Free Yarn Over Murder (A Knitting Mystery) by Maggie Sefton Page A

Right there across from Horsetooth.”
    “I know. I deliberately drove over on Overland Trail so I could see how bad it is. Awful.” Remembering the fearful feeling when she saw for herself the red orange flames licking the tops of trees just over Soldier Canyon ridge. Gray, black, and white smoke billowing up. “But I did see firefighters working on it. Greg texted us that he hoped it wasn’t his imagination, but he thinks he spotted less flames than when it first started. I hope he’s right.”
    “Lord, yes. Of course, you folks in Fort Connor aren’t in any danger. There’s no way a wildfire is gonna cross over Horsetooth Reservoir. That’s for damn sure.” Jayleen gave a purposeful nod, then eyed Kelly. “I imagine I know what the other reason is. Mimi told you about Andrea.”
    “Yes. And I couldn’t believe it, Jayleen.” Kelly gestured. “I . . . I mean we were all together in Bellevue and at Andrea’s ranch up the Poudre . . .” She looked at Jayleen, bewildered.
    “I know, Kelly. It was hard to make sense of what Dennis was telling me when he called. Poor man, I felt sorry for him. He was crying all the while he was talking. It was hard to understand what he was saying.”
    “Mimi said apparently Dennis found Andrea lying on the ground behind her house. Is that right?” Kelly swatted away a fly.
    “That’s right. Dennis said he drove to Andrea’s place as soon as the orange glow behind the south wall of the canyon ridge got brighter. It was dark by then, after nine o’clock at night. He saw all her lights on, but she wasn’t inside the house. Jim Carson wasn’t there either. Dennis said he was concerned so he walked around the back and that’s when he found her lying on the ground. Right below the steps. She’s got a flight of steep steps up to the balcony around the back of her house. So he figured she must have fallen. Dennis swore he felt a faint pulse, so he was convinced Andrea was still alive.” Jayleen wagged her head with a sigh. “But some paramedics he found coming into the canyon checked her and didn’t find a heartbeat. She was already dead.”
    “You know, even though Mimi already repeated everything Curt told her, hearing it a second time still sounds unreal. What a freakish accident. And right in the midst of all this wildfire chaos.” She swatted away another fly as it buzzed close to her face.
    “I feel the same way, Kelly. Why don’t we go inside the ranch house and get out of this heat? I don’t know about you, but I need some ice-cold sweet tea.”
    Kelly fell into step beside her rancher friend. Jayleen Swinson was what Kelly called a Colorado Cowgirl. Despite her sixty-plus years and the silver taking over her long blonde curls, Jayleen displayed the same hardworking, can-do spirit she had since Kelly first met her years ago. Fourteen years sober, Jayleen had created success in her life by building her alpaca ranching business slowly, step by step. As her accountant, Kelly had offered financial advice along the way, but Jayleen had taken the risks necessary to make success a reality.
    Now, all that hard work might be in jeopardy. The wildfire still blazed around Bellevue Canyon, the wind whipping it here and there, no telling how much had burned. Way over twenty thousand acres by now. Smoke still billowed upward like it did Saturday. Manpower was stretched thin right now. Firefighters were flying in, according to news reports, but not fast enough. The wildfire was faster than all of them.
    Kelly had also not forgotten Jayleen’s alpacas that she and her friends had rescued from Bellevue Canyon and taken to Andrea’s ranch on Saturday. How could they rescue them now?
    “Jayleen, what about your alpacas at Andrea’s?” Kelly asked as she followed her up the steps to Curt’s wide front porch. She and her friends had spent many an enjoyable hour relaxing on that porch over the years at countless barbecues and potluck suppers. “We can’t drive up into