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“I know that. Thanks. We’ll be in touch.” He hung up.
CODYFELTBETTERabout the case, but he was concerned for Horace Whatley. The little man had some mental health challenges, and he needed protection. Cody bristled when he thought about some slick-talking opportunist looking for ways to frame his victim’s brother, or outright kill him, to get his hands on the Whatley fortune. Since he’d been thwarted in Denver, it would likely make him far more determined to strike while the iron was hot. He must be aware that Violet Henry wouldn’t stop trying to prove he killed her sister. He’d be looking for a grubstake. A big one.
Thank God Cody had the case to occupy his mind, while he dealt with the new information he’d dug out about his late wife and her lover. He’d refused to think about it at all while he was pursuing the case. He’d also put Anyu’s death to the back of his mind, because he didn’t have time to indulge the grief he felt. Work was the great panacea, he thought, a way to get through his anguish. If he stayed busy, he had less time to brood.
But he wanted, needed, to talk to somebody about it. He had no family left, really, except for his cousin Bart Riddle. They were good friends, but he hesitated to share such deeply personal information with anyone else. Then he remembered Abby, holding him while he dealt with Anyu’s loss, taking him home with her, looking after him. Warmth spread all through his body at the memory. She was unlike any woman he’d known, except his late mother, who had been a little saint. Abby was like that. She cared deeply about the people around her. She would listen, and without being judgmental. He smiled to himself. So, he had someone to talk to after all. Someone who’d listen and care as well.
He packed his bag and left Denver without a backward glance. It would take time to process what he’d learned about Debby and Dr. Stern. He did feel sorry for the man, but he hated what he and Debby had done. Sneaking around in a clandestine relationship wasn’t something Cody would ever have considered, not even with Debby, whom he’d loved so much.
It occurred to him that he was one of those people who loved deeply and forever, and only once. He couldn’t imagine loving another woman. He was fond of Abby, of course. She was a good person, and she’d turned into a good friend. But he wasn’t going to let his attraction to her monopolize his life. There was no future in it. He didn’t want to get married again, to risk being torn apart like this again. He’d lived in a paradise in his own mind for so long now. He was happily married to a brilliant doctor who loved him equally and wanted to spend the rest of her life as his wife. And it was a lie. All of it. Even her last thought, the gift of a puppy to the man she loved, hadn’t concerned Cody at all. The puppy had been meant for Dr. Stern. He laughed coldly. No wonder the nurse, Debby’s friend, had been so unsettled when Cody came to get the puppy. She might not even have known that Cody was Debby’s husband. Or, she might have known everything, which was why she was entrusted with the puppy, on orders to give it to the man Debby loved most in the world. And that man wasn’t Cody Banks.
All those years of lies. He groaned inwardly as he drove himself back up to Catelow. He must be the world’s biggest sucker, he decided. If he was that bad a judge of character, he was hardly qualified for the important job he held. On the other hand, anyone could make a mistake. If so, his was the biggest mistake of his life. He should have realized when Debby stopped coming home on the weekends that she had other connections. He should have asked questions at least. He hadn’t, because having her home once in a while was far preferable to never seeing her again. He’d been afraid to push her too far, for fear of losing her altogether. But he had been a little suspicious. His visit to her apartment, where she’d looked around worriedly the whole time he was there. His visit to her hospital, where she’d been uptight and rushed him through the visit.
He’d been so much in love with her. He’d had crushes on girls in high school, and once there had been a receptionist at one of the local agencies with whom he’d been infatuated until she confessed that she’d fallen in love with someone else—one of his deputies, in fact, and she’d been dating Cody so that she could see the other man. They’d married. Cody, with no hard feelings, had even gone to the wedding. His love life hadn’t been very successful. And now here he was, with Debby dead and gone, and he was faced with the reality that his wife had never loved or wanted him, and that she’d been living with another man, a married man.
ITWASLATEwhen he got home. He called the office, to be told that there was nothing of significance to be passed on to him. His deputies were handling the few minor disturbances of the day.
He smiled as he went to make coffee. Law enforcement was like that. You’d have days and days of routine things, traffic citations, domestic disturbances, nuisance calls, threats. And then you’d have a few days when it seemed that every criminal act in the book was being committed, and there were never enough deputies to handle the overflow. He’d had to call in mutual aid a few times, especially during a memorable car chase that had made the news as far north as Billings, Montana. He shook his head. It was the variety of the job that kept him interested. He couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk for weeks on end, facing the same boring routine each day. It was very satisfying to never know what the day would bring.
However, it was a shock to walk into his office the next morning and discover that Horace Whatley had been arrested and was residing at the county detention center.
Cody gaped at his undersheriff. “What the hell...?!”
“Now, now,” Jeb Chandler said soothingly, “it’s not as bad as it seems.”
“What was he arrested for?” Cody demanded angrily.
“Bank robbery.”
“Oh, come on...!” Cody exploded.
“There’s an eyewitness who saw him put on a mask and pull out a gun before he walked into the bank,” Jeb continued.
Cody was lost for words. He thought up quite a few, but he didn’t get them out before Jeb started again.
“It was the private detective’s idea to keep him at the detention center as a potential suspect. He’ll be safer in lockup than he will at his house, and he’s not likely to meet with any fatal accidents,” Jeb said.
Cody wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of a visiting detective making decisions for his department. On the other hand, it was a good idea. Certainly the perp or one of his friends couldn’t very well get to Whatley where he was.
“Do we know who the eyewitness is yet?” Cody pursued.
“Oh, yes,” Jeb said, and his eyes twinkled.
“Well?” Cody prompted impatiently.
“The eyewitness is Cappy Blarden,” he said with pursed lips.
“Cappy. Cappy.” Cody was thunderstruck.
“Cappy couldn’t manage a true statement if he was paid even more than he was paid as an eyewitness to our town character’s bank robbery. That private detective from that Houston agency is sharp! He’s already checked out Cappy’s bank account.” He smiled pleasantly.
Cody knew that smile. He relaxed. “I gather there was a recent deposit.”
“Yes, drawn on a bank account in Florida.”
“Finally, a paper trail!”
“It was a cashier’s check, but Lassiter had somebody in Dade County check it out, and the teller described the purchaser to him. In fact, she knew him. It seems that he often withdraws money from a Miss Nita Whatley’s account in the same bank.”
