“Did you get a chance to look at the schedule?” Bodine asked him.
“Yep. I see the farrier’s coming around tomorrow, and the vet the day after. I’ll make myself known to them. The new man’s starting this morning, so I’ll keep an eye on him, see if we were right about taking him on.”
“Next week’s Thanksgiving.”
“I heard that.”
“We get a lot of groups and families over that long weekend. I thought we might try out that little show, if you’re agreeable. Nothing we’d advertise off-site, just a little bonus for people already here.”
“I guess we can see how it goes.”
“I’ll schedule it.”
They rode down an incline, across a narrow ravine, and up again where a herd of deer slipped silent as spirits through the woods. The tops of the lodgepoles whooshed in the wind.
“Time to stretch those legs.” Bodine nudged Leo into a gallop.
Cold slapped her cheeks as Leo’s hooves rang over the road. He kept his ears up, his head high, showing her he enjoyed the ride as much as she. Callen rode beside her, his horse matching Leo’s stride as if harnessed in tandem.
When the road forked, Bodine turned right, slowing to a canter, then an easy trot. Reveling in the ride, the air, the morning, she tossed her long braid over her shoulder and decided she wanted more.
“We can take the trail up and around.” She gestured to the track through the trees marked by the Bodine shamrock brand. “It’s a pretty winter ride, and it’ll take us to another good stretch before we split off.”
“Lead the way. Chase and I rode these trails now and then as boys, when your father cut him loose for a couple hours. I remember when you added those cabins we just passed.”
“It’s quiet enough you can forget they’re there.”
They wound up where the snow was piled thick and clung like white fur to branches. Off the trail she spotted signs of deer and fox in prints and scat. “You can just smell the smoke,” she added, “from the cabins where guests are up and have a fire going. But mostly, it’s just air.”
“Why’d you take the office instead of the horses?”
“I’m good at it.” She turned in her saddle, looking back at him. “I’m good at horses, but there are plenty who are good with horses. I like managing all the moving parts, making sure they run smooth day after day. Or making it seem like they do even if we’re scrambling where the guests don’t see. Also, I guess I like never knowing exactly what I might be dealing with on any given day, but making an agenda, clicking off the boxes so I know most of what’s coming and can figure out the rest.”
She turned back again as the track began its descent. “I do miss the horses, that everyday and anytime connection. I’m going to start riding to work more than I have been.”
She gave Leo a pat on the neck. “Guests will get a kick out of seeing that—the general manager riding around. Sets a tone.”
“Always thinking.”
“Oh, I am.”
Laughing, she swiveled around again as the horses stepped back onto the road. “My mind’s a busy place, Skinner. I like riding and letting it empty out for a time. Are you up for another gallop?”
“Sugar, I’m always up for a gallop.”
“I just bet you are.” She shouted, “Cha!” and sent Leo racing. Once again, Callen had his horse matching her speed and rhythm.
She was glad she’d taken the long way, the roundabout way. It meant some doubling back, but she had the time.
On impulse, she took the turn away from Bodine Town.
Just a few minutes more before she aimed for the office, for the workday, for the agenda. Even as she told herself it was time to stop, time to turn back, she spotted a car stopped on the side of the road.
She thought little of it, nearly didn’t stop.
She dropped to a trot. “We need to … Wait a minute. That looks like Billy Jean’s car.”
She walked her horse up to it. “It is her car.”
“Who’s Billy Jean?”
“She works at the Saloon. Bartender, server.” Bodine dismounted. “She must’ve been working last night, I’d have to check. It looks like she had a breakdown.”
Frowning, Bodine looked through the window and felt a stab of real alarm. “Her purse is on the seat. She wouldn’t just leave her purse on the seat.”
“Hold on.” Callen dismounted, handed Bodine the reins of both horses, and walked around the car. Bodine yanked her phone out of her jacket, scrolled through for Billy Jean’s number.
“Bo.”
“Wait, wait, I’m calling her. Maybe she just…”
She trailed off as she heard the opening riff from Michael Jackson’s hit. Billy Jean’s signature song.
“That’s her ring. That’s her ring. What—”
“The phone’s on the ground over here. And it looks like somebody’s trampled through this snow, into the trees.”
“She wouldn’t do that.” Though Bodine could see as clearly as Callen the disturbed snow and brush. Then she saw more.
Her gaze landed on the shape, the dark blue jacket barely an instant before Callen’s did the same, but Bodine leaped and ran before he could grab her.
“Bo. Damn it. Wait.”
“She’s hurt. She’s hurt.”
He caught her, dragged her back. With snow up to their knees, they struggled until she got an arm loose enough to punch.
“Let go of me, you stupid son of a bitch. She’s hurt.”
With no choice, he clamped his arms around her. “She’s past hurt, Bo. Stop it. Stop it now. You can’t help her.”
Fury and fear spewed through her like a sickness. “Get your hands off me. I swear, I’ll kill you.”
He only tightened his hold. “You can’t touch her, do you hear me? It won’t do any good and might do some harm. She’s gone, Bo. She’s gone.”
Desperate, she fought him another few seconds, then stopped. Just stopped, with her breath tearing out, smoking away, her body quivering.
“I need to see. I won’t touch her if … I need to see. Let me go.”
He eased his hold, shifted so he was no longer blocking the body from her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Bo.”
“She…” She’s gone. Callen’s words echoed in her head, and the awful truth of them struck her heart, her guts. “She hit her head on that rock. She hit her head. There’s a lot of blood. She … Let go. I’m all right. Let go.”
When he released her, she kept her gaze on Billy Jean’s face, took her phone out again. “Will you call nine-one-one, Callen?” Maybe her voice came out raw, but it came out steady. “You do that, and I’m going to get our security to—to—block off the road here. To block it off so nobody comes near.”
“Let’s go back to the road and do that.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
She had to think, to take steps, to do what came next. While it was too early—thank God—for guest check-ins or checkouts, many employees used this road to get to work if they lived off property.