Montana Sky

was done with her. Then killing her, of course. What other choice would he have?
    He wondered if he dared risk it, here, now. They were armed, and he’d seen how many people were in the house. He’d seen exactly. He’d seen Lily laughing, cozying up to that half-breed.
    Maybe it was best to wait—wait, and watch for the right moment. It could come anytime.
    It could come if they walked over to the pole barn. He knew what they would find there. He’d already been there.
     
    “A ROUND BY THE FRONT WINDOWS .” IF SHE COULDN ’ T lead the way, at least she could move side by side. “It was just a flash, after I stood up to go. I thought it might havebeen a face, someone looking in at us, but it was too dark to be sure. And it was gone fast.”
    Adam only nodded. He knew Willa too well to believe she would jump at shadows. There were prints in the snow alongside the walkway, but that was to be expected. With all the activity in the pole barn over the last couple of days, the snow on the lawn would hardly be undisturbed. There had been melt and refreezing, so the surface was brittle and gave way with a crackle under their boots.
    “Might have been one of the men,” Willa said while she studied the ground. “But it’s unlikely. They would just have knocked.”
    “Don’t see why they’d have gone through the flower beds to peek in the window either.” Adam gestured toward tracks close to the house between evergreen shrubs where flowers would bloom late in the spring.
    “So I did see something.”
    “I never doubted it.” From where he stood, Adam could see clearly through the window into the lights of the front room. He watched Lily laugh, sip her tea, then rise to offer Nate more brandy. “Someone was watching us. Or one of us.”
    Willa shifted her gaze away from the lights in the window, toward the dark. “One of us?”
    “Lily’s ex-husband, Jesse Cooke. He’s not in Virginia.”
    Instinctively Willa looked back to the window, shifted her grip on her rifle. “How do you know?”
    “Nate did some checking for me. He hasn’t shown up at his job or paid his rent since October.”
    “You think he’s come after her? How would he know where to look?”
    “I don’t know.” He moved back, away from the house. “Just speculating. That’s why I don’t see any point in bringing it up to her.”
    “I won’t say anything to her. But I think we should tell Tess. That way one of us can keep our eye out for him. And for Lily. Do we know what he looks like?”
    “No, but I’ll see what I can find out.”
    “All right. Meanwhile, we’d better look around. I’ll go this way, and—”
    “We’ll stick together, Will.” He laid a hand on her arm. “Two people are dead. Maybe this was just a pissed-off ex-husband wanting to get back at his wife. Or maybe it was something else. We stick together.”
    In silence they moved through the wind, circling the house. Overhead the sky was clear as glass, with diamond-chip stars wheeling and a three-quarter moon casting pale blue light on the snow at their feet. Cottonwood trees loomed and seemed to shiver under their coating of ice.
    In the frigid quiet, Willa heard the call of cattle. A mournful sound, she thought while her breath fumed out in front of her and was whisked away by the wind. Odd—such a sound had always seemed comforting to her before; now it was eerie.
    “They’re awfully stirred up for this late at night.” She looked in the direction of the pole barn, the corral beyond. “Maybe we’ve got some cows in labor. I’d better check.”
    Adam thought uncomfortably of his horses, unattended in the stables. It wasn’t easy to turn his back on them and go with Willa to the cattle.
    “Hear that?” She stopped, ears straining. “Hear that?” she repeated in a whisper.
    “No.” But he turned so they were guarding each other’s backs. “I don’t hear anything.”
    “I don’t hear it now either. It sounded like someone whistling ‘Sweet Betsy from Pike.’ ” She shook it off, tried to laugh at herself. “Just the wind, and the creeps. Hell, it has to be twenty below with the windchill. Anybody out here whistling tunes would have to be . . .”
    “Crazy?” Adam finished, and fought to see through the shadows.
    “Yeah.” Willa shivered inside her sheepskin. “Let’s go.”
    She’d intended to go straight into the pole barn, but the thick huddle of cattle at the far end of the corral drew her attention. “That’s not