My Bees Have Been Murdered!

I have several nice hives of bees.  I love, love, love my bees.  They are the darlings of my livestock.  Late yesterday afternoon I was out checking the garden and harvesting a handful of veggies for dinner...so it was around 6:00 p.m.  I looked over to the apiary and noted one hive did not have any bees going in and out.  I didn't even bother to don my veil and gloves, I trotted over and just watched...sure enough no bees going in or out.  That morning the hive had been pretty busy...I was pleased: it is my smallest, weaker hive.  I've been babying it along with supplemental sugar water and bee pollen patties.  This hive is one of the small swarms I caught a few weeks ago...small, but growing.  I had checked on Monday and the queen was laying and I had two full frames of brood.  Anyway...I pulled the cover and a few frames: dead bees everywhere!  There were a few dead bees on the frames, but the bottom of the hive was full of dead bees.  I couldn't believe it.  I pulled the covers two of the other hives and they looked ok.  I don't know though...I'll do a better inspection tomorrow a.m.  As I was walking back up to the house, I noticed the strip of weeds I keep for the chickens to snack on was dying so I took a closer look: they had been sprayed and heavily!  Spray is NOT allowed anywhere near my garden, animals, house, orchard, or bees!  When Bill came home I asked him if he saw Rudy (my hired helper) spraying anywhere near my stuff...Bill said: *no*...but my grandson Vincent said: *Yes grandma...as so as you drove away from the house he went and got the sprayer...he sprayed the chicken yard, around the garden fence and by your bees and your roses.*  I am devastated!  Rudy was our foreman for over forty years.  He took care of this ranch for a very long time.  Last year Bill told him it was time to retire...he said NO and he started taking care of my things that needed to be done and he takes care of my late mother-in-law's place.  He's very stuck in his ways...and we're had words, more than once.  He likes using spray and he whacks my trees and bushes back to nubs.  While he was in Mexico (5 months) I've had a new fellow we hired to drive tractor help me with the yard (he doesn't *do* animals or veggie gardens) when it was too wet to work the fields .  This gentleman did a fantastic job...he had a landscape business in L.A. before the recession.  Well, Rudy is back and I'm not too sure if I'm happy about it.  Bill told me he'll make sure there's no spray anywhere near any of my stuff and he'll call and have our *bee man* replace my lost hive.  I'm still not happy and I will cry a river if I lose any more hives.