My heart slammed against my chest, my stomach twisted, and sweat chilled me. The familiar PTSD symptoms swarmed me like hornets defending their nest. I reached into my pocket and felt the rocks Scott Thomas had sent me, then squeezed them until they hurt my fingers. Not this time. I wasn’t going to give in. Two people had been murdered, and several others were missing, Dee Dee was dead, and I needed to keep my head. I turned and started toward the barn door.

Bram ran up behind me. “We need to stay together. Whoever did this could be out there . . . waiting.”

I jerked to a stop. “It’ll be dark soon. Shouldn’t we split up? We could cover more ground.”

“No. We need to stay in sight of each other. Those two men were attacked from behind.”

“Right.” I took off my glasses and tossed them aside.

Holly let out an excited yip.

“That came from over near the staff housing.” Bram motioned for me to follow, scanned the area, then raced toward the rear of the lodge. I kept up the best I could, my leg squeaking with every step. As we cleared the corner of the lodge, the next body came into sight.

Cookie.

Bile rose in my throat. Had she survived whatever horrible event took her to Clan Firinn only to be murdered here?

Holly circled her, giving anxious yips.

As with the two men, a bloody rock was next to her body. Bram leaned over her and placed his fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. “She’s alive!”

I awkwardly knelt beside her. Freckles I’d never noticed stood out against her pale skin, and her chest rose and fell with shallow breathing. I found the knot where the rock had smashed her skull behind her ear. “Do we dare move her?”

“We’ll have to. We can’t leave her here. Can you carry her legs?”

“Yes.”

He offered his hand to help me up.

I ignored it and stood.

He cleared his throat. “You know, I—”

“It’s not necessary—”

We both stopped. “Let’s just get her inside.” He holstered his pistol, then lifted her to a seated position.

I grabbed her legs, trying not to grunt at her weight. As soon as we lifted her, it was apparent she had been stabbed as well. Blood stained the back of her shirt. We shuffled her to a door leading to the lobby. Once inside, we moved her to the sofa facing the unlit fireplace.

Liam entered, drinking a can of beer. “Where is every—Whoa, what happened?”

“Someone’s murdered two people and attacked Cookie.”

Liam dropped the beer. “No way!”