Ice Cold Killer. Cindi Myers

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СКАЧАТЬ Renfro and Sheriff’s Deputy Gage Walker returned the smile. “We’ll keep an eye on that little umbilical hernia, but I don’t expect it will cause any problems.”

      “Can Casey hold him now?” Maya asked, smiling at her young niece, Casey, who was deaf. The little girl’s busily signing fingers conveyed her eagerness to cuddle her puppy.

      “Yes, I think he’s ready to come down.” Darcy handed over the pup, and Casey cradled him carefully.

      “You’ll need to bring him back in a month for his second set of puppy vaccinations,” Darcy said as she washed her hands at the exam room sink. “If you have any concerns before then, don’t hesitate to give us a call.”

      “Thanks, Doc,” Gage said. The family followed Darcy to the front of the office. “Are you all by yourself today?”

      “It’s Dr. Farrow’s day off,” Darcy said. “And I let Stacy go early, since you’re my last client for today.”

      “Not quite the last,” Maya said. She nodded toward the open waiting room door. An auburn-haired man in the blue shirt and tan slacks of a Colorado State Patrolman stood at their approach.

      “Ryder, what are you doing here?” Gage asked, stepping forward to shake hands with the trooper.

      “I just needed to talk to the vet for a minute,” the officer, Ryder, said. He looked past Gage. “Hello, Maya, Casey. That’s a good-looking pup you have there.”

      “His name is Admiral,” Maya said as Casey walked forward with the now squirming dog.

      Ryder knelt and patted the puppy. “I’ll bet you two have a lot of fun together,” he said, speaking slowly so that Casey could read his lips.

      Darcy moved to the office computer and printed out an invoice for Maya, who paid while Gage and Ryder 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, СКАЧАТЬ