The cheap latch on the shed door gave with a snap. Still holding the hoe, Russell listened but could hear nothing except the storm. He’d been so wrong about who killed Laura Beaumont, he thought, as he shoved open the shed door and looked out into the rain.

He moved quickly, the hoe in both hands like a bat in case he ran into the person who’d hit him. But there was no one outside the shed nor along the side of the schoolhouse. He reached the front, saw that the door stood open, just as before.

Only this time, he was ready in case Tinker Horton was lying in wait for him.

“Why did I stay with Ben? Tinker was my baby,” Ronda said, choking on tears. “I would do anything to protect Tinker—”

They all froze at the sound of a key in the schoolhouse lock. Dulcie realized that whoever was coming in didn’t realize that she hadn’t locked the door.

Ronda smiled as Tinker came in, soaked from the rain. He didn’t bother to close the door, seeming in a hurry. “I took care of it for you, Mama,” he said, then saw his mother’s bloody blouse and staggered back. “Oh, no. What happened?”

“It’s okay, baby. It’s just a flesh wound,” Ronda said. “I’m fine. We’re fine. But there are a couple more things you’re going to have to take care of for me, sweetheart.”

Tinker seemed to see Dulcie and Jolene then. His eyes widened and he began to shake his head as he saw the bloody knife on the floor.

“Now don’t get queasy on me, Tinker. Once we clean this up, it will be over,” Ronda said soothingly. “No one will ever know what you did.”

“Tinker didn’t kill Laura,” Jolene said.

Ronda’s gaze narrowed. “Ben saw him with the knife. He had blood all over him. He was crying. He—”

“I startled the killer,” Jolene said, her eyes glazed, her voice sounding strange, as if she were back there in that room that night. “The killer dropped the knife. Tinker had followed me to the house. I saw him as I ran out. He must have picked up the knife.” Her gaze seemed to clear. “Tinker didn’t kill Laura.” She looked at the rodeo cowboy. “You didn’t kill her.”

“Now don’t you go trying to confuse my boy,” Ronda said. “He knows what he did and he—”

Dulcie saw Jolene swing her gaze to Ronda. “You killed her, Ronda. I saw you. I heard what you were saying. You’d found out she was running off with the rainmaker. She’d lied about helping you when you left Ben. In fact, she’s the one who told Ben you were pregnant, wasn’t she?”

“You let your son believe all these years that he—”