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Dawn barely reddened the sky when Blake stood with Paradise and Nora at the corral fence line on the Dillard Ranch, and he

caught a whiff of impending rain on the wind. He nodded at the brilliant color spreading in the east. “Red sky at morning,

sailors take warning.”

Roger, a big man with grizzled hair and sloped shoulders inside a red-and-black-plaid flannel shirt, put his foot on the lowest

rung of the fence. “Got a bad one coming in. Glad I found this spot before the rain washes it away. It’s already been almost

a month since the poor lady died, but this drought maybe saved your butt, Blake.” He jabbed his finger at Nora. “If your friend

here can find anything.”

Nora gestured to the padlock. “Could you show us the spot, Mr. Dillard?”

Roger took out a key and opened the padlock. “It’s on the back side of the hayfield. I only noticed it because I was out here to see how much hay needed to be taken to the barn before the storm hits, and I saw some stacks of bales had been moved. I poked around and saw the brown stains. Looked like blood to me, but I didn’t want to disturb too much so I didn’t move them back into place.”

Nora was the first one through the gate. “Smart move, Mr. Dillard.”

Blake and Paradise followed her across the dry grass toward the stacks of hay bales on the back side of the corral. Horses

grazed on the other side of the fence in the last corral. It was a low-lying area, and Blake imagined it flooded. There would

have been no evidence left.

They reached the piles of large bales and Roger pointed out the stain. “I nearly missed it.”

“I would have,” Blake said.

Nora squatted at the stain and opened her backpack. She laid out a sheet five feet away. “It’s going to take a while, guys.

Blake, would you put on booties and nitrile gloves to lift off the hay bale covering most of this? Lay it off to one side

because I’ll need to examine it as well. I want to see how much blood we’re talking about before I go any further. If it’s

the possible crime scene, I’ll need to call in help from my team.”

He donned the booties and gloves she handed him before grabbing the twine binding the hay bale. Moving slowly and carefully,

he lifted it and deposited it a few feet away on the sheet she’d spread out. His gut clenched at the sight of the massive

amount of brown staining the dry grass and weeds. This had to be it.

Nora pulled out her phone. “I’ll need help. All of you stay back, and in fact, feel free to leave the site to me and my team.

Once I’m done I’ll let the sheriff’s department know we were called to the site. Mr. Dillard, there may be pushback from Greene

that you called Chief Dixon instead of him.”

The big rancher turned and ambled back toward the gate. “I can handle Creed Greene,” he said over his shoulder. “He’s a gator looking to bite, but I’ve dealt with his kind before.”

Blake didn’t want to leave, but they were in the way, and he wanted to talk with Roger, who was away when the murder happened.

He suspected the old guy had some insight into the events. He and Paradise walked a few paces behind the rancher, who went

to grab the halters of two horses in the next paddock over.

“Roger may know more than he’s told anyone,” he whispered to Paradise.

She nodded. “He let the activists camp on his land. Let’s find out why. Was it because he’s a nice guy, or did he know someone

in the group?”

Blake took her hand and they quickened their pace until they were jogging after Roger, who led the horses, one halter in each

hand, toward the big barn. Once they were a couple of feet behind, Blake slowed to a more leisurely stride and held back as

Roger opened the barn door and got the horses settled in stalls.

“I should be readying the park too,” he told Paradise.

“What do you have to do there?”

“Get all the animals in their shelters and set out sandbags in areas I suspect might flood, especially around the house and

the food barn. Make sure we have enough food to last for at least a week, just in case it’s bad. Make sure I have enough fuel

for the generator to at least run the well pump.” He examined the sky with no sign of clouds yet. “Though we might have a

little longer than initially thought. It might hold off until tomorrow.”

She walked into the barn beside him and inhaled. “I know it’s crazy, but I love the smell inside a barn—the hay and the straw on the dirt floor mixed with the scent of the horses and their leather. There’s nothing like it. It reminds me of being a kid. I learned to ride starting at five, and my mom would bring me to the stables here where I took lessons with his daughter Abby. It feels like home somehow.”

He slipped his arm around her, and they watched the old rancher feed a sugar cube to each of the horses. “Those were the good

old days, but I think the future is going to be just as good. We’re going to get through this—together. And why do you need

a horse now when you’ve got a whole park full of exotic animals?”

She leaned her head against his chest. “I like how you think.”

Roger glanced up and nodded when he spotted them. He plodded toward them in his old brown work shoes. “You need me, kids?”

“The activist group camped out on your back pasture. Did they move in and you didn’t want to kick them off, or did they have

permission?”

The older man pursed his lips. “My granddaughter asked if they could stay there, and I can’t tell her no. Abby’s daughter,

Quinn, who’s ten. She was doing a school project on zoos and wanted to hear what they had to say. They filled her head with

all kinds of nonsense. I suspect she let them into the back paddock where we found the crime scene. Not sure why, and she

isn’t talking.” He gestured toward the house. “She’s inside if you want to talk to her.”

Blake did indeed.

***

Though Paradise knew Quinn was ten, she looked about fourteen. Her curly red hair fell nearly to her waist, and she was already outgrowing her gangly awkwardness. She sat cross -legged on the living room floor with nail polishes and nail stickers spread out in front of her.

“Quinn, these are some friends of mine,” Roger said. “They’d like to talk to you for a minute.”

A slight frown marred the perfection of the girl’s face, and she didn’t glance up. “Just a second, Grandpa. I’m almost done

with my polish.” She layered another coat of bright blue on her pinky nail before glancing up at Paradise and Blake.

Paradise settled on the hardwood floor in front of her. “I went to school with your mom. My name is Paradise.” Out of the

corner of her eye, she saw the men walk toward the kitchen and heard Roger say something about coffee.

Quinn’s turquoise eyes widened. “That’s a bussin’ name. Did your parents name you that, or did you find it yourself?”

“My parents called me that. I was born in Hawaii when my dad was in the military. I don’t remember it though because we moved

here when I was a baby.” Paradise did some calculations in her head. “You’re in fifth grade? Middle school?”

“Uh-huh.” The girl blew on her nails.

Maybe bluntness would receive a reaction. “Why did you let the activists into your grandpa’s back pasture?”

Quinn continued to blow on her nails for a long moment. “Grandpa never cares what I do.”

“Why did they want in there?”

“They wanted to make a video.”

That was unexpected. “Why there?”

“It was a video about how wrong it is to use horses. It was pretty cringe. I love our horses and they love me. That’s when

I realized that group was ick.”

At least they hadn’t misled the girl for long. She might be young, but she was more astute than she seemed. “Did you hear them say anything about the animal park?”

“The Sanctuary? Sure, they wanted to shut it down and turn all the animals loose.” Her red curls fell across her face, and

she pawed them away with the back of her hand so she wouldn’t smear her wet nails. “They got into a fight that day about who

got to pretend to be dead.”

“Pretend to be dead? How was that supposed to work?”

“One of them was going to have fake blood smeared all over her and have this big orange knife sticking out of her chest. They

were going to use the horses. They were salty about old Moses going to the park.”

“So they planned all along to have one of them get in the trailer with Moses and pretend to be dead?” And an orange knife

was used. That was a very interesting detail considering the knife planted in the van was orange. Was it originally in the

possession of the activist group?

Quinn nodded. “And then it was real . I don’t know what happened.”

“Did you ever see anyone else with them—someone local?”

Quinn frowned as she thought. “Well, the vet was there.”

“Dr. Shaw? Out to check on the horse?”

“I don’t think so. He was talking with them and never examined Moses. We all knew the old guy had a strangulated bowel and

couldn’t live. He was in pain too.”

“Did you hear what Dr. Shaw talked to them about?”

“He seemed to be agreeing with them that the park should be shut down.”

“Did he say why?”

“No, but the rest of them seemed to think he had inside in formation about how the animals were mistreated or something. You’re the vet out there, aren’t you?”

Paradise nodded. “The animals have great lives there. They’re well-loved with lots of enrichment times and fun things for

them to do. They seem very happy.”

“I always thought so when I went to visit.”

“Did you tell the detective any of this?”

Quinn peeled a nail decal of flowers off the sheet of stickers and attached it to the index nail on her left hand. “No one

ever asked me. I’m just a kid, you know. But I see things. I stay with Grandpa after school until Mom gets off at six, and

I know everything about the ranch.”

“Did you see what they did with the knife?”

“The vet took it.”

The information sucked the moisture from Paradise’s mouth. Could Owen be involved in this? She couldn’t see why he would want

to shut down the park. He and Hank had been friends, longtime friends. And he had no skin in the game at the park, so none

of it made sense.

Maybe Blake or Jenna would have some idea how this all made sense.

Blake returned with Roger and coffee. “I just got a text from Nora. It appears the knife we found is the murder weapon.”

Paradise rose. “Quinn was very helpful. She saw that knife, and Owen Shaw took it with him.”