Chapter 14
Jamie
Jamie calls Sheriff Colson and requests that a deputy brings Dalton Monaghan to the office for a formal interview, then keys
Sully Preston’s address into his GPS. As Jamie approaches the vast property, he sees a pair of eight-foot-tall horse sculptures
flanking each side of the ranch gate. A metal sign affixed to the gate’s arch reads Long Horn Ranch in loopy script. He turns onto the property and passes multiple pastures, each holding different livestock: horses, cattle,
bison. As he draws closer to the house, he passes what looks like a pitch and putt golf course and a pickle ball court. Jamie
does a double take when he sees a peacock with a plume of iridescent blue and green feathers staring at him curiously from
behind a white picket fence.
“Who are these people?” Jamie asks himself as he parks in front of the massive, custom-made building constructed of honey-colored
logs. Three stories high, it looks more like a luxury hotel retreat than a home. Equally impressive is the water feature,
made up of large, smooth boulders and jagged rocks that form a meandering waterfall filled with brightly colored koi. As a
kid, Jamie had had no idea that homes like this existed in Nightjar.
He presses the bell next to the front door, a twelve-foot monstrosity, and waits. He presses the button two more times. Seconds tick by, then minutes, and he is about to give up when the door opens to reveal a small-statured man with close-cropped white hair and horn-rimmed glasses.
“Sully Preston?” Jamie asks.
“Who wants to know?” the man asks.
Jamie introduces himself, and reluctantly the man nods and moves aside to let Jamie enter.
“I’m Sully Preston,” the man says. “I figured someone would be coming by. Let’s talk in my office.”
Sully leads him through the great room past an expanse of windows that look out over a lake and the mountains off in the distance
and down a narrow hallway lined with black-and-white family photos. He opens a door and ushers Jamie inside. Hanging from
the smoothly hewn logs walls are dozens of heads. Deer, moose, elk, bear, mountain goats, and what Jamie thinks is a warthog,
their glassy eyes staring down at him. Apparently, Sully Preston is quite the hunter.
Sully takes a seat behind an executive-size mahogany desk that holds a computer, a stack of unopened mail, and a pile of file
folders. Jamie takes the chair across from him.
“My wife insisted I keep my trophies in here,” Sully says with a little laugh. “Says she doesn’t like them looking at her.”
“You must be a good shot,” Jamie says.
“I am,” Sully says. “So let me guess. Wes Drake told you that he thinks I’m the one who blew up his barn, right?” he asks,
getting right to the point.
“What makes you think it was on purpose?” Jamie asks. “The cause of the explosion hasn’t been released.”
Sully gives Jamie a wry smile, as if to say Come on. “It’s a small town. People talk. Why would the ATF come out to investigate if it was just an accident?”
“Why would Wes Drake think you had something to do with the explosion?” Jamie counters as he surreptitiously looks around
the office.
“It’s no secret that Wes and I had a falling-out. Some nonsense over a few horses. We were friends once, and Mia and I went to the party to try to put the past behind us. What kind of bomb was it?”
Sully is matching each of his questions with a question of his own, and Jamie doesn’t like it. “And did you? Put the past
behind you?”
“We really didn’t get a chance to. Mia and I spoke briefly to Madeline, but there were lots of guests. She was busy. We hoped
to catch up more with her and Wes later. I don’t think I even saw Wes until they started the gender reveal. Then all hell
broke out.”
“Did you see anything strange or anyone acting suspiciously?” Jamie asks and then there’s a tap on the office door.
“Sully, honey,” comes a voice. “What’s going on?”
Jamie turns around in his chair as a woman a good thirty years younger than Sully leans against the doorway. She’s dressed
in yoga pants and holds an arm in a bright pink cast close to her body.
“This is Agent Saldano with the ATF,” Sully says. “And this is my wife, Mia.”
“You were injured in the explosion?” Jamie asks.
“Yes,” Mia says. “It was terrifying. One minute everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves, and the next I’m flat on my
face with a broken wrist.”
“That’s too bad,” Jamie says. “But I’m glad you weren’t injured more seriously. Exactly where were you when the barn exploded?”
“Sully and I weren’t next to each other,” Mia explains, “but I was standing with a group of women off to the right of Wes
and Madeline. The barn was behind me. Wes and Madeline were aiming the shotgun at the truck in the field. They pulled the
trigger, and it exploded. A few seconds later I heard another big boom and was knocked to the ground.”
“By the explosion?” Jamie asks.
“I don’t think so,” Mia says. “It happened so fast, but I think in the panic, someone knocked into me. A bunch of us went
down like dominoes.”
“How about you?” Jamie directs the question to Sully. “Where were you?”
“I was directly behind Wes and Madeline,” Sully says. “It was like Mia said. Everything was fine one minute, and the next
there were people bleeding all over the place.”
“But you weren’t injured?” Jamie asks, scanning.
“Miraculously, no,” Sully says. “But Dix Drake wasn’t so lucky. I tried to stop the bleeding, but he was in pretty bad shape
by the time the EMTs arrived.”
“Any idea what hospital they took Dix to?” Jamie asks, remembering that his family was looking for him.
“No. No idea,” Sully says. “You mean you can’t find him?”
Jamie ignores the question and instead says, “Tell me about bute.” Mia and Sully exchange glances.
“So Wes did talk to you,” Sully says flatly.
“He’s lying,” Mia breaks in. “We would never hurt a horse, and we would never put a rider in danger.”
“It’s a—what?—tranquilizer or something?” Jamie asks, feigning ignorance.
“It’s like aspirin for horses,” Mia explains. “But we aren’t the ones who gave the horses any. We wouldn’t do that.”
Jamie knows that bute is much more than aspirin. It’s used to ease the pain caused by musculoskeletal disorders, joint disease,
arthritis. He recalls Lucy saying it can also temporarily mask any issues a lame horse may have, making them easier to sell.
Jamie consults his notebook again. “What about acepromazine?”
“Absolutely not!” Mia says.
“But the horses were drugged,” Jamie says. “Why? And who would do it?”
“You’d have to talk to Wes and Madeline about that.
I sent them healthy horses. They should be looking at their own people, not me.
” Sully takes a deep breath. “Listen,” he says, holding up his hands, “I buy and sell horses. I’m the matchmaker, the middleman.
You’re looking for a certain kind of horse—racing, dressage, an old nag for the kids to learn to ride on—I’ll find you the perfect one. What I don’t do is drug horses.”
“I imagine these accusations aren’t good for business,” Jamie observes.
“I’m not worried,” Sully says, getting to his feet and coming around his desk. “I’ve been in this business for a long time.
People around here know me, trust me. Now, if there’s nothing else, I’ve got a call in ten minutes.”
“Just one more question. For now,” Jamie says, remaining in his chair. “Have you ever been inside that barn?”
“The one that blew up?” Sully asks. “No, never. I’ve been in the Drake stables plenty of times, but not that barn, and if
Wes tells you otherwise, he’s lying.”
Jamie stands and reaches across the desk to shake Sully’s hand. “I’ll be in touch if I have more questions.”
“I’ll walk him out, Sully,” Mia says. “And I’ll come back with an iced tea for you.”
Once outside, Mia pauses in front of the koi pond. “Did you know koi can go all winter long without eating? Once the water
temperature hits about fifty degrees, their metabolism comes to a stop, and they hang out at the bottom of the pond until
spring. Wish my metabolism worked that way.”
Jamie senses that Mia wants to talk about more than fish, so he waits her out. She examines her cast, flexes her fingers.
“You know, it’s not us you should be looking at,” she finally says. “There are a lot of people who hate Wes Drake.”
“Yeah?” Jamie says, keeping his eyes on the sleek, long-bodied fish undulating through the water. “Why’s that?”
“Wes is a big flirt,” Mia says, and Jamie looks up. “Let’s just say that not too many husbands would dare leave their wives alone with him,” Mia says resolutely. “And the ones who have would like nothing more than to see Wes Drake blown to bits.”
“Seems like a pretty extreme reaction to infidelity,” Jamie says.
Mia shrugs and glances down at Jamie’s ring finger. “How would you feel if your wife was screwing one of the richest, most
handsome men in town?”
“I wouldn’t like it,” Jamie admits. “But I wouldn’t resort to committing a federal crime and murder an innocent woman in the
process. Do any of these husbands have names?”
Mia hesitates.
“Mrs. Preston, if you have any information that might help us solve a murder,” Jamie says, “I suggest you tell me now.”
“Rumor has it that Johanna Monaghan was having an affair.” Mia looks toward the house anxiously. “And you didn’t hear this
from me, but lots of people think she was sleeping with Wes.”
Jamie tries not to show his surprise. So the midwife was screwing her best friend’s husband. “We’ll look into it,” Jamie promises.
“So did Wes ever try and hit on you?”
Mia gives a half-smile and nods. “Of course he did. The man’s shameless.”
“But you didn’t go for it?”
“Hell no, I’m not stupid,” Mia says and laughs. “Wes might be one of the richest men in the county, but I’m married to the
richest. I’d have too much to lose. Besides, if I had an affair with Wes Drake, that might be something Sully would kill over.”