Wishing it hadn’t rained last night, Kade drove along the fence line until he spotted a couple of bay horses and a big Appaloosa tied to a post and three of his men grouped together in the pasture. He pulled the truck to a stop. He and Ellie got out and walked toward the men.

Kade crouched next to the steer to get a closer look. A single bullet had penetrated the animal’s skull. He turned the steer’s head, saw that the bullet had gone all the way through from the side. Not much chance of finding it.

“Nice clean shot,” Slate said. “Guy was no amateur.”

“My guess, steer’s been here a couple of days.” Wyatt smoothed his silver mustache as he stared down at the carcass. “Probably killed the same day as the first one.”

Kade studied the dead Hereford. With their curly red coats and snowy white faces, he had always thought they were beautiful animals. “He shot one, moved, then killed another one.”

“He might have figured the gunshot would alert someone,” Ellie said. “It’s pretty far away from anything, but maybe he was being cautious.”

Kade cast her a glance. “Sounds about right. The question is why?”

“We took a look around,” Turtle said. “Didn’t see any more dead animals in the area.”

“What about signs of the shooter?” Ellie asked.

“If he left any trace, the rain washed it away,” Wyatt said. “If I was going to pick a place to take the shot, I’d be up on that knoll over there.” Wyatt pointed. Ellie nodded in agreement and started walking in that direction.

Kade turned back to his men. “I’ll take it from here. Ride on up toward Blowout Canyon. Seth spotted a bunch of strays up there before he rode in last night.”

“You got it, boss.” The men headed for their horses, swung up in their saddles, and nudged the animals off through the grass at an easy lope.

Kade took a last look at the steer, then strode off to catch up with Ellie. She had slender hips, but the kind of round, sexy behind that drew a man’s attention. He cursed the heat that slid into his groin as he followed her trail and walked up beside her.

“I don’t like losing stock to predators, especially not the two-legged kind.”

Ellie flashed him a sympathetic glance and kept walking, head down as she searched the ground on the way to the knoll and began to circle around it. Kade carefully approached the ground at the top. No brass casings. No footprints. Or if there had been any, they’d been washed out by the rain.

Ellie broadened her circle, glancing from the knoll to the road, picking the shortest route between the two. She turned and started walking, and just as she reached the fence, she paused.

“What is it?” Kade asked, catching up with her again.