“He didn’t have to be,” I said. “Cookie was doing the shooting. I’d bet she placed the missing stash of guns next to the kitchen. She conveniently went to the kitchen for water last night. She had plenty of time to move the chair holding the door shut, shoot out the nearby window, hide the gun, replace the chair, and tuck herself under a table where I found her. Remember we were all scrambling for cover.”

“What about this morning?” Grace asked.

“Once again Cookie offered to create a diversion, again from the kitchen door.”

Cookie almost sputtered. “You’re accusing me of killing three men, stabbing Angie—”

“Another mistake, Cookie.” I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans. “We haven’t found the third ranch hand. So he’s dead too?”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“You wanted Sam to buy Mule Shoe, so you started by getting the insurance dropped with the horseback incident and the hikers’ deaths. That dropped the price and changed the cash flow. Then came the ‘accidents,’ like a trap set so someone would fall through the loft onto a pitchfork. Mixing up reservations. Attracting bears. Planting dead raccoons and contaminated water. You destroyed the art room. Sam wasn’t around for any of it, and none of that would have been necessary if the mine were tapped out.”

Cookie pointed at me. “You’re delusional. Suffering from PTSD. You had to get rehabilitated at Clan Firinn, like me. I’ll be sending Scott Thomas my report. You need to be treated—”

“You were never at Clan Firinn. That was the best lie you could have told, because you knew I’d trust you.” I wanted to spit as Roy had done. “You expect an enemy to lie to you, but not a friend. That’s what took me so long to suspect you.” My voice cracked and I swallowed, then continued. “You knew all about Clan Firinn because you read Roy’s mail. And you found my note from Scott hidden in the art room. That was your biggest mistake, Cookie.”

Cookie didn’t answer.

“Scott wrote in my letter that he was sending me a gift that was ‘as per our tradition.’ That meant everyone got the same thing from the beginning. The gift was three rocks, representing the three stumbling stones I’d need to overcome, my PTSD triggers. But you had no idea what I was talking about when I showed you the rocks. You didn’t know what the gift was. I bet you thought I was asking about another kind of rock—the kind with emeralds in it.”

Cookie’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“I have just one question for you, Cookie. Why did you try to kill Angie? Unlike the ranch hands, she didn’t see Sam get off the helicopter.”

“I caught her snooping in my room. She knew too much. And so do you.”