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All three of us inhaled swiftly at Jessamy’s mention of the town name.

“Isn’t that…”

“The location of the mass dude ranch murder where a hundred and thirty-one people were killed? All the dude ranch guests, the staff, and anyone who just so happened to be camping on the river bottoms that night found dead after no one heard from them for three days?”

“That one,” Milo murmured. “Did she buy the place?”

“She inherited it after,” she said. “Her grandfather, both of her brothers, her mother, and her uncle all died,” Jessamy expounded. “And before you ask, she had nothing to do with any of them. There was a falling out between her and her family. She didn’t even realize that anything had happened to them until the cops called and let her know that she was a person of interest, and she was wanted for questioning.”

“They still haven’t found who did that,” I mused.

“No,” she agreed, “they haven’t.”

“And your friend lives there?”

“My friend lives in a cabin about a mile from there,” she said. “Has since she left at eighteen and her grandmother on her father’s side gave her the house. It used to be part of the same property.”

“So she was right there, and didn’t get touched?” Milo asked.

“Nope.”

Milo pulled out his phone. “The boys don’t have to know the history behind the place. And you said she doesn’t mind?”

“She just asks that y’all stay away from her place.”

Six hours later, I was driving to my place for a change of clothes when I pulled over at the sight of a man walking down the road.

That man being Leo Darling.

He was wearing a black pair of jeans, black boots, black jacket and a black beanie over his blonde hair.

He was walking nonchalantly toward town, looking as if he was out for a casual stroll despite it being nearly negative temperatures out and snow was falling in huge flakes around him.

I pulled to a stop with my driver’s door next to him and said, “What are you doing all the way out here?”

And so close to your sister’s place, as well as Milo’s newly burned-down house? Not to mention, he conveniently had a dead cat to hang from Jessamy’s rearview mirror, ones that might be related to Milo’s troubles.

“Just out for a walk.” He smiled at me, and I saw the lie.

His smile didn’t reach his eyes. And his eyes had zero emotion in them. They weren’t full of welcome, hate, or even annoyance at being stopped. His eyes held no emotion at all.

Now that I knew what I was looking for, after hearing Jessamy talk about Leo for hours, I could tell the difference. He put on a great show, but still…you couldn’t fake emotion. Not in that way.

“Can I give you a ride?” I asked.

He shrugged and walked around to the passenger side of my cruiser.

He opened the door and caught sight of my passenger seat filled with shit—ammo boxes, peanuts—my lunch some days—full water bottles, empty water bottles. “I’ll take the back.”

I didn’t argue as he climbed into the back seat and laid his hands in his lap.

“Where you headed from, Leo?”

“There’s a trail that I like to take not too far from here,” he explained.

“The one that goes by the lake?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered simply.