AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She laughed. “It’s one of the things I love about you.” Their gazes met and held for a moment before she looked away. “Maybe if you knew something more about him, you wouldn’t look so worried. Pickett Hanson is a unique-enough name, it should be simple enough to put your mind at ease.”
“You’re right,” he said and headed into his office. Within minutes, though, he discovered no one with that name existed a few months before he’d hired the young ranch hand. Instead of easing his mind, he was more worried than ever.
THESHERIFFMADEthe call and two hours later, divers hooked onto the pickup and the local wrecker pulled it from the reservoir. He’d expected to find remains behind the wheel, but the cab of the truck was empty except for a suitcase behind the seat, along with more personal items and tools, as if the driver was either coming to Powder Crossing—or leaving.
Once the mud had been wiped from the license plate, Stuart ran the number. The pickup was registered to Rory Eastwood of Colorado Springs, Colorado, an employee of CH4 gas company. One phone call and Stuart solved at least one mystery. Eastwood had quit his job with the local CH4 company and was leaving town more than two years ago.
How his pickup ended up in the reservoir on the Turner Ranch remained a mystery—as did where Rory Eastwood was now since the team dragging the small reservoir found no remains.
The pickup had been taken to the sheriff’s department fenced yard. With everyone gone from the reservoir, Stuart had stayed for a while. He had a lot on his mind, Abigail Creed at the top of the list. He still hadn’t decided what to do about her. They hadn’t talked since he’d called her after she’d drugged him.
He was wondering if that would be the end of it and if he should let it go unless he planned to arrest her. But since there wasn’t enough evidence that she’d drugged him...that really wasn’t an option.
As he started to get into his patrol SUV, a pickup came roaring up to the reservoir. He hesitated as a large man with closely cropped gray hair climbed out. Private investigator Jason Murdock.
Groaning, the sheriff waited as Murdock headed for him.
“Let me guess, Rory Eastwood’s pickup,” the PI said. “Was he in it? Never mind, I would have passed an ambulance with the body if he had been. So that leaves us with him still missing. Just like Dixon Malone. I’m right. You didn’t happen to find him down there, did you?”
Stuart sighed. “Sounds like you already have your answer.” He turned back to his rig to leave.
“Imagine my surprise to find out that Dixon Malone wasn’t the only person who’s gone missing around here. You knew Rory, right, Sheriff?”
“No, sorry, never met him,” he said, his back to the man.
“Seems Rory Eastwood gave his notice with CH4, indicating that he was leaving here to make a new life with a new lady,” Murdock said. “The bartender down at the Wild Horse said he was all excited, real secretive about this woman he was running away with. Some speculate the woman was Leann Hayes. You remember her since the two of you were an item, I understand, Sheriff. Leann allegedly commits suicide andpoof, Rory Eastwood is never seen again. And here’s his pickup in this reservoir.”
Stuart sighed and turned around. “If you have any information about Mr. Eastwood, you should come down to the office and make a statement.”
“Over two years ago I hear the drought in these parts was just starting. This reservoir would have been much higher. I would imagine that’s why the perpetrator dumped the truck here, don’t you think? Almost seems like it had to be someone who knew the area and knew how to cover his—or her—tracks, huh.”
“Nice theory,” the sheriff said. “But why not dispose of his body with the truck?”
The PI nodded. “That is a good question.” He glanced at the reservoir, making Stuart think about the truck as it was pulled from the water. He hadn’t wanted to find what was left of a cadaver after two years underwater. The mud had been scraped from the side window, offering a view of the cab. He’d expected the body would be inside. He’d never been so glad to be wrong.
“I just passed the wrecker with the pickup,” Murdock said. “Looked like all his belongings were in there. Not much room for someone to drive the pickup—with a body in the cab.” Murdock smiled as he turned back to Stuart. “Guess the killer had to find another place for Rory. Must have worried about putting him in the bed of the pickup. Wouldn’t want to be driving around with a body in the back of the pickup—at least not very far. Appears they disposed of the body first, then the pickup.” He glanced around. “I’d say he was probably somewhere here on the ranch or not far from here. Guess you’ll be looking for a grave.”
“If he’s dead,” Stuart said, hating this man’s arrogance, even though he agreed with him. “We don’t know that for a fact.”
Murdock scoffed. “He’s dead and we both know it, Sheriff. Makes me wonder why you don’t want to admit it.”
“I don’t have time for this.” The sheriff opened his car door, but the PI kept talking, clearly having more to say. He wished he didn’t feel that he should listen.
“The thing about Powder Crossing, such a small town, everyone knows everyone else and their business,” Murdock was saying. “I’m betting someone around here knows how that pickup got in that reservoir—just as they know what happened to another missing man, Dixon Malone. Someone in this river basin has something to hide. Strange part is both disappearances seem to be connected to two ranches in town, the McKenna and the Stafford ranches. The way I hear it, people around these parts say if anyone can get away with murder in the river basin, it would be Holden McKenna and Charlotte Stafford—or one of their offspring.”
Stu shook his head and climbed into his patrol SUV. He’d had enough of Murdock. As he started to pull away, he noted that the PI had walked out to the edge of the reservoir and stood looking into the water’s depths as if he could see the truth lying down there in the mud.
The sheriff didn’t even pretend that he didn’t know exactly what Murdock had been implying. Nor did he kid himself that if the man kept digging, he wouldn’t turn up something. So far all the PI knew for certain, it seemed, was that Dixon Malone had been in a tumultuous marriage with Charlotte Stafford before he disappeared.
As for Rory Eastwood... Murdock had been fishing, dangling Leann Hayes as bait, Stu told himself. So what if some people in town were speculating that there was a connection between Leann and Rory Eastwood. The PI wanted to believe it. Maybe Leann had told someone in town that she was leaving with a mystery man at about the same time Rory Eastwood was shooting his mouth off down at the bar.
Murdock was trying to fit the pieces together. Leann had been dating Cooper McKenna—before her death. Before that, she’d been with Stu. If the PI could prove that Leann and Rory had died on the same night, he would be pointing the finger at not just Cooper, but Stu himself.
He swore as he drove back to his office. Once behind his desk, he couldn’t help but worry. How long would it be before all hell broke loose? At the time of Leann’s death, the county prosecutor had been convinced that her sometime lover, Cooper McKenna, had killed her. Even when the coroner had declared her death a suicide, not even Cooper had believed it and wanted the case reopened.
Cooper would be even more convinced now that she’d been murdered. Rory Eastwood’s pickup turning up was bad news, especially if someone could prove that Rory Eastwood had been the mystery man Leann was leaving with.
He called Deputy Dodson. “When you’re finished locking up the pickup until the state forensic boys get here, I need you to go back out to the ranch. Start at the reservoir and begin searching for a grave or a place a body could have been hidden two years ago.”
