Free Lies That Bind by Caitlyn Willows Page B

there? Or coming back from it?”
    “At dawn? Not likely.”
    “And you know Derek headed out at dawn?”
    No, they didn’t know anything. They were working on assumptions. “Nope. Sure don’t.”
    “Wouldn’t hurt to check it out. Since he was presumably shot, that’d mean someone might have been with him. Or he surprised someone.”
    Tyler chewed on that for a bit. The ranch hands were accounted for. They’d be the only ones with any reason to use the shack, and even then only if they were caught out in bad weather. But no one was out. If Derek surprised a pig poacher…
    “Let’s split up,” Tyler said. “Each of us can ride the perimeter inside the tree line to see what we can find. Someone hunting javelina would have taken cover in the trees. We’ll meet up where the trail leads through the trees and on to the shack.”
    “You thinking a hunter shot Derek by mistake and covered it up?”
    “I’d rather think of this as an accident than murder.” Tyler could forgive someone being afraid enough to cover up an accidental death.
    Nate’s frown deepened. “Then why was he in the middle of the clearing?”
    “How the hell should I know?” Tyler barked out the words, angry and frustrated…confused. “Until an hour ago, we thought this was an accident. Now we’re trying to piece together evidence because the sheriff’s too lazy and inept to give a shit.”
    Nate’s eyes didn’t judge. If anything, he seemed to be saying he understood how Tyler felt.
    “I know what it’s like to feel helpless. Let’s see what we can find. Meet you at the trailhead.” Nate tugged his horse around and headed for the trees.
    Tyler moved in the opposite direction. The sun beat down on his back. Sweat trickled along his spine and wicked into his jeans. He’d gone out with everything except water. A greenhorn mistake. Tree shadows offered relief, but because of the angle of the sun, he had to go deeper into the woods to get the full effect. He tried to sight Nate, to no avail. Sun glare and distance conspired against him.
    “Come on, Trickster.” He heeled his horse forward, keeping watch for signs of an intruder while he made a slow pass along the trees. Nothing except animal tracks and scat.
    Tyler reached the trailhead in what felt like minutes, well before Nate. That made him second-guess how thoroughly he’d looked. He debated retracing his steps for about ten minutes before he thought he should look for Nate instead. Maybe they could check each other’s work, find something the other didn’t. He frowned and glanced again at the sun, judging the time rather than pulling out his cell phone to check. Nate should have been here by now. Maybe Nate had discovered evidence. They should have exchanged cell phone numbers.
    God, he wasn’t thinking clearly at all, hadn’t been since they’d found Derek. Then Tessa’s arrival had scattered what remained of his brain cells. Tyler’s mind wandered again with the surge below his belt. That head was definitely thinking. A horse nickered. His responded. Nate’s mount stepped through the trees riderless.
    Shit.
    “Nate!” The trees swallowed his shout. “Nate!”
    Fuck, no response.
    Tyler snagged Annabelle’s reins and edged forward, calling Nate every few steps. A gunshot rang out, then another. Just ahead. Tyler hunkered down low, tied the second horse’s reins to his saddle horn, then drew his Colt and continued on, backtracking hoof prints.
    Five hundred yards away, he spotted boot scuffs in the dirt. He eased from the saddle, ground tied Trickster, and crept from tree to tree until the scuff marks ended.
    “Nate,” he whispered.
    Labored breathing reached him. He ducked around the tree and found the barrel of a .32 pointed at his face. Instinct yanked his Colt up, facing off Nate’s shaky, blood-soaked hand.
    That was when he saw the wound in Nate’s shoulder and the equally bloody arrow clutched in his other hand. “What the fuck!”
    He holstered his