Colton Cowboy Standoff by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-16T15:09:08+00:00

Chapter 13

Sheriff Trey Colton didn’t say anything for several minutes as he slowly moved around the body, studying the dead woman from all angles.

“Well, she obviously wasn’t killed here,” he finally said to Wyatt and Bailey.

“What makes you say that?” Bailey asked even though Trey’s words had her breathing a small sigh of relief.

“There’s no sign of a scuffle anywhere. She was strangled,” he pointed out. There were bruises on both sides of her neck, like someone powerful had squeezed the life out of her. “If it was done here, at least some of the ground would have been disturbed beyond just the imprint that was left by her body when it was deposited here.”

Trey looked at his cousin and Bailey. “How did you happen to find her?” he queried. “All I got on the phone was that there was a dead woman on your ranch.”

“One of the calves was missing this morning. We assumed it had wandered off, so we—” Wyatt nodded at Bailey “—and three of my hands went looking for it.”

“Looks like you found more than you bargained for,” the sheriff murmured, writing down the details in a small worn notepad he always carried with him.

“You can definitely say that,” Bailey said, speaking up.

She had not only called the sheriff’s office to report finding the dead woman, she’d also called Fox to ask him to take the injured calf back to the barn. She had only contacted Fox after being unable to reach any of the ranch hands she knew carried cell phones with them.

Fox had arrived a little ahead of the sheriff. He hadn’t recognized the dead woman, either, when Wyatt had asked him. He’d taken charge of the very unhappy calf and had just driven away with the animal securely tied in the back of his truck when Trey arrived on the premises.

“Do you recognize her?” Bailey asked the sheriff, hoping for a positive identification. She couldn’t help thinking that somewhere there was a mother worried about her missing daughter.

“No. Why?” Judging from Bailey’s tone, Trey assumed she thought he should have recognized the dead woman. “Who is she?”

“We don’t know,” Wyatt answered. “We were hoping that maybe you did and could give us a name.”

Trey’s eyes met his cousin’s. “Then you weren’t with her previous to this happening?” he asked, waving his hand toward the prone body.

“No.” There was no room for any argument or doubt in his answer.

“Any idea how she came to be out here?” Trey asked, looking from his cousin to Bailey and then back again.

Trey had always been totally by-the-book without any agenda or ax to grind. While Wyatt could appreciate that, he really wished his cousin was a little more flexible and relaxed.

Wyatt shrugged in response to Trey’s question. “I haven’t a clue. Maybe you can show her picture around at the Lodge and the Château. Someone might recognize her,” Wyatt suggested. “Maybe she was even staying there before all this happened.” He looked in the direction of the body.

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