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“Leann Hayes,” Andrews said, verifying what Stuart had feared. The state cops had somehow found the connection between Abigail and Leann, a connection he himself hadn’t been able to find. “Can you tell us why the victim was interested in an old case of yours? A suicide?”
“She was only interested in how much I knew about Leann’s death,” he said. “I quickly realized that two years ago she came to Powder Crossing to stop her friend from running off with Rory Eastwood. Abigail thought she was saving her friend when Rory showed up, an argument ensued and she killed Rory.
“When Leann told her that I would know what she’d done and come after her, that all of Abigail’s dreams of she and Leann getting a place together, being like sisters, was ruined because I would find her and put her behind bars, she and Leann fought and she killed Leann, making it look like a suicide.”
“So she feared you were coming after her even though the death had been ruled a suicide?” Forester said.
“Apparently so. I think that Abigail couldn’t get over what she’d done and at some point she blamed me, but I’m no psychiatrist. All I know is that she tried to kill me.”
“Almost did,” the cop said.
CJ STAFFORDWASthinking about burning his bridges as well as barns when his phone rang again. “You said to call if I had something for you,” Rusty Malone said without preamble.
He sighed. “This had better be good. What have you got?”
“You still paying for information?”
“Depends on the information.” CJ found it ironic that his former stepfather, Dixon Malone, was somehow related to a ranch hand on the McKenna Ranch.
“Oh, this is good,” Rusty assured him, keeping his voice down. CJ hoped the fool wasn’t at the bar in town where someone could overhear him. “You know your sister Oakley is tight with Pickett Hanson and Duffy McKenna, right?”
“That’s not news.” As much as it ticked CJ off, the three had hung out since they were kids.
“What if I told you that some fancy-dressed woman came looking for Pickett. She stayed at the hotel in town. Pickett met her there.”
“I’m really not interested in Pickett’s love life,” he snapped.
“It wasn’t like that. The woman, Sarah Johansen, was old enough to be his mother. The thing is I heard her making arrangements for a plane ticket for him to fly to New York City. Word was that his father was dying.”
“I heard all that. So what? The old man must have kicked off because I heard Pickett is back.”
“The plane ticket was in the name Archibald Vanderlin Westmoreland.”
Now Rusty had his attention. “Who the hell is that?”
“Exactly. Clearly not some ranch hand named Pickett Hanson.”
Clearly,CJ thought. “Nice work,” he said, promising to pay Rusty for the information as he hurriedly disconnected and went online to find out who the hell the McKenna ranch hand really was—other than his sister Oakley’s BFF.
THESHERIFFCOULDfeel every stab wound as he closed his eyes. Abigail had almost killed him. He opened his eyes slowly, desperately wanting to keep them closed as exhaustion washed over him. The weight of the drugs and his injuries and the accusations dragged him down even further.
“Can you tell us about your relationship with Leann Hayes?” Forester asked.
“It was a long time ago. We dated. She moved on.”
“To Cooper McKenna—your best friend, right?” he asked. “Didn’t you originally arrest him for Leann’s murder?”
“That was the county prosecutor’s doing. Not mine. Those charges were dropped.”
“For lack of evidence,” Andrews said.
Stuart wasn’t up to this; his patience was running thin because of the pain and the need to close his eyes and let the drugs take him back to that dark, near-dead peace. “Do you want to retry that case or do you want to know what happened with Abigail?”
Forester nodded. “Why after all this time?”
“Rory’s pickup. She heard it had been pulled from the reservoir. I guess she thought I’d put two and two together.”
“You weren’t aware that she’d brought a weapon?”
