Page 51 of Death on Gallows Path

“The new girl,” Pammy said under her breath.

Zoley didn’t appear to hear her. “We became best of friends, went to UK together. It was through us the guys became friends. We thought it would be great, you know, us two couples living so close. But . . .”

She faltered, pressing her index fingers under her eyes and their fake lashes.

Tears? For Damon? For Pammy? For their relationship . . . but which their? Hers with Damon or hers with Pammy?

Pammy spoke. Still slowly, but with underlying confidence.

“You know how it is. People get busy. Schedules going opposite directions. We’d have dinner now and then, of course, but far more dinners were canceled because of Damon’s schedule than happened. It got so it was embarrassing. That’s why we were looking for something to do together. The dog training fit. Something scheduled, so we’d actually go. In addition, we’d accomplish something by getting the dogs to behave.”

Apparently, she hadn’t fully absorbed Leo’s lessons about the humans being the ones who truly needed training.

Zoley picked up, “And since Bryon paid for us, there was no way on earth he’d let us skip.”

She glanced toward Pammy, then added, “Especially not when the two of them — Damon and Bryon — started trying to outdo each other.”

“So childish,” Pammy murmured.

“They did seem . . . competitive,” Clara said innocently.

“You could say that. Idiots,” Zoley pronounced. “We talked about that, Pammy and me. But there was no talking to them. Can’t begin to count the number of times I told Bryon that it didn’t matter to me that Damon made so much more money than he does.”

Pammy smiled slightly, conveying it didn’t bother her any that her husband made considerably more money than Zoley’s.

“He must have been so driven.” Clara infused subtle admiration into her voice. “I was always hearing this and that around the county about Damon’s projects. Did he have a big one going on now?”

“Lately, he was mostly working on a few things away from here,” Pammy said. “Damon used to say the world was full of sleeping capital waiting for someone with vision to wake it up.”

Clara made a sound that could be interpreted as more admiration. I suspected it was the result of her not being able to force out words meant to convey that reaction.

“Visionaries always have detractors.” I stepped closer to the chaise. Much of the great room was bright from the double-story windows, with a shaft of light cutting across her legs. Its brightness made the shadowing of her face seem deeper. “Were there any detractors Damon encountered around here?”

Pammy’s head tipped.

“There was someone. I don’t know who. I gathered he’d been . . . unpleasant. Accosted Damon, struck him. Though Damon was not injured.” She lifted one shoulder. “I couldn’t tell the deputies any more than that.”

“I suppose they asked you if he had any other conflicts, any enemies,” I said with would-be sympathy.

“Couldn’t help them at all with that. Damon had so many business interests and he didn’t involve me in them.” She made that definitive, though her voice remained slow and sad.

“Did you know he was going out Thursday night . . .”

Her headshake ended my question. “I had no idea. I always go upstairs earlier than Damon does.” She blinked. “Than he did.”

Zoley pressed her hand to the other woman’s arm. Pammy nodded in acknowledgment of the gesture.

“Oh,” Clara said with absolute innocence. “You’re a morning person, then. So, that’s when you realized he hadn’t come in Thursday night?”

Pammy shook her head with slow sorrow. “I unwind at night and need my alone time, to prepare for the next day. It’s how I get so much done, even though I’m not an early riser.”

That cut down her time with Damon from both ends of the day.

She continued, “I was not aware Damon wasn’t home until the sheriff’s department and someone from the coroner’s office were at my front door. I was so sure they were wrong— I ran upstairs to find him.”

She pulled in a breath and Zoley repeated her patting solace.

“Of course, he wasn’t there. And now,” Pammy said, “I need to make arrangements. I hardly know where to start.”