The idea of bringing them together as friends was a nice one, Eli thought, but her presence had initially divided what was already a close friendship. The toast should have gone To Reba, who drove us apart as enemies and then—No, never mind. That wasn’t exactly celebratory or completely fair. All three of them, he, Cord and J.P., had played their own roles in what had happened.

He saw that Carly had tears running down her cheeks at the homage to her mother. Shallie and Tina, on either side of Carly, hugged her.

He was thankful that they offered her comfort. He wished he could do or say something, too…

He tried to catch her eye, smiling at her, hoping to establish more of a connection. It took Carly a moment to respond with a shy smile of her own. He immediately felt better. He appreciated the way she obviously fit into Cord’s household and that she had good and growing relationships with Shallie and Tina. Both women were so accepting of her, so loving.

He helped himself to more lasagna of the surprisingly tasty vegetarian kind, and began to discuss their current crime situation with Cord, first doing Russell the courtesy of laying out the background for him.

After listening for a while, Russ piped up. “Have you figured out a motive yet? Isn’t that where you should start?” Adding sheepishly that this was what detective heroes in his favorite suspense fiction and TV series usually did. He half apologized, saying that Eli, as a law enforcement professional, “obviously” knew what he was doing and that he—

“Thanks.” Eli cut him off. “Yeah, we’re trying to come up with a motive based on the evidence we’ve found, such as it is. Any thoughts?”

Russ looked more confident now and seemed more than willing to hold forth. “Okay,” he began. “As someone hearing this for the first time, I’d say it sounds as though the perp—” Eli could tell how much he enjoyed saying that “—as though the perp is choosing random targets. As though he doesn’t have a grudge against individual ranchers and farmers as much as against the entire town. Someone who hates this community. Or…it could also be someone with no purpose. Nothing valid to do.”

“I can see both points,” Eli said, thinking briefly but not seriously that the “no purpose” remark could apply to Russ himself. “But I lean more toward the first one. Or some combination. My guess is an angry young man.” He paused. “Sorry, don’t mean to be sexist, just being real. Some kid who’s resentful and maybe feels trapped and is taking it out on ranchers and farmers. And their animals…”

“You told us about this before, but I didn’t realize how bad it is!” Carly, who’d been listening quietly, as everyone at the table was, burst out. “Sounds like a total loser! An asshole.”