“As much as we can,” the detective promised. The men left the house, and a few minutes later, Ellie heard the sound of a helicopter lifting away.

“You think the murders are connected?” Kade asked, as they returned to the house.

Ellie’s mind was churning, running through the information they had just learned. “The police think so. There are certainly enough similarities to make it plausible. Both beautiful women who disappeared without a trace, then turned up murdered, presumably killed just days after they went missing.”

“The cause of death is the same,” Kade said.

She nodded. “Both beaten and strangled. And the timing is interesting.”

“How so?”

“Barbara Meeks disappeared three weeks ago. Your wife’s vehicle was found a month ago—a week before Barbara disappeared. If it’s the same guy, the discovery of the car could have been a trigger of some kind.”

Kade’s golden eyes darkened. “The story was in all the newspapers, at least in this area and Denver. They rehashed the murder, finding the body two years later, and then the car turning up in the lake.”

“So maybe the killer reads the article and remembers the way it happened. Remembers what it felt like to murder Heather—or why he did it. If he’s a local, it’s possible he was even there when they pulled the car out of the water.”

Kade’s jaw flexed.

“I’m not saying that’s what happened, or even that the murders are connected. But it’s a possibility we need to consider.”

Kade paused at the door to his study. “I’m glad you’ll be working the case full-time now.” He looked hard at Ellie. “I don’t want to see another woman turn up dead.”

* * *

Though it was Sunday and most of the hands had the day off, Kade needed to be working. While Ellie dug around on the computer, Kade changed out of his church clothes, walked out to the barn, and saddled Hannibal. He needed to do some physical labor, something that would keep his mind off Barbara Meeks and the man who had killed her. Possibly the same man who had murdered his wife.

The hands had been pulling wire and mending fence posts in the north pasture, so Kade rode in that direction and arrived twenty minutes later. Swinging down from the big buckskin’s saddle, he tethered the horse where there was graze and went to work.

It was a bright day, and the sun was warm on his back through his flannel shirt. It felt good to stretch his muscles, ease some of the tension in his neck and shoulders.

He was pleasantly tired, the sun riding low on the horizon, when he headed back to the ranch house. He was surprised at the way it cheered him to walk in and find Ellie in the kitchen.