A little snow and cold wouldn’t stop her now.
Darien shook his head at Uncle Sheridan, while Tom and Jake looked on in the living room. “We’re not making an example of Ural. If he has accomplice’s intent on coming for Lelandi, they’ll come. We’ll deal with them then. For now, he’s fine where he is. What I want to discuss is who was blackmailing Larissa, how she died, and who hired the gunman to kill Lelandi. But first, any word on Ural, Tom?”
“Still out cold. Nurse Grey had us move him to the hospital. He’s confined and Trevor’s pulling guard duty. Charlotte said she’d let us know when he came around.”
Looking unruffled, Uncle Sheridan set his pad of paper on the coffee table. “Here’s what I’ve learned so far. We’ve run ballistics tests on all guns purportedly taken out in the woods the day the shooter killed the gunman. No matches. Which means either the test rules out it was one of our men, one of them had a second gun and gave us the wrong one to test, or the shooter was one of our men, except none of us knew he was out there.
“Or,” Silva said, walking into the living room, carrying a load of laundry.... it was a woman.”
Darien wondered how Silva had learned of the news so fast. But she always knew the gossip well before anyone else did. His brothers and Uncle Sheridan gave him shakes of their heads or shrugged a shoulder, indicating they hadn’t told her. Trevor. “Only woman out there was you. And you were with Sam the whole time.”
Uncle Sheridan snorted. “As if any of our women could shoot that far or accurately.”
Silva’s back stiffened. “I did.”
Hell, what now? Darien motioned to a chair. Have a seat, Silva. Tell us what you know.”
She plunked down next to Tom. “I didn’t say anything before because I knew you’d be mad that I’d killed him. I did it by accident. I swear it. We were sure the gunman was stalking us. So Sam told me to take his gun and go up on the ridge. If the bastard came after me, I was to shoot him. But he went after Sam and although Sam tried to tackle him first, the guy got a shot off, hitting him in the arm Instead. I meant to hit the guy’s gun arm, but he bolted when Sam dove for him, and I struck the gunman in the head. I swear I didn’t mean to. When Lelandi said she figured the shooter killed the guy to tie up loose ends, I got scared. Sam didn’t want to say anything either because you’d given orders that we were to stick together. He assumed you’d learn who the guy was who hired the gunman without involving me. But it seems you already know the shooter’s a woman so...” She shrugged.
“Sam knows better.” Darien blew out his breath. “Did you have Sam’s gun checked. Uncle Sheridan?”
He looked peeved. “Hell no. The lunatic shot Sam. I thought he and Silva had stayed together. At least that’s what they led us to believe. I would never have guessed she killed the gunman.”
“Run a ballistics test on Sam’s gun. I want to know right away. And Silva, next time, tell the truth.”
“Yes, boss. I’m so sorry. I well, I couldn’t let you think some shooter was out there still gunning for her.”
More likely she figured she was about to be found out when Ural came to. “Damn it, Silva,” Darien said. “You knew how important this is.”
“I’m sorry, boss.”
“When you were up on the ridge, did you sense anybody else up there? Smell anyone, hear anyone?”
“I didn’t smell or see anyone either. But I was pretty worried about the gunman and Sam so I might have blocked everything else out. Once I shot the guy, I hurried down to check on Sam and see if the guy was alive.”
Uncle Sheridan said. “You made a fine mess of it. And although you’re probably not involved in this, it sure can make tongues wag.”
“I only meant to wound him. All right? I’m... I’m late getting back to the tavern. Can I go?” Silva asked Darien.
He bowed his head, but he still couldn’t believe Silva was the one who’d killed the gunman.
Looking dejected, Silva hurried to the front door. From the foyer, she yelled, “Have you guys seen how bad the storm is getting?”
Darien and the others joined her and considered the whiteout conditions. “You’d better stay the night. Call Sam and tell him I said so.”
She sighed. “All right. I’ll be in the den watching a show. If anyone needs me to fix something to eat later, just holler.” Silva headed for the den.
Itching to return to Lelandi and smooth things out with her. Darien and the others retook their seats in the living room and he asked, “Anything else?”
Uncle Sheridan flipped through his pad of notes again. ‘Mason reviewed bank accounts to see if anyone had received large amounts of money before Larissa’s death. No one had. Which could mean that whoever was blackmailing her kept bank accounts somewhere else. So that was inconclusive. Jake found out some more stuff though.”
Jake took a sip of his beer. “Since we couldn’t find money in a local account. Trevor and Peter questioned folks to see if anyone bragged about receiving lots of money. Mrs. Hastings’s aunt died in a neighboring town. She received a substantial inheritance and put in the outdoor sauna and enclosed the deck to expand the bed and breakfast.”
“She’s above reproach.” Darien said.
“We thought so, too, but we had to double check every story.”
Tom walked back into the room with a Coke. “Then there’s Ritka.
Darien sat up taller. She’d certainly hated both Larissa and Lelandi, and she definitely could be suspect.
“She bragged she won at the tables In Las Vegas, Angelina and Hosstene vouched for her, but you know how thick they are.”
“Did the amount she won match up with how much was stolen?”
“Her winnings amounted to about a fourth of what the blackmailer had received.”
Deep In thought, Darien rubbed his chin, “What If the three women were in on it together?”
“We had the same Idea. If Angelina and Hosstene got any extra money, they hid it somewhere, aren’t spending it, and aren’t telling,” Jake said.
Darien mulled that one over. “Anyone else have any suspicious money dealings?”
“Nope.” Uncle Sheridan flipped to the next page of his notepad. “Concerning the family who wanted to join our pack, they’d heard you were a fair pack leader. As far as training, the man is a lumberman by trade. His brother is a male nurse. The mother makes Jewelry and is a renowned artist in her trade. The girls are in school. One wants to be a lawyer someday. The other hasn’t decided. Both girls want to help out when the ski lifts are running.”
“And the reason they left their former pack?”
“The leader, who was highly respected, died. Another took over and they couldn’t live with his rule.”
“We could really use the brother who’s a male nurse. If we learn the family is troublesome in the future, we can release them from the pack. But for now, they can stay,” Darien said. “What about the smell of rotten leaves at the site where we discovered Lelandi in the woods?”
Uncle Sheridan nodded. “It’s kind of a hollow and lots of leaves have collected there. Wet and shaded, it’s the perfect environment for making compost.”
But Darien figured whoever the attempted murderer was had to be wearing one of those hunter sprays that either made his scent invisible to others—even to bloodhounds, which could pick up the more subtle scents more so than any other animal including lupus garous—or he was wearing that humus type spray to blend in with the smell of the forest.
Jake cleared his throat. “Carol Wood keeps asking to speak to you about adding another nurse position.”
“Tell her it’s not possible.”