She didn’t know him, had never seen him. He was older—like forty or something, but good-looking—tanned and tall with broad shoulders. His hair was blond and tousled like a surfer dude’s. He looked at her with a smile meant to win her over, but it didn’t touch his eyes. The smile faded as she looked up at him.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “You’re crying.”

“My horse stepped on my foot,” Leah said, hoping Bacchus would forgive her the lie. “I’m fine.”

“I’m Mike” he said, reaching his hand in through the open yoke of the stall door.

Leah looked at his hand, thinking he must be some kind of salesman. They came by all the time trying to convince the Gracidas to change the feed they used or the supplements they gave their horses.

She started to raise her hand to meet his, then realized the ends of two fingers were smeared with blood. She pulled her hand back and wiped it on her shirt.

“And your name?” he asked.

“Leah,” she said reluctantly. She decided she didn’t like him. He was handsome, but his hazel eyes were narrow and hard-looking. If he had been an animal, she would have been nervous that he might bite her.

Bacchus stretched his neck to sniff at the man’s hand, his ears back.

“Hi, Leah,” the man said, still smiling. “Do you work here?”

“Yes.”

“Nice place.”

Leah said nothing. She sighed the sigh of the bored teenager, letting him know she wasn’t impressed with his phony charm.

“Do you ride, Leah?”

“Yes.”

“Is this your horse?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a handsome animal.”

“Thank you.”

“Have you been boarding here very long?”

“Do you need something?” she asked.

The phony smile faltered. He moved his jaw left, then right. He didn’t like it that she wasn’t buying his nice-guy act.

“I’m looking for the trainer.”

“She’s not here,” Leah said. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable now as she realized she was still alone in the barn. Umberto and the other grooms and ranch hands would be dealing with the feed delivery.

She thought of Leslie. She had always wondered what had happened, how it had happened. Had it been like this? Had the guy just started asking her questions like this, like he needed her help?

Leslie talked to everybody. She wasn’t afraid of people. She liked to be helpful. She would have talked to the guy who took her because she had seen him around. She knew who he was. Leah knew that the police thought he must have pulled up alongside Leslie on her bike, maybe asked her to help him with something or offered her a ride home. When they found her bike, one of the tires was flat. He might have done something to the tire at the ball field and followed her as she tried to get home afterward.