In the Shadow of Death Read Online Free PDF

left on Sunday, June 7, to buy some horses, and . . . and I haven’t heard from him since.”
    â€œThat’s nearly two weeks ago. Where did he go?”
    â€œTo a ranch on the Alberta border, the McDougalls’ ranch. He should’ve been back by last weekend.”
    â€œDid you call them?”
    â€œYes. Last Saturday. But they told me that he’d never arrived at all.”
    â€œWhy hadn’t they called you?”
    â€œThey said as it had been a tentative arrangement, they thought he’d changed his mind.”
    â€œHave you called the police?”
    â€œYes. Right after I spoke to the McDougalls, but Brossard said to wait a few more days and if I still haven’t heard from him, they’d look into it.”
    â€œWho’s Brossard?”
    â€œ RCMP .” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I don’t know what to do . . . ”
    Maggie placed her hand on Kate’s. “What about your hired help? Would they have an idea where else he could have gone?”
    â€œI asked Hendrix—he looks after the horses and helps Doug run the ranch—but he said that he’s probably just gone off on a toot.” She wiped her eyes, then added, “Hendrix doesn’t like women very much in general and me in particular.”
    â€œHas he been here long?”
    â€œHe came with the ranch when Doug took it over from his father.”
    â€œHow long ago was that?”
    â€œAbout twenty years, I think.”
    â€œThat’s quite awhile,” Maggie answered.
    Kate arose from the table, and carrying their coffee, led the way into the den. “It’s cosier in here.”
    Maggie’s first impression of the den, which opened off the kitchen, was that it was anything but cosy. It was at least double the size of her own basement suite, and its atmosphere wasn’t improved by the leering wolf’s head hanging on the facing wall, baring its fangs and fixing its malevolent eyes on her as she sidled over to a huge, leather armchair. Fortunately, the antlered head over the massive fireplace was eyeless, and the grizzly bear rug—complete with head—that lay in front of it seemed to be asleep. She looked for guns and soon found them, at least a dozen, locked in a glass-fronted cabinet.
    Kate put the cups down on a coffee table made of a large slab of varnished maple burl. “It’s quite a room, isn’t it?”
    â€œHow long did it take you to get used to all the wildlife?” Maggie indicated the wolf’s head.
    â€œI don’t like them much, but it’s Doug’s room.”
    â€œYes. I can see that. He must do all his business in here,” she added, indicating the leather-topped desk and matching chair. The only feminine touches in the whole room were a number of watercolour landscapes. “Jodie says you worked in Vancouver before you were married?”
    Kate nodded. “For Teasdale Advertising.”
    â€œSounds interesting.”
    â€œIt was, you know. I started there as a copy writer, but Ray Teasdale discovered I could draw, and he started training me to be an illustrator. Then I met Doug.”
    â€œEnd of career?”
    Kate nodded again. “Shame, really. I liked my job.”
    Maggie took a sip of her coffee and tried to stifle a yawn. “That journey really took it out of me.” She struggled out of her chair. “Who painted the watercolours?”
    â€œI did. They’re not very good.”
    â€œBetter than I could do. Is this a view of the lake?”
    â€œFrom the deck out back.”
    â€œAnd this one?” Maggie asked, pausing in front of a scene of pastureland with a background of steep craggy hills.
    â€œThat’s way up on the border of our property—Black Adder Ravine. Doug took me up there by Jeep when I first arrived.”
    â€œSo you went back and painted this?”
    â€œNo. I did it from the photographs I took,” Kate answered. “My