Ellie picked up her wineglass, walked over to the window, and stared out at the snow-capped range in the distance. “I’m not sure.” She turned to face him. “I told you it was going to sound crazy.”

“Maybe it’s all just coincidence.”

“As I recall, neither of us believe much in coincidence.”

Kade carried his whiskey over and joined her at the window. “All right, just for drill, let’s run with it, see how it plays out.”

“We’ll have to theorize some of it.”

“We have to start somewhere.”

She nodded. “Okay, let’s begin with Frank Keller. Someone hired Keller to cause Kade Logan trouble.”

He nodded. “We’ve always figured the man who hired him wanted payback for something I did.”

“And he shot two men in cold blood, so we know he’s a killer.”

“True enough,” Kade said.

“So let’s go further, say he wants more than just payback. Say he hates you, he’s obsessed with you for some reason.”

“Well, he sure as hell doesn’t like me.”

Ellie grinned. “Right. So what if he’s the guy who killed Heather all those years ago? Maybe he murdered her for the same reason he hired Frank Keller. Because he hates you and wants to punish you for whatever it is you’ve done—or he thinks you’ve done.”

Kade took a drink of whiskey. “If he killed Heather because he hated me, why did he wait eight years to come after me again?”

“I’m not sure, but . . .”

“But what?”

“All of this started after the police found Heather’s car. More coincidence?”

The ice rattled in his glass as he took a drink. “I see what you mean.”

Ellie sighed. “I don’t know all the answers, but it’s my job to find out.” She looked back at the snow-capped mountains. “And I still think all of this—even Barbara Meeks—has something to do with you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

ELLIE’S THEORY DROVE KADE CRAZY THAT NIGHT. HE WOKE UP groggy and foul-tempered, tried not to take it out on his pretty bedmate and instead made love to her before he got up to shower and pull on his jeans and boots.

Desperate to clear his head and keep his mind off the possibility he was somehow responsible for the deaths of four people, he rode out with his men and didn’t return until dark. He couldn’t make sense of it, but he had come to trust Ellie. If she thought it was possible, he’d keep an open mind.

He found her in her bedroom when he walked into the house at the end of the day. Ellie rose from her seat at the Victorian writing desk, came over, and looped her arms around his neck.

“So how was your day?” She smiled and pressed a soft kiss on his lips, and something warm expanded inside him.