It was Monday afternoon. Yesterday Kade had phoned Denver Police Detective Clay Meadows and brought him up to speed on Barbara Meeks, her trip to Vail just before she was killed, and the man Savannah Nightingale had seen Barbara with at Bullwinkle’s. The police were moving forward. They planned to question employees and set up an appointment for Savannah with a sketch artist.

The sound of an engine caught her attention, and Ellie’s gaze swung toward the gate to see an Eagle County Sheriff’s black-and-white SUV driving up the hill toward the house.

The vehicle stopped in front of the back door, the engine went silent, and Sheriff Glen Carver stepped out. A tall, broad-shouldered man, even with his thinning dark hair, Carver was good-looking. Ellie thought of Heather and the handsome man Carver must have been eight years ago.

He started walking toward her, and Ellie met him halfway.

“Ms. Bowman,” he said.

“Sheriff Carver. If you’re looking for Kade, he’s out with the men. If there’s cell service, I might be able to reach him.”

“I’m here about the Barbara Meeks case. I gather you have pertinent information you shared with the Denver PD.”

“That’s right. There’s a chance whoever killed Barbara may have also murdered Heather Logan.”

He nodded. “I got a call from a detective named Meadows. He filled me in, but I thought it might be worth a follow-up call.”

“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee,” Ellie suggested.

Carver followed her in. She poured two mugs from the big stainless pot that was a permanent fixture on the kitchen counter, and they carried them over to the long rectangular table in the corner. Ellie sat on the bench on one side; Carver sat down on the other.

He took a drink of coffee. “How did this lead come about?”

“I imagine by now you know I’m a private investigator. Kade hired me to look into his wife’s murder.”

Carver nodded, looking uneasy. “I ran your name a while back when I heard you’d been talking to some of Heather’s friends. Any reason you didn’t tell me you worked private when we met?”

She cupped the mug in her hands. “A couple of reasons. Mostly, I wanted to keep my involvement as quiet as possible. I was questioning people in the area, hoping I might come up with something useful.”

“Have you?”

“Maybe. Heather’s murder had a number of similarities with Barbara’s, which the police pointed out. Kade and I’ve been working the theory that the two of them may have been killed by the same man.”

He paused a moment. “Go on.”

“Turns out Vail is the link between the two women. That and the fact both were known to cheat on their husbands. Are you a skier, Sheriff Carver?”