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about people who were in or used to be in the military, we could always spot each other.
    “Army Ranger. Used to be under your grandpa in my youth.”
    “Explains why Gramp had such a high opinion of you,” I said with a laugh. “You were one of his.”
    “He’s the one who got me into law enforcement when I got out. It’s a shame about him passing. I told the doc not to listen to Sean about the autopsy.”
    “Thank you for that, you saved me an uncomfortable call. I was pretty pissed when Sean told me about that, only next of kin can make those decisions,” I reminded him.
    “Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to go. I’m sorry it didn’t, Ms. Boyle.” It didn’t seem the Sheriff was too keen on how most things were going down concerning the death of my gramp.
    “Kate. Please, call me Kate.”
    “Well, Kate, I’ll get Nick here to give me a hand with these two. You’ve got enough to handle right now, I reckon,” Sheriff Swick said, nodding at Nick to help him.
    “Thanks again, Sheriff.” He tilted his head at me as if to say just doing his job before they loaded them in the squad car.
    I grabbed my purse and headed in the house. Looking around the living room and kitchen, I wished once again I hadn’t listened to Gramp and had gotten the house updated. He never wanted me to worry about anything, that he enjoyed living simply.
    Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like the house didn’t have running water or they had to use an outhouse. But the house was still stuck in the ’60s or ’70s and probably hadn’t had any work done on it since then. I added talking to a contractor to my mental list of things to do.
    “You okay, Kate?” Nick asked from behind me.
    “I’m fine, thanks.”
    “What can I do to help?”
    “If you wouldn’t mind too much, grabbing my luggage from the car and putting it all in my room would be a big help.”
    “Not at all. Keys?” he asked, giving me a smile. I turned and tossed them to him. When he left, I pulled my cell out of my pocket and decided to be smart and make a call I normally wouldn’t when threatened.
    “Hey, our flight leaves in an hour,” Nate, one of my best friends, and self-appointed big brother, said by way of greeting.
    “I need to ask you for a favor,” I hedged, not used to having to ask for help and I didn’t want this to be an order since it was personal. Since his company was a subsidiary of mine, I didn’t like asking him for favors that straddled the line. Though since they were both security companies, I’m sure he would have smacked me for my hesitation. It’s not like Nate hadn’t always been there for me and vice versa.
    “Sure, anything,” he replied immediately.
    “You got any buddies who can spend some time on the ranch?” The goal was to hint at what I needed because neither of us could talk openly, him at the airport and for me Nick could come back in at any moment. “Ones who could handle a potentially volatile situation, and help me out with it. Maybe they just got out of the service, but they need to know about cattle and horses, or at least enough to fake it. I’m not asking for you to send a couple of your employees. Just if you know a couple of guys who can work here until they figure out their next step?”
    I wanted him to know that I didn’t want to hire any of his bodyguards, because they’d never fit in to be believable ranch hands. I wanted guys that could blend, maybe work the other crew for information, see who was loyal. They needed to be able to handle themselves, since it wouldn’t help me any if I had to worry about protecting them too. I needed people to watch my back, not probable collateral damage.
    “What the hell is going on, Kate?”
    “I’ll explain everything when you get here, but right now we both can’t speak freely,” I answered calmly. I couldn’t help but smile when he had some choice phrases he muttered under his breath. He sighed and I pictured my friend scrubbing his hand over the