him then, into eyes that were both sympathetic and determined. Not unkind eyes, but his expression held a hint of steel. Trooper Stewart wasn’t a man to be messed with. She swallowed hard, and somehow found her voice. “If it wasn’t an accident, how did she die?” Did Kelly have some kind of undiagnosed heart condition or something?
“She was murdered.”
Darcy gasped, and her vision went a little fuzzy around the edges. This must be a nightmare—one of those super-vivid dreams that felt like real life, but wasn’t. This couldn’t possibly be real.
Then she was aware of cold water soaking into her slacks, and Ryder gently taking the paper cup from her hand. “I need to ask you some questions that may help me find her murderer,” he said.
“How?” she asked. “I mean, how was she...killed?” The word was hard to say.
“We don’t have all the details yet,” he said. “She was found in her car, buried in an avalanche on top of Dixon Pass. Do you know why she might have been up there?”
Why wasn’t her brain working better? Nothing he said made sense to her. She brushed at the damp spot on her pants and tried to put her thoughts into some coherent order. “She told me she was going shopping and to lunch in Junction,” she said. Leaving Eagle Mountain meant driving over Dixon Pass. There was no other way in or out.
“When was the last time you spoke to her?” Ryder asked.
“Yesterday afternoon, when we both left work. Today was her day off.”
“Was that unusual, for her to take off during the week?”
“No. We each take one day off during the week so we can both work Saturdays. My day off is Wednesday. Hers is Tuesday.”
“How long have you known her?”
Darcy frowned, trying to concentrate. “Five years? We met in college, then were roommates in vet school. We really hit it off. When she was looking for a partner to start a vet business here in Eagle Mountain, I jumped at the chance.”
“Are you still roommates?” he asked.
“No. She lives in a duplex in town and I have a place just outside town—on the Lusk Ranch, out on County Road Three.”
“Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt her?” he asked. “Does she have a history of a stalker, or someone from her past she’s had a rocky relationship with?”
“No! Kelly got along with everyone.” Darcy swallowed past the lump in her throat and pinched her hand, hard, trying to snap out of the fog his news had put her in. She couldn’t break down now. Not yet. “If you had ever met her, you’d understand. She was this outgoing, sunny, super-friendly person. I was the more serious, quiet one. She used to say we were good business partners because we each brought different strengths to the practice.” She buried her face in her hands. “What am I going to do without her?”
“Can you think of anyone at all she might have argued with recently—an unhappy client, perhaps?”
Darcy shook her head. “No. We’ve only been open a few months—less than four. So far all our interactions with clients have been good ones. I know, realistically, that won’t last. You can’t please everyone. But it’s been a good experience so far. Well, except for Dr. Nichols.” She made a face.
“Ed Nichols, the other vet in town?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “He wasn’t happy about our coming here. He said there wasn’t enough business in a town this small for one vet, much less three. He accused us of undercutting his prices, and then I heard from some patients that he’s been bad-mouthing us around town. But he never threatened us or anything like that. I mean, I can’t believe he would want to kill one of us.” She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold.
“Where were you this morning, from nine to one?” Ryder asked.
“Is that when she died? I was here, seeing patients. We open at eight o’clock.”
“Did you go out for lunch?”
“No. We had an emergency call—a dog that had tangled with a porcupine. I had to sedate the poor guy to get the quills out. I ended up eating a granola bar at my desk about one o’clock.”
“So you usually spend all day at the office here?”
She shook her head. “Not always. One of us is usually here, but we also treat large animals—horses and cows, mostly, but we see the occasional llama or donkey. Sometimes it’s easier to go out to the animal than to have them brought here. That was something else Dr. Nichols didn’t like—that we would do house calls like that. He said it set a bad precedent.”
“Was Kelly dating anyone?” Ryder asked.
“She dated a lot of people, but no one seriously. She was pretty and outgoing and popular.”
“Did she ever mention a man she didn’t get along with? A relationship that didn’t end well—either here or where you were before?”
“We were in Fort Collins. And no. Kelly got along with everyone.” She made dating look easy, and had sometimes teased Darcy—though gently—about her reluctance to get involved.
“What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”
“No.” What did