by B. J Daniels
He smiled at her. “You’ve done a great job.”
She scoffed at that. “That’s my point. You don’t have to do a great job. You just have to do your best out of love. Have you told Lizzy yet?”
He swore. “We haven’t even been on a date. Don’t you think it’s a little early to be dumping this on her?”
“Have a little faith in her. If Lizzy is the right woman for you, then she can handle it. It will come as a shock—just as it has for you—but it sounds to me like you and Maisie are going to be a package deal.”
His cell phone rang, making him jump. Checking it, he saw that the call was from the lab. He let it ring a second time as he braced himself and picked up. “Yes, this is Shade Sterling. Yes, I’d prefer to get the results now over the phone, please.”
He listened, then disconnected before turning to stare at the woman he’d trusted his secrets to since he was a boy. “I’m a father of a two-year-old.”
She smiled and nodded, tears in her eyes as she clasped her hands as if in prayer. “I can’t wait.”
* * *
JOSH ADAMS LIVED as differently from Tyler Brent as night and day. Lizzy drove to the trailer park where Josh had lived in high school with his mother. While his mother still lived in the court, Josh had bought a trailer a few rows away.
Lizzy parked in front of the double-wide next to Josh’s highway patrol car. She’d heard that he’d married and divorced not long after high school. What had surprised her was that he’d gone into law enforcement.
Behind a chicken-wire fence, a mongrel dog began to bark as she climbed out. Before she could reach the gate, Josh stuck his head out the door. He squinted at the patrol SUV and then at her.
“Max doesn’t like cops,” he said and laughed at his joke before turning to the dog. “Shut up, Max!”
The dog slunk off as Josh turned back to her and said, “Come on in, Sheriff. I’ve been expecting you.”
The inside of the trailer looked as if a bachelor lived there. He cleaned a pile of clothes off the couch to make room for her to sit. The air smelled of laundry detergent with only a little undertone of dog. She took a seat on the couch as Josh dropped into a well-worn recliner, his dark gaze narrowed as she pulled out her notebook and pen.
“How about I confess and you take me to jail,” he said before she could ask her first question. “I could use the rest and I’m sure the food’s better than what I cook.”
“Did you kill her?”
He sucked at his teeth for a moment. “Someone needed to.”
Like Tyler, Josh had been a loner in high school. Moody, bored and generally obnoxious. He’d been the one who always sat in the back of the class with his feet up on the chair in front of him, his arms crossed, his eyes closed. He’d put in his time at school like punishment.
But now he smiled and she realized with a start that he wasn’t bad-looking. “Sorry, I know this is serious. Ask your questions.”
“What was your relationship with Ariel?”
He looked aghast. “Relationship? I ignored her and she didn’t abuse me quite so badly.”
“Are you coming to the reunion?”
Josh shook his head. “No. I think it could be a bloodbath.” He held up his hands quickly. “Just kidding. Kinda.”
“I don’t remember you attending the graduation party at Brad’s.”
“Because I didn’t.”
“Where were you that night?”
“It was my mother’s birthday. We threw a party for her. I stayed late and helped her clean up. She’ll swear to it on my old man’s grave.” He grinned. “But then again, she hated his guts.” He laughed, then sobered.
“Look, I don’t know who snuffed Ariel. Maybe she didn’t deserve it.” He shrugged. “I doubt she’s been missed. Do I think anyone in our class could have killed her? Absolutely. I don’t have to tell you what she was like. Me, I didn’t let her get to me.” He shook his head and sighed. “But she did a number on some of the others. They say you never get over high school.” He shrugged again and laughed. “I didn’t have any trouble getting over it.”
Lizzy shut her notebook and put it and her pen away. “I was surprised when you went into law enforcement.”
He nodded. “You and a lot of other people.”
She studied him for a moment, realizing how different he was from high school. The past ten years had changed him. Or she hadn’t really known him. Wasn’t that her fear? That she hadn’t known any of the students she went to school with?
“If you had to pick the one person who hated Ariel the most, who would it be?”
He chuckled, leaning back in the chair as he gave it some thought. “That one blonde. Definitely that one blonde.” He grinned.
“Are you saying it was one of her best friends or all of them?”
“Take your pick. They’re all capable of murder, trust me.”
* * *
AFTER GETTING THE news from the lab, Shade told Dorothea he needed to take a walk. He headed out across the ranch, stretching his long legs and breathing in the fall morning as if short of oxygen.
When he finally stopped, he pulled out his phone and called Lizzy. “I need to talk to you.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Any chance you could get to the guest ranch a little early so we could have some time together? It’s important.”
“I’m all packed. I could probably leave now.” She sounded hesitant.
“This isn’t me just trying to get you alone to charm you,” he said.
“That’s good to hear because you aren’t all that charming.”
He chuckled. “We both know that isn’t true. Seriously,” he said. “It’s important. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“You don’t want to give me a hint?”
“I’d rather not get into it on the phone.”
She sighed. “You do realize what you’re suggesting. That I meet my number one suspect at an isolated guest ranch before anyone else arrives. Sounds dangerous.”
“Come on, we both know you aren’t afraid of anything, especially me.”
Lizzy laughed, sounding almost nervous. “Just shows that you don’t know me.”
“You’ll be safe.”
He heard her chuckle. “I’m not so sure about that,” she said.
“This time, I promise.”
She made a worried sound. “Is everything all right, Shade?”
“Yes and no and maybe so. We’ll talk when I see you.”
“Okay, then I’ll see you soon.”
He disconnected and headed back to the ranch house. Dorothea gave him an encouraging nod when he found her in the kitchen and told her about his meeting with Lizzy, but he couldn’t help feeling scared. What if he told her and that was it? What woman would be interested in taking on a man like him—and a two-year-old? That he and Lizzy might not get their chance made his heart ache. Seeing her again had made him realize that he’d wanted this for a long time.
The timing had never been right since high school. Now it might be fatherhood, something he was terrified about, but at the same time excited.
He stepped out of the kitchen to call Hannah.
She answered on the first ring. “You heard from the lab?”
“I did. But I knew yesterday when I saw Maisie. I need to ask you something—”
“I have maybe a few months.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to ask you. This weekend is my class reunion. Ten year. It’s a long story. But it’s being held up at the family guest ranch. I have to go.”
“Dorothea told me.”
“But maybe you and Maisie would like to come up Sunday. That’s family day.”
She was quiet so long he feared he’d lost her. Then he heard her sniff. “That would be nice.”
“Great. It
’s Sterling’s Montana Guest Ranch. Google doesn’t work real well in this part of the country.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”
He cleared his throat. “How’s Maisie?”
“She’s good. She said she likes your whiskers. She doesn’t understand designer stubble.”
Shade laughed. “Tell her that I like her blue eyes. I’ll see the two of you Sunday.” He disconnected and swallowed the lump in his throat. He was doing this.
* * *
LIZZY HAD JUST loaded her bag in her SUV when she got the call from Ace.
“Sorry, no video surveillance that I could find on your car the day you were parked in front of the newspaper office,” the deputy said.
She’d known it was a long shot. “Thanks. You know I’ll be up at the Sterling guest ranch today through the weekend. There’s no cell service up there but the dispatcher has the main lodge number if I’m needed.”
“I’m sure we can hold down the fort, Sheriff.”
She wished she were sure about that. She disconnected, only to get another call as she slid behind the wheel. Their former history teacher, Coach Nick Rice, had heard about Ariel’s murder and sounded shocked.
She asked, “Did you know she was pregnant?”
“No.”
“Were you the father?”
“She was pregnant?”
“Nick, I have a video of you making love in Ariel’s room.”
“What? Are you kidding? A video? You’re sure it’s me?”
She sighed. “It’s you. I need to know who you were making love to.”
He swore. “I should have known. Ariel made a video? Of course she did.” He groaned.
“Was she blackmailing you?” She feared for a moment that he’d hung up.
“Oh man,” he said. She could hear how rattled he was. “Look, I had nothing to do with her murder. I wasn’t even in town. I was on a plane that almost crashed.”
“You haven’t answered my question. The video is now part of my investigation. I need to know who the woman was and if Ariel was blackmailing you.”
“With the kind of money a teacher makes? Why would a rich girl blackmail me?”
“Why were you making love in her bedroom?”
He swore again. “Okay, it happened once. Just once. I’d had too much to drink. I wasn’t thinking clearly. It was hard to find a place to meet so we used Ariel’s room. She wasn’t supposed to be home, let alone recording us.”
“Who’s us?”
“Ashley. She wasn’t underage. She’d turned eighteen by then.”
“You were her teacher.”
“I’m not suggesting it is right, but she was legal...”
“I know Ariel. She wouldn’t have made that video unless she used it against you in some way.”
He sighed heavily. “She wanted a better grade in history so I gave it to her. That was it. She could have turned me in to the school board but she didn’t. That was the end of it. Honestly I didn’t even believe it when she said she made a video of Ashley and me. I just changed her grade. That was it.”
“You’re telling me you never slept with Ariel?”
“Never.”
“Is there anyone who might have wanted to kill Ariel?”
He laughed bitterly. “Everyone who knew her.”
“Anyone in our class.”
“It would be harder to come up with a name of someone who didn’t. Sorry.”
She got off the phone feeling as if she needed to wash her hands. Ashley and Coach? She shuddered. All Lizzy could think was that Ariel had put her up to it.
That alone gave Ashley motive for wanting to kill Ariel—especially after she heard about the video.
Lizzy recalled what Jennifer had told her last night about Ariel’s diaries. She called Ariel’s mother. “I hate to bother you again, Catherine.”
“No, please, anything I can do, you know I will. Are you all right? I heard about your car crash.”
“I’m fine. A little sore but fine. Did Ariel keep a diary?”
“If she did, I wasn’t aware of it. But she was very private and out of respect, I never went into her room unless she was there. I didn’t want to be the kind of mother who snooped around looking for trouble. Now I wish I had. Maybe I’d know what was going on with her before...” Her voice broke.
“I went through everything that you gave me,” Lizzy said. “If you run across any diaries, you’ll let me know?”
“Of course. I’ll take another look and call if I find anything.”
Lizzy had barely disconnected when she got the call from the lab. The yellow ski rope that had been found cut in Brad’s garage matched both the rope found at the crime scene—and at Stephanie Curtis Tanner’s house.
Had Lizzy found her killer? She had the rope along with circumstantial evidence. Was it enough? She called only to find out that Stephanie had made bail. Would she come up to the reunion? Or would she run? All Lizzy knew was that she didn’t have enough evidence to arrest her again. Not yet.
It was nearly two by the time Lizzy headed up the mountain to the guest ranch. Her head hurt and her body still ached from her wreck. Worse, she still didn’t know who’d killed Ariel. She thought about Stephanie and the look on her face when the deputy had come out of the garage with the piece of ski rope. The woman had been more than shocked; she’d been furious. What if she was being framed?
As she drove, Lizzy mulled it all over, trying to keep her mind off why Shade needed to talk to her. She thought that Ariel might have simply told Jennifer she kept a diary and wrote down everything just to scare her. Or maybe whoever killed Ariel had gone to her house that night and taken the diaries. All of them had come and gone at Ariel’s house through a side door at all hours of the day and night. Her parents stayed on the opposite side of the house and apparently let her do as she liked.
But assuming the killer wasn’t someone who came and went all the time at Ariel’s house, how would they have been able to get in and take the missing diaries?
Lizzy had a thought. She made a call. “Question—were the keys in the SUV when it was found in the pond?”
“Sorry, that should have been in the report. The key was in the ignition.”
“Just one key?”
“Just one. No key ring.”
She disconnected. So the rest of Ariel’s keys and phone could be at the bottom of the pond. Or the killer could have taken them. Lizzy felt a sliver of excitement. Why take the keys unless the killer was headed for the house? That meant that the killer was comfortable going to the house but still thought they might need a key to get in? Or was there a key on the ring that opened a special compartment where the diaries were kept hidden?
Find the diaries and you’ll find your killer. Except now she was on her way up the mountain to the reunion. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than getting all the suspects together at an isolated guest ranch high in the mountains—but especially if one of them was the killer, which she suspected more than ever.
But didn’t that mean that one of them had the diaries? Had maybe already read them?
She’d thought the reunion would be the perfect time to unmask the killer. But now all Lizzy could think was that whoever had murdered Ariel might think it the perfect time to settle more old scores.
She thought of the note she found on her windshield. Digging into the past was turning up dirt that someone obviously didn’t want unearthed.
Lizzy passed the spot where her patrol SUV had been rammed and felt a shudder. She was lucky she hadn’t been killed. She just hoped her luck held.
* * *
MY PRECIOUS DIARIES. I hate to think of all the secrets I wrote in them, believing that no one would ever read them. It isn’t like I thought someone might kill me because of those secrets and the diaries would come to light.
/> Except now they’re missing and Lizzy is looking for them. As if I don’t know who has them. My killer trotted right up there to my house that night. Knew about the key to the box I kept hidden. Knew about the side door. Not even my mother knew about the diaries. I hate being impressed by my killer, but I can’t help it. Who would have known that while I was busy learning things about my classmates, some of them were busy learning all about me?
Now what? I really doubt the diaries have ended up in a bonfire and every last page destroyed. Too many pages worth reading for that to happen. What would I do, if the shoe were on the other foot? No contest. I would use them to my advantage, letting secrets out like small bombs that would go off. Surprise!
But that’s just me. Remember, I’m the hateful one, the vengeful one.
Because if there was one thing Ariel Matheson was good at, it was learning other people’s secrets and using that knowledge against them as needed. Oh, this could make the reunion even more entertaining.
Except now everyone will know even more about me and just how low I would go, won’t they? My grandmother must be rolling over in her grave.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
AS LIZZY CAME over the rise, she saw the lights on in the lodge. The warm glow drew her, but not as much as the thought of seeing Shade again. As much as she tried to fight it, she was excited about the idea of the two of them going on a date. Nothing might come of it. She knew Shade’s reputation.
But there had been something to that kiss so long ago. Not to mention the sparks that flew when she was around him. Her heart beat faster and she felt something low in her belly that she recognized as a desire like none she’d ever felt for any man other than him.
She quickly reminded herself how he’d sounded earlier on the phone. That gave her pause. Shade had never sounded so serious. He had something he wanted to talk to her about.
