Bram went from window to window, checking locks and making sure drapes or blinds were closed. While he was doing the security check, I arranged the case notes on a table away from any windows. I found a blank piece of paper and drew a rough layout of the Mule Shoe. By the time he returned, my brain fog from the PTSD trigger had lifted enough to make intelligent conversation. Unfortunately, his nearness formed a different kind of muddled thinking.

“Everybody settled?” I asked.

“Not really. Stacy is really shook up and her husband is trying to calm her. One of the Polish ladies can’t stop crying. Grace helped herself to a stiff drink and seems to be less upset. Speaking of which, can I bring you a brandy or . . .”

I didn’t think this would be a good time to bring up my drinking and pill-popping that landed me in jail after my injury. “No thanks. I cope best by changing my focus. I have an idea I’d like to run past you. Unless the missing staff member just shot up the lodge, it’s a pretty good confirmation that a stranger got off the helicopter . . .”

“Agreed.”

“Okay, now let’s look at everyone else. Mrs. Eason, her daughter, Mrs. Kendig, and Mr. Rinaldi boarded the copter. You’d gone into the art room because of the giardia incident. Also present there were Angie, Grace, Dee Dee, Peter, Stacy, and me.” I placed seven circles in the art room with names on them.

“The copter left.” Bram sat down and took the pen from me. “I ran outside to try to keep it here but was too late. Then I went looking for Roy. I found Cookie and the three female staff members in different parts of the lodge, working.” He drew four circles inside the lodge. “We’ve accounted for eleven, twelve counting me, who were occupied when the stranger got here. Roy and Wyatt were here.” He drew two circles next to the pasture. “The horses had broken out. Wyatt, the assistant wrangler, and a maintenance worker were going out after them.”

I tapped the paper. “You mentioned the assistant wrangler and maintenance worker—did you actually see them?”

“No.”

“And those were the two men we found dead.”

“Riiight.”

“Then what happened?”

“I asked to use Roy’s office to interview you and Angie about the contaminated water. Before I went there, I located Liam in the kitchen eating ice cream and told him I’d be going back with him and to slightly delay the departure of the supply wagon.”

I nodded. “In other words, everyone who could have seen someone get off the copter wasn’t physically able to do so—except three people: the three male staff members, two of whom are dead and one missing.”