by B. J Daniels
Someone had hit her broadside and then apparently taken off.
The area was quickly filled with more flashing lights as sheriff’s department vehicles began to arrive. His gaze quickly went to the logging road back up the road a half dozen yards, trying to piece together what must have happened.
She hadn’t lost control of the SUV. Someone had purposely hit her. That bad feeling he’d had earlier came back in a wave of nauseating terror. He’d known Lizzy was in danger. He’d felt it up at the guest ranch.
Standing out here in the glow of the flashing lights as Lizzy was put on a stretcher and loaded into the back of the ambulance, he felt that knowing feeling even stronger.
This wasn’t over and wouldn’t be until Ariel’s killer was found.
* * *
AFTER BEING TAKEN to the hospital and given a thorough exam, Lizzy had been released. One of her deputies had given her a ride home and brought the box of photographs into the house for her. She’d given him the evidence bags for the lab, ordering that he tell them to put a rush on the fingerprints.
More than ever, she hoped for prints on the torn photos they’d found on the floor. If the person who’d broken into the lodge and gone through the photographs was the same one who’d tried to kill her, she needed to know who they were and quickly.
In the kitchen, she found her aunt cleaning. Gertie always cleaned when she was upset. Hearing her come in, her aunt rushed to her, hugging her, then apologizing for squeezing her too hard.
“I’m not made of glass, I promise,” Lizzy said. She’d called her aunt from the hospital since she didn’t want Gertie hearing about the accident from anyone else. “I’m all right.”
Her aunt studied her, tears in her eyes. “I worry, you know.”
“I know. It was just a car accident. I’m fine.”
“Did they feed you a little something at the hospital? I could have brought you down some leftovers if you were hungry, like I told you on the phone.”
Lizzy smiled. “There was no need for you to come down. They were running a bunch of tests to make sure that I was fine.”
Her aunt nodded. “Well, I made you a plate just in case you get hungry later. It’s in the fridge.”
She kissed Gertie on the cheek. “Thank you. The rest of the shepherd’s pie won’t go to waste. You know how much I love your recipe.”
“Lately I’ve been writing down all my recipes for when...you know.”
Lizzy stared at the woman in alarm. “Auntie?” she cried.
“I’m not dying,” Gertie said with a laugh. “For when you get married and have your own house.”
She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t thought about what would happen when and if that day ever came. How could she leave her aunt after Gertie had taken care of her all these years? She couldn’t.
“I thought we might live here with you,” Lizzy said, her voice breaking.
“What? That’s ridiculous. You need your own place, your own life. No, my dear.” Her aunt patted her on the arm. “It will be time for you to fly the nest.”
Fly the nest? She wasn’t flying anywhere. Her aunt didn’t give her a chance to say as much.
“I’m going up to bed. I assume you won’t stay up long after your ordeal,” Gertie said.
“I have some things I have to do and then I’ll be up, as well,” Lizzy said. Her aunt had already started up the stairs. Lizzy watched her go, telling herself she could never leave Gertie.
* * *
SHADE HAD FOLLOWED the ambulance to the hospital and stood around until the doctor came out and told him that Lizzy was being released and that he should go home. “She said she’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Relieved that she was all right, he’d done what she asked. But he couldn’t get what he’d seen off his mind. He still felt shaken. Lizzy could have been killed.
As he pulled up in front of the large rambling house at the family’s valley cattle ranch, he started to get out when he noticed a car he didn’t recognize parked next to Dorothea’s. She had company? If so, he would make his way directly to his part of the house as quickly as possible.
He heard a woman’s voice the moment he stepped inside the house—and froze. Hannah? He hadn’t seen Hannah Ames in almost three years, not since they’d run into each other after dating in college, not since—
“Shade, is that you?” Dorothea called.
He took a breath, let it out and stepped on down the hall to the living room. A brunette was sitting in a chair near the fireplace with her back to him. He saw that she had a cup of coffee next to her. Dorothea was always the good hostess so of course she would have made her guest comfortable.
The woman turned around and his guess was confirmed. The woman hadn’t come to see Dorothea. She’d come to see him.
“What are you doing here?” Shade demanded, his gaze on the attractive brunette.
“Shade—”
He spoke over Dorothea’s protest at his tone. “What are you doing here?”
Hannah slowly rose to her feet, smoothing the blouse she wore over her jeans. She was rounder than he remembered, her face more full, but that wasn’t the only change, he saw. She was wearing a wedding band on her left hand.
“So you married him,” Shade said, wondering again what she was doing here.
“Could we talk in private?” Hannah asked.
“I can’t see that we have anything to talk about,” he said. Dorothea started to excuse herself, but he cut her off. “No, you stay here, Dorothea. Hannah and I can talk in my end of the house.” He hadn’t taken his gaze off the young woman and now pointed the way to his living quarters situated in a separate wing of the rambling ranch house.
As he started out of the room, he could feel Dorothea’s reproachful—and curious—gaze on him. He didn’t look at her but he knew she’d grill him later. What was Hannah doing here after all this time?
“All right,” he said the moment they stepped into his living area. “Let’s hear it.”
She moved slowly around the room, taking in all of his things before she finally turned to look at him. “You look good,” she said.
He shook his head. “Not going back there.”
She turned away from him and said over her shoulder, “You’re not married. But I remember you saying there was someone you were interested in, back in high school—”
“I’m not talking to you about my love life.”
She turned to look at him. “I’m sorry about...about everything.”
He shook his head and motioned to the ring on her left hand. “I’m not sure what this is about but aren’t you married?” They’d broken up in college because she’d told him there was someone else she was interested in. Then about three years ago they’d crossed paths and hooked up for a night. He’d thought she was single only to find out the next morning that she was engaged.
She nodded and sighed. “It isn’t working out.”
Shade let out a bitter laugh. “What did he do, cheat on you?” Then he saw that his joke was no joke. “Well, you know what they say, what goes around, comes around.”
Hannah turned away from him again. “I knew you would take great joy in that.”
“You’re wrong. I haven’t given you a second thought in more than three years, not since you lied to me.”
She turned to him again, her face more sad than angry. “Don’t pretend you were heartbroken to find out I was engaged. We both know we didn’t have that kind of relationship. Admit it. You didn’t love me—” He started to argue the point but she cut him off. “Not the kind of love that would have led to marriage.”
Hannah was right. He’d cared about her, loved being with her because she was fun and they were both young and enjoying life. But he hadn’t considered marrying her.
“But this other man did marry you,” he said pointedly.
She lifted her hand to look at her ring, seeming lost in thought for a moment. “Yes, he married me, but only because I was pregnant.”
Pregnant? “You have a child?”
She nodded and smiled sheepishly. “You know how bad I was about forgetting sometimes to take my pill. Such an airhead. That was me, huh?” Her voice broke. “Thomas, my husband, thought the baby was his.” She shrugged. “So did I until our daughter was injured and we thought she was going to need blood. Turned out she didn’t. She’s fine, but that’s when it all came out. Thomas couldn’t have been the father. Wrong blood type.” Her gaze came up to meet his.
“What is this, Hannah?” he said, suddenly wary.
“I’m sorry that I lied to you the last time we saw each other. It was wrong. But I knew I’d never see you again.” She shook her head. “I’d always known there was someone else back home that you were more interested in marrying than me.”
He felt a chill race through him. “Hannah? What’s going on?”
“She’s yours, Shade. Our baby girl, Maisie. She’s your daughter.”
CHAPTER NINE
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, feeling bruised and sore, Lizzy went to work continuing to interview her list of suspects. Gertie had wanted her to take the day off, but she couldn’t. She had to interview as many as she could before the reunion started tomorrow.
She found Christopher Drysdale out in the driveway of his house filling the back of his SUV with boxes.
“Looks like you’re planning a longer trip than just up to the Sterling guest ranch for a weekend reunion,” she said behind him.
He whirled around in obvious surprise. “I’m not going. I have a job out of town.”
“That’s too bad because I really hoped that none of the suspects in Ariel’s murder would leave town right now. I hope you don’t go any farther than Sterling guest ranch.”
Christopher swore. “I’m a suspect? Are you kidding me? Look, this is a really bad time for me. I have to take this job.”
She pulled out her notebook and pen. “Where’s the job? What’s the name of your boss?”
Christopher sighed. “Okay, there’s no job, but I have to leave. I have no choice.”
“Kind of suspicious, you wanting to get out of town so quickly after Ariel’s car is found in the pond. I’m sure a judge will agree.”
He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze. “You don’t understand.”
The front door of his house banged open, and a handful of his underwear was thrown out into the grass. It was immediately followed by what appeared to be a bag of his dirty clothes. Lizzy thought she might understand.
“A domestic dispute?”
He hung his head. “You could say that.”
“Christopher, I need to ask you some questions about the night Ariel died. Is there somewhere we can do that?”
He glanced toward the house and cringed. With a sigh, he said, “If you want to step into my garage...”
They entered the dimly lit garage. Part of it had been made into a sort of man cave with a television, an old couch and an even older recliner.
Christopher looked embarrassed as he offered her the recliner. She chose the couch, sitting on the edge as he settled on the edge of the recliner, looking nervous and uncomfortable as he glanced toward the door into the house.
“I need to know where you were the night of the graduation party,” she said, putting her pen to her notebook.
“I was at the party.” He met her gaze. “You saw me there.”
She thought about how he had moved in on her after witnessing the kiss between her and Shade. As he’d closed the space between them that night, she’d realized that he’d had a lot to drink. She couldn’t remember what he’d said, some throwaway pickup line. She had still been stunned by Shade’s kiss and had let Christopher come on a little too strongly before she’d realized what was happening and pushed him away.
He’d gone away easily enough, staggering back toward the house. All of that told her that she could cross him off her list, if he’d really been that intoxicated. The only way he could have killed Ariel was if he’d been faking how drunk he was. After he disappeared into the pines, he could have changed direction and gone to where Ariel was standing around yelling at Brad to move his car. He could have left without anyone noticing.
The killer would have had to use some sort of weapon on Ariel. She wouldn’t have willingly let anyone tie her hands to the steering wheel. The killer would have had to bring both the weapon and the rope to the party that night. Unless the rope and weapon were already in Ariel’s car, which seemed too coincidental and lucky for the killer.
So this hadn’t been a spur-of-the-moment killing. Whoever had killed Ariel had planned it. Lizzy was looking at premeditated murder.
“When did you leave the party?” she asked.
“Not until the next morning. I slept over. Brad didn’t want me driving in my...condition.”
“Did someone see you there the entire time?”
He looked chagrined and hung his head. “I blacked out at some point, so I have no idea.”
“Did you see Ariel leave?”
He started to shake his head but stopped. “I did.”
“Was she alone?”
Christopher frowned as if seeing Ariel drive away in his memory. “I thought I saw someone with her...” He shook his head. “It was probably a shadow.”
Lizzy felt a chill race up her spine. “Why do you say that?”
“Because they would have been in the back seat, which makes no sense, right?”
She felt goose bumps ripple across her skin. Someone in the back seat?
Christopher’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh hell. Don’t tell me that I saw her killer.” Tears suddenly filled his eyes and he quickly looked away to wipe at them.
“You think you saw her killer in the back of the car as she was pulling away?”
“I saw someone...a shadow in the back seat for just an instant. Look, I could be wrong. I just got a glimpse of someone. I have no idea if it was a man or a woman. At the time...” His voice broke. “I thought it was one of her friends leaving with her.”
Lizzy tried to still her excitement. She’d been convinced that someone had followed Ariel as she’d left the party. But of course it made more sense that the killer was already in Ariel’s back seat. As angry and intoxicated as the woman had been, she wouldn’t have noticed. Until it was too late.
“Did you have any contact with Ariel during the party?” she asked, hoping he didn’t lie. She’d already heard what had happened earlier in the night.
Christopher looked down again as he nervously turned his wedding band. He’d gotten married to Nancy Haggerty right after graduation. By then, his bride had definitely been showing.
“Something happened between you and Ariel at the party,” Lizzy prodded.
He let out a long sigh and shook his head as if the last thing he needed right now was to be reminded of something he’d done more than ten years ago. But Lizzy waited as she watched him battle with the past and a realization that still seemed to have him shaken.
When he finally spoke, he spilled it quickly. “I slept with Ariel in Brad’s spare room, Nancy walked in and you-know-what hit the fan. Nancy left crying, Ariel was being a bitch, so we got into an argument, which I’m sure everyone within earshot will be happy to tell you about. Ariel stormed off and I proceeded to get drunk. Drunker.”
Lizzy had missed the argument, because she’d been outside most of the party. But she’d heard about it later. At the moment Ariel stormed out, Lizzy had been busy kissing Shade back. Ariel had come out of the house and seen them. Perfect timing.
“You didn’t go after Ariel following your argument?”
“Are you kidding?” He let out a bark of a laugh. “I’d had more than
enough of her for one night, in so many ways.” He shook his head. “What was it about her? I couldn’t stand her and yet...”
“You slept with her and got caught by your future bride.”
Christopher looked up, a sad smile on his face. “Why did we do what Ariel wanted even when it wasn’t the best thing for us?”
“She had that kind of power over people—especially kids like we’d been back then. Where were you really going when I drove up just now?” she asked quietly.
He hung his head again. “I don’t know. Just away from here. Too much history. Ariel being found... Well, it’s stirred up a lot of old pain for not just me but my wife.”
“It will blow over,” Lizzy said, realizing that wasn’t necessarily true. Even when she found the killer, which she would come hell or high water, there’d be the long process of a trial. Ariel Matheson could be in the news for years.
Christopher was shaking his head. “Our marriage has been hanging on by a thread as it is. Ariel...” He let out another laugh. “Even dead, she is screwing with my life.”
“Because you slept with her graduation night?” She couldn’t believe that that one incident ten years ago was the problem.
“It’s more than that. I was in love with Ariel and I still am.” She could see that his confession came hard for him. She heard it in the deep growl of his words. “See what I mean about screwed up? Ariel ruined my life. I hated her and I loved her. And I can’t believe she’s dead. I always thought she’d come back. I always thought...”
“Christopher, your feelings for her sound like a motive for murder. You sure you didn’t drive anywhere that night?”
“Not that I know of,” he said.
She knew that he could have made up the person in the back seat to cover the truth. He could have followed her after their fight and killed her without anyone noticing that he’d left or maybe without him even remembering. She’d heard stories about murders being committed during alcohol blackouts. Kind of like killing someone while sleepwalking. People drove long distances, committed murders and drove home again without remembering any of it.
