AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Two
Hell.
That was Cullen’s first reaction, but he tamped down the string of profanity going through his head and raced up the hall with Leigh. Rocky led the way, threading them through the great room and toward the west side of the house to one of the guest suites.
Cullen saw Rosa huddled in the corner of the room. The woman had obviously followed Rocky, and her breath was gusting out, causing little white wisps of fog in the freezing room. Freezing because the glass doors leading to a patio were wide-open.
“Out there,” Rocky said, pointing to the patio. The deputy didn’t go closer but instead stepped to the side to make way for Leigh and Cullen. “The doors were open when I came in here so I looked out and saw him.”
Leigh went straight outside, her gaze firing around the side yard before settling on the man who was in a crumpled heap on the mosaic tiles. Like with Alexa’s body, there was blood. Unlike Alexa, this guy was wearing a thick coat.
“It’s Jamie Wylie,” Cullen blurted out the moment he got a good look at the man’s face. “He’s one of my ranch hands.”
Cullen didn’t stay put. He hurried out to Jamie even though he figured there was nothing he could do, that the man was already dead.
But Cullen soon learned he was wrong.
Jamie groaned, a weak sound of raw pain, and he moved his head from side to side.
“Call for an ambulance,” Leigh shouted, taking the words right out of Cullen’s mouth.
Behind them, he heard Rocky make that call, and Cullen dragged the comforter off the bed. With all the blood Jamie had already lost, it was a miracle that he was still alive, but he wouldn’t stay that way if he froze.
Leigh caught onto the side of the comforter and helped Cullen cover the man. “I don’t want to move him,” she explained. Then she threw Rocky a quick glance over her shoulder. “Tell the EMTs to hurry.”
Cullen understood the urgency. There was no way to know just how serious Jamie’s injuries were, and moving him inside could end up killing him. Of course, a killer could do that, too, and that’s why Cullen glanced around to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed.
Beside him, Leigh was doing the same thing.
Unfortunately, this particular part of the yard had a lot of shrubs and trees that stayed thick even in the winter. It’d been landscaped that way to create a little garden oasis for guests. Which meant there were plenty of places and shadows where someone could hide. There were no views of the front or back yards, but Cullen knew there were flagstone stepping-stones that led in both directions. Alexa’s killer could have gone in either direction.
Or neither.
Whoever was responsible for Jamie and Alexa could still be on the grounds. Definitely not a settling thought.
“Rosa, find one of the portable heaters and bring it out here,” Cullen told the woman.
It would maybe pull her out of the shock along with helping to keep Jamie warm until the EMTs arrived, and Cullen knew there were several of the heaters in the storage room just off the kitchen. They used them for taking the chill off the patio and porches during late-night parties.
Cullen went back into the bedroom and grabbed the spare quilt and pillows from a cedar chest at the foot of the bed, and he brought those out to Jamie, too.
“It’s blunt force trauma,” Cullen said, looking down at the wound. Except this wasn’t to the back of the head like Alexa but rather to the man’s left temple. Along with the blood, there was already a huge, ugly bruise forming on his face.
Leigh nodded. She didn’t touch Jamie but did lean in so that her face was right over his. “Can you hear me, Jamie? Can you tell me who did this to you?”
Jamie managed a hoarse moan. Nothing more. His eyes stayed shut, but Cullen prayed the man would be able to answer that question soon.
“Are these patio doors usually locked?” Leigh asked, aiming that question at Cullen.
“Usually, but I had a cleaning crew in the house earlier, and they could have left them unlocked.”
He’d barely gotten out that answer when Leigh fired off another question. “Any idea what Jamie would have been doing out here?”
Cullen had to shake his head. “He wasn’t on duty.” But then he paused. “He knew Alexa.”
“Knew?”Leigh pressed, and he heard the cop’s inflection of what she meant.
“Nothing sexual as far as I know,” Cullen explained. “But Jamie gave her riding lessons here at the ranch.”
