Free Dang Near Dead (An Aggie Mundeen Mystery Book 2) by Nancy G. West

staggered around the cabin, trying to find my clothes and dress without waking Meredith.
    When I stepped outside, dawn barely lit the porch. I inhaled the vanilla scent of summer phlox. No wonder people loved the Hill Country. The air alone could probably cure most ailments.
    Birds sang to the new morning. I heard the buzzy notes of a golden-cheeked warbler. Not far off the path, in a circle of stunted junipers, two warblers preened and sang. I looked up just as hesitant light began to illuminate high clouds floating in the blue sky. What a perfect time to enjoy a solitary walk to the lodge.
    When I reached the building, I eased up the front porch steps and slid into a rocker. Bertha might not be awake, or at least not ready for company.
    I’d leaned my head back against the rocker when I heard a scream inside the lodge.

Eleven

      
    I sprang up, yanked open the lodge door and charged into the dining hall. The cries came from the kitchen. When I blasted through the swinging doors, Maria, the cook, shrieked as she stared into the open horizontal freezer. I zoomed to her side and looked down. Bertha closed in behind me, puffing hard. Across the top of the freezer contents lay a stiff snake. A tiny piece of wire protruded from its scaly mouth.
    Bertha put her hands on her hips. “Somebody’s got a weird sense of humor, Maria. This snake ain’t goin’ nowhere. It’s dang near frozen. It’ll be a stick in an hour. I’ll throw it out later. Help me get breakfast ready.” She slammed the freezer door shut.
    Maria whimpered, her eyes huge.
    Her pulse was probably sprinting faster than mine. She stumbled in the general direction of the sink. I hoped she didn’t need anything else from the freezer. Bertha’s tone meant Maria should work on breakfast, snake or no snake.
    I made my way back to the dining room, took eight or ten deep breaths and plopped myself on a chair.
    Meredith bounced in the front door, followed by Sam wearing jeans and a khaki shirt—the same type shirt he wore with outlandish ties at SAPD. His shirttail hung out.
    I longed to run to him, have him hold me and rest my cheek against the chest hair peeking out above his shirt button. As he dragged his boots across the floor, I remembered the wranglers had scheduled him and George Tensel for a morning horseback ride.
    “Tensel snored like an elephant last night,” Sam said. “I could hear him through the bathroom. Selma bitched at him, but he never even woke up.” He studied my face. “You look a little pale.”
    “Not enough sleep.” I turned to Meredith, “I was amazed you slept through the racket in cabin six. Jangles thought she heard a shot. The sound woke me, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe a car backfired.”
    Sam’s scrunched his eyebrows. “Why would anybody be driving around eighteen hundred acres at night?”
    “Maybe somebody was shooting rabbits,” I said. I was too sleep-deprived to discuss possibilities.
    “If Rickoff shoots in the dark, he’s even crazier than he looks.”
    I didn’t tell them about the snake in the freezer. Why ruin Meredith’s breakfast? I wanted to ponder why somebody’d dump a snake in there. Why play a cruel joke on Maria?
    After everybody conquered the breakfast buffet, the Tensels left their table and joined us at ours.
    “I can’t believe I’m going to climb on a horse,” George said. “I haven’t ridden on anything but a car seat in forty years.”
    “We know that, George,” Selma said.
    “I’m looking forward to gauchoing through the countryside,” Sam said, winking at me. He was clearly beginning to enjoy himself. The smile on his face made me wonder if he was considering springing a surprise on George during the trail ride.

Twelve

      
    When the men headed for the stables, Selma, Meredith and I returned to our cabins to put on swimsuits. Meredith and I wore tank suits and flip-flops. We thought we looked outdoorsy and ready for a dip in the river. Selma strolled up to join