Page 31 of Setup In Montana

Entering the kitchen, she spotted a couple of rhinestones they’d missed under the table. Bending down, she reached for them. As she did, something shiny caught her eye. Moving closer, she saw that it was a small key. She picked it up along with the rhinestones, and rose, frowning.

A thought struck her as she moved to the spot where Dub had left the large ugly pendant. It lay face up. Still holding the key, she turned the pendant over. The back had broken in the fall from the table, exposing what appeared to be a tiny compartment—just large enough to hold a bank security deposit key.

Still holding the key in her palm, she heard Dub come into the room. Turning, she said, “I found something. Maybe the answer to why Esther was murdered.”

His eyes widened as he moved to her. She handed him the key, then showed him the compartment on the back of the pendant. “We would have never known it was there if you hadn’t dropped it. The fall broke part of the door that hid the key.”

Dub looked at the key in his hand, then up at her. “It looks like a bank safety deposit key, but which bank, and what do you think is inside the box?”

She shook her head. “But it has to be something important. Otherwise, why would someone hide it in a piece of cheap jewelry?”

“Why would anyone hide it to begin with?” he asked.

“Because they didn’t want someone finding it,” she said. “But do you think the owner actually wore this pendant? It’s so large and…”

“Ugly?” he supplied. “Maybe it’s a family heirloom.”

“Some family,” she said, but had to agree. “I can’t imagine it belonged to Esther. I’ve never seen her wearing it.”

“So how did she end up with it?” Dub asked.

Clancy groaned. “She must have stolen it. Maybe from one of the residents at the rest home. Which would explain why she was so anxious to get rid of it.”

He set the key down on the table next to the other jewelry and the bag of fake rhinestones and pearls that had fallen off the pendant.

“Maybe the pendant is what the killer was looking for?” she said. “Esther said that what was in the plastic bag was worth more than what she owed me. I didn’t believe her, especially since she so obviously wanted to get rid of it.”

“Which would seem like she didn’t know about the key,” Dub said.

“But she must have known that someone was angry with her, and it had to do with something in the bag. Why else put it in my backpack?”

Dub nodded slowly. “I was just thinking. If you’re right, then the night of her murder the killer came to the apartment for the pendant. Wouldn’t she have told the person what she did with it?

She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. “If you’re asking if Esther would have thrown me under the bus, of course she would have, to save herself.”

He shook his head as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “Clancy, that means the killer knew who you were even before he saw you leaving that night. He would have also known that you had the bag of jewelry.

“The only thing he didn’t know was where to find you when you weren’t at the convenience store or your trailer because you’d left so quickly,” Dub said. “If you hadn’t left like you did…”

Clancy swallowed, her heart thudding at the thought of what would have happened if she hadn’t run. A chill rattled through her at the memory of that feeling she’d had the night she drove away. “I must have left just before the killer got there.” She felt her legs weaken under her and sat down at the table.

“Thank God my father picked you up when your car broke down,” Dub said.

She could only nod. Had she been even minutes later that evening, the killer could have followed her down the highway.

“You said your car broke down,” Dub said thoughtfully. “If he knew who you were and he was afraid you might leave…”

“You think the killer did something to my car to make it quit running?” She thought she might throw up.

“Whatever this key opens, what’s inside must be valuable enough to kill for,” he said and met her gaze again.

“I know,” Clancy said, feeling the burn of unshed tears in her throat. “I have to call the sheriff. Isn’t that the advice your father gave you on the phone?”

“Dad was pretty much as I expected. Worried about us, wishing we’d hung around long enough for him to offer sage advice, but understanding.” Dub seemed to hesitate. “I don’t know how you feel, but I’d really like that pendant and key in the sheriff’s hands rather than ours.”

“I agree,” she said. “I’ll call him.” She pushed herself up from the chair. “I plugged my phone in. It should be charged by now.” But as she started to turn down the hall, she saw his expression. “What is it?”

“You might not be able to recognize the killer, but he knows you. Clancy, that’s why you have to be really careful. The killer could be standing right beside you and you wouldn’t know it.”