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open or closed when you left Longmeadow yesterday afternoon?”
    “What are you talking about?” Manning asked.
    “The
gate
. When you left Longmeadow yesterday afternoon, was the gate open or closed?”
    A chill wrapped around Manning. “I wasn’t at Longmeadow yesterday.”
    “Since when? After the hunt yesterday, that’s where you said you were heading.”
    “Is that true, Manning, that you went to Longmeadow?” Margaret asked.
    “No.”
    Margaret raised an eyebrow at Percy.
    “Bull-
shit!
” Percy drawled. “When I left the tailgate, I asked if you wanted to grab a beer with me after you took your horse back to the barn and you said you were heading over to Longmeadow to help Richard work on the course.”
    Had he?
Manning avoided his mother’s accusatory glare and drained the last of his coffee. “I might have said that’s where I was going, but that’s not where I went.”
    “What do you mean, that’s not where you went?” Margaret demanded. “Good God, Manning, are you saying Richard was at Longmeadow yesterday,
waiting for you
, and you never showed up?”
    Jesus Christ. Had that happened? He
shook his head. “No. I told Richard I wouldn’t be able to make it after all.”

CHAPTER
12

    M argaret lingered at the door with Smitty after the others had left. “What do you make of Manning saying he told Richard he couldn’t meet him at Longmeadow?” Margaret asked.
    “What do I
make
of it?”
    “Yes. Do you believe him?”
    “You want my honest-to-God opinion?”
    “You know I do.”
    “I don’t think he remembers.”
    Margaret sniffed. “You think he was too drunk.”
    “He was three sheets to the wind when he left the tailgate.”
    Margaret felt a sting in her nose, and her eyes filled with tears. “Good God, Smitty, what if Richard was waiting for Manning when the killer found him?”
    “Might be that’s what happened, but we can’t change fate. Besides, if Manning had been at Longmeadow with Richard, what’s to say he wouldn’t have been shot as well?”
    She shook off a shudder and clasped her arms to her chest. “I suppose you’re right. But if Manning did stand Richard up and that led to Richard’s murder, I’m not sure he’ll be able to live with himself.”
    Smitty cocked an eyebrow. “What about you?”
    “Will I be able to forgive Manning?”
    He nodded.
    “I honestly don’t know.”
    “Oh, boy.” Smitty squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve got a real mess on our hands.”
    “Don’t we ever.”
    They eyed each other. Margaret knew they were both thinking the same thing: how in the hell were they going to get on without Richard?
    “Should we cancel the races?” Smitty asked.
    “Richard wouldn’t want that. He’d want us to carry on.”
    Smitty grunted in agreement. “I don’t know how we’ll pull it off without him.”
    “No doubt some things will fall through the cracks, but we’ll muddle through. First thing I have to do is light a fire under Sheriff Boling to get the crime scene investigation wrapped up and allow us back into Longmeadow. We have a good two days’ worth of work to get the course ready.”
    He ran a palm across his shiny scalp. “What about the funeral?”
    “I called Richard’s sister, Caroline, and spoke with her assistant. The doctor says Caroline isn’t well enough to make the trip from Switzerland. I assured her we’d handle all the funeral arrangements for the family.”
    “Missing her own brother’s funeral?” His stooped shoulders sagged. “That don’t seem right.”
    “The cancer’s bad, Smitty. And the chemo has been very rough on her. She can’t keep anything down. After Richard’s visit to see her last month he told me she’s wasting away to nothing.”
    Smitty frowned. “Richard never said anything.”
    “He didn’t talk about it much, but after that last trip he confided that the doctor told him the outlook was bleak.”
    “Christ.” He let out a low whistle. “She’s all the family Richard had,