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I caught her good arm and searched her face. She was blinking against dizziness or unconsciousness.

“Eva?”

She straightened and seemed to force herself back into consciousness. “Warren?”

“I’m here.”

I looked at her arm, tearing the fabric slightly more to see through to the wound on her skin. It was also about three or four inches and a clean slash. From a sharp knife. I pressed the handkerchief to her arm and tied it around the wound. Getting her to a doctor would have to wait.

She winced.

“Eva, you need to come with me.” I nodded to Cheryl. “She’ll get Phantom treated and safely to his stall, but we have a few things that need to be sorted.”

“What are you talking about?”

I took her hand and led her through the crowds, toward the show office. Stuart Davis, the organization’s president, and two other board members we’d met in Seattle sat inside.

The room was no more than sixteen feet wide and ten feet deep and full of tables of papers, ribbons for distribution, and typewriters. A few secretaries sat in the back, looking up in confusion. They were about to get quite the display.

“Miss Bryant? Captain Hayes?” Stuart said. “Can we help you? What happened to your arm?”

“We have a few concerns to address,” I said. “Cheryl Jenkins will join us shortly, along with a few other key persons.”

“This is hardly the time or procedure to redress concerns.”

Eddie and Lucky burst through the door with Keith and tossed him to the floor.

“What in the devil!” Stuart cried.

Cheryl followed closely behind and then gave me a nod to confirm that my other guests were also on their way.

“Eddie?” I asked.

He produced a knife and handed it to Stuart. “Found this on him.” He kicked Keith’s leg. “Too stupid to throw it away before we got to him.”

Stuart opened the blade, where blood had dried on the edge. He looked at Eva. “He did this to you?”

Eva nodded. “He slashed the halter and cut me and my horse.”

“I’m so sorry.” Keith looked up from the floor, his eyes wide and his mouth open in horror. “Eva, it was an accident. I swear. I didn’t mean to hit you or Phantom. I just wanted to keep you from entering the class. I’d never hurt you. You know that, right?”

She looked down on him with pity.

“There’s more,” I said.

Eddie reached down, pulled Keith to his feet, and shoved him into a wooden chair. “Don’t move.”

The office door opened and two men in suits walked in, followed by Reid and Harold Jefferson.

“These are two detectives from the state police and Harold Jefferson from the FBI,” I said, watching Keith’s reaction. “We brought them in and provided some key evidence, since Sheriff Lowe hadn’t gotten to the bottom of your father’s murder.”

“To cover up your involvement, Captain?” Keith said with weak bravado.

“Not quite,” I said. “My friend here, Reid Erickson, is an investigator who followed you around for several months and has dozens of sworn statements from your own staff as to your whereabouts.”

The color drained from Keith’s face, and his body tensed.

“The physical evidence doesn’t lie,” I said. “You pushed your father down and he hit his head on a boulder. It was an accident, wasn’t it?”