from Harper and went to her uncle, wrapping an arm around his waist. She leaned her head against his shoulder, commiserating with him privately.
Harper came over to Oliver with hardly a glance at me. He shoved grimy hands through tousled dark hair, and I realized he was hatless. It seemed odd. His thick hair stood up in smoke-stiffened ridges and ash clung to his moustache.
“Well,” he said wearily, “I think it’s done for. I’ll stick around to keep an eye on it, but the rest of you should go back to bed.” He nodded at Oliver. “Thanks for your help.”
“Couldn’t offer much, I’m afraid,” Oliver said. “But at least the insurance will cover the loss.”
A ragged, humorless smile crept out from beneath the moustache. “Nathan let the policy lapse several months ago.” Oliver glanced past him to the wreckage of the barn. His opinion was eloquent, though he said nothing. When he looked again at Harper I saw pity in the older man’s eyes. “May I ask why he would do such a foolish thing?”
Harper stood hipshot, rubbing carefully at a sore eye. I thought he wouldn’t answer; who was John Oliver to ask such a personal question?
But he did answer. “We’ve had some—difficulties—the past few weeks. Nothing serious, but it gets expensive when the insurance company keeps boosting the premiums. Don’t worry-guests are automatically insured against any sort of injury-but the barn wasn’t.” He shrugged. “We’ll make do without one.”
“Difficulties,” I echoed. “Like someone turning Cass’s horse loose on government land?”
He looked at me sharply. “What do you mean?”
“You said someone had cut the lock on his pen. That’s not accidental. Maybe this fire wasn’t either. ”
He smiled. “You a detective, Miss Clayton? Maybe a private eye?”
“No,” I told him. “Just curious.”
“You know what they say about that,” he said smoothly. “Something about an old cat, as I recall. ”
“You don’t sound surprised by my suggestion that it was set purposely. ”
“Nope,” he agreed. “I think it was. But that’s for me to worry about, not you. ”
I looked past him to the smoldering barn. Part of it still stood, a charred silhouette against the full moon. “Patrick Rafferty was down here,” I told him. “Alone.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Harper returned. “You were here.”
My mouth fell open. After a moment I managed to regain a little decorum, but not much. “You can’t be serious!”
His smile was lopsided. “Of course I can’t. Now, do you want an escort back to your cabin?”
“I can find my way without one.” And with what little dignity I could muster, I did so.
Chapter Four
I woke up hungry and stinking of smoke. I nearly drowned myself in a steaming hot shower, aimed a blow-dryer at my head long enough to make some sense out of my hair and then left my cabin intent on demolishing my hunger. But I saw the barn almost at once—or the remains of it—and lost a lot of enthusiasm for food.
The stark, weather-beaten old building was a charred shell. It stank of burned leather, horsehair and liniment. Most of the roof lay crumbled in the center, surrounded by the black skeleton that loomed over it in the sunlight. It was doubly incongruous in the light of a new day, but there was no escaping what had happened. Smoketree lacked a barn because someone had set it afire.
Someone had moved the horses closest to the barn to more distant pens. Harper, I guessed; perhaps Cass and her uncle as well. None of the animals appeared unduly upset by what had happened. But then I wasn’t much of a judge of equine behavior. I’d done some riding as a girl, but those years were long gone. I had little doubt the knowledge was gone as well.
As I approached the Lodge I saw a hunched figure seated on the edge of the porch, elbows on knees and chin in hands. Cass. Her dark hair hung in a single braid over a shoulder; sunglasses perched atop her head.
“Are you all right?”
She glanced up as I approached. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed from the effects of the smoke, and possibly tears. She attempted a brave smile and gave it up almost immediately. “I’m depressed.”
“No wonder.” I paused before mounting the steps. “You weren’t burned…”
“No.” She shook her head and tucked a strand of hair behind an ear. She was pale and dark circles outlined her eyes. But I watched as she straightened and managed to sound more natural. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“I’m