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“Don’t worry, we were leaving anyway.”
“OF ALL THE DUMB, shortsighted things to do,” groused Kelly as they were driving back to town. “He expects his daughter, who he just sold down the river, to up and move to France with him and leave everything and everybody she’s ever known behind.”
“I agree that it’s both presumptuous and really insensitive,” said Jamison. She looked at Decker. “What do you think?”
“I was wondering whether Hugh Dawson could have been involved in McClellan’s death.”
“That wasn’t what we were talking about,” said Jamison.
“Well, it’s what I want to talk about. But I don’t see a motive.”
Kelly said, “Shane probably has a motive, at least on paper. But he doesn’t care about inheriting a fortune. And if he were going to kill his old man, he’d just shoot him.”
“You’d be surprised how many people start to care when they’re actually close to getting the money,” noted Decker. “But money isn’t the only reason to kill someone. I can imagine Stuart made Shane’s life a hell on earth.”
“But Stuart’s always been like that with Shane. Why all of a sudden would it make him kill the guy?”
“That’s what they pay us to figure out,” retorted Decker. “Did you reach Shane? How’d he take the news?”
“I met with him before we went to see Hugh. Unless he’s a world-class actor, he had nothing to do with it.”
“Did he have any ideas about who might want to kill Stuart?”
“Not that he volunteered.”
“Did he say what he was going to do?” asked Jamison.
“No. He walked out in a daze, really.”
Jamison said, “Dawson got really upset with you at the end, when you mentioned his son, Junior.”
“None of that was right. Junior should still be alive leading a good, full life. Instead he’s six feet under because of that guy.”
“Was it really that bad?” asked Jamison.
“It was worse.”
Decker continued. “What I found curious was McClellan died by carbon monoxide poisoning.”
“You mean like Caroline’s mother,” noted Jamison.
“Exactly. Tell me exactly what you saw at the scene of Maddie’s death,” said Decker, looking at Kelly.
Kelly took a few moments to marshal his thoughts. “The car had slid off the road. There was an embankment there. The snow was about three feet deep at that point. The vehicle was leaning at about a thirty-degree angle. The tailpipe had gotten pushed up against the embankment. It was partially bent, and snow and dirt had gotten lodged in there. Totally clogged.”
“But why wouldn’t she have gotten out of the car and checked?” asked Jamison. “She naturally would have wanted to seehowshe was stuck, so she could get free somehow.”
“Exactly what I thought. And the answer was when she slid off the road sideways the brute force smashed her up against the window. She hit her head and was unconscious. There was a hematoma on the side of her head and a bit of blood and other trace on the window where she struck it.”
“And the airbags didn’t deploy?” asked Jamison.
“We checked that. Had an expert come in. He said in that situation the airbags probably would not have deployed. And it was an older model Jeep SUV. It didn’t have side airbag curtains anyway. And the seat harness would not have necessarily prevented her from being thrown to the side. There were no other signs of anyone else being there, though the snowfall would have covered any traces. She had cash and credit cards in her purse, and still had her wedding ring and a pair of diamond studs on. So robbery wasn’t a motive. And we could never find any reason for anyone to intentionally kill her. And, besides, how would anyone know she would have been out in the blizzard? She only went out because Alice Pritchard called her when she lost power. The autopsy came back with an accident as the manner of death and carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause.”
“Who called overseas to tell them she’d died?” said Jamison.
“Actually, that was me. I was in charge of the investigation. Hardest call I’ve ever had to make. As soon as I told Caroline she started sobbing. I couldn’t make out another word after that. And I felt bad because I couldn’t do anything to help her. I just felt so helpless,” Kelly said miserably.
They dropped him off at the police station and watched him go inside.
