he and my husband were at odds when Jonah disappeared.”
Joelle huffed and folded her arms over her chest. She zoomed right in on Rudy. “Yet something else that I’m just now hearing about. Why didn’t you tell me this when I interviewed you?”
The man shrugged. “Didn’t come to mind then. And besides, it wasn’t important. Sarah here is just riled ’cause she couldn’t find her witch’s broom this morning.”
Joelle opened her mouth to say something but thankfully backed off when Sarah whirled in Rudy’s direction. They could probably learn a heck of lot more from Sarah and Rudy’s argument than they could from the files.
“Insult me all you want, Rudy Simmons, but it doesn’t change the truth, and the truth is my husband was on the verge of firing your sorry butt for stealing supplies meant for the kids.”
“I didn’t steal anything.” Rudy didn’t yell, but it was close. “Jonah just got confused, that’s all. The inventory didn’t add up, and he needed someone to blame other than his shoddy bookkeeping. Or maybe that was Sarah’s shoddy bookkeeping. I figure she messed around with those numbers just to put a wedge between Jonah and me.”
Sarah lifted her hands, palms up. “And why in sweet heaven would I do that?”
“Because Jonah and me was drinking buddies, weren’t we?” Rudy readily answered.
They were. That was common knowledge, but this was the first Dallas had heard about issues with the bookkeeping. Judging from Joelle’s reaction, she was just learning of it, as well.
“You seem to have forgotten some valuable bits of information during our chat,” Joelle said to Rudy. “What else are you forgetting?”
“Don’t take that tone with me.” He rammed his thumb against his chest. “The only thing that’s important here is that I didn’t kill Jonah. In fact, if you’re not willing to look in your own backyard—or bed—then look in Sarah’s.”
Dallas didn’t care much for that bed reference, and it took him a moment to get his teeth unclenched so he could speak. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Ain’t it obvious?” Rudy countered. “Jonah was beating her over pretty good.”
Sarah groaned softly. “My husband beat a lot of people.” She looked at Dallas. “I’m sure you remember that.”
“Yeah, I bet he does,” Rudy volunteered. “The marshal was on the receiving end of Jonah’s justice the very day he disappeared. A dispute over the scrawny kid if I remember rightly.”
“Marshal Declan O’Malley,” Joelle said. “And that dispute sent Declan to the infirmary for the night.”
Where no one had actually seen him, according to Joelle. Still, it was clear from her tone that she didn’t believe his kid brother was guilty. Or maybe she just didn’t want Sarah and Rudy to believe it.
“Seems Jonah’s whippings gave lots of people reason to kill him,” Rudy added. “And none no more so than her.” He tipped his head to Sarah, mumbled some profanity and walked out.
“What a despicable man,” Sarah said after watching Rudy leave.
Dallas couldn’t argue with that. “Why do you live so close to him? Why do you live here?” he amended. “This place can’t hold many good memories for you.”
“No, it doesn’t. But it’s home.” She dodged his gaze. “And if I leave, then my son won’t know where to find me.”
“Billy,” Joelle said. “I’ve been looking for him but so far, no luck.”
“Because he doesn’t want to be found.” And that’s all she said for several moments. When her gaze returned to look at Dallas, he saw her blinking back tears. “His father did some horrible things to Billy, and he’s never forgiven me.”
“He attempted suicide,” Dallas said.
Sarah swallowed hard. Then nodded. “Sometimes, you just can’t get over the bad things.” Her attention shifted back to the folders. “Why did you come back? Have there been any breaks in the investigation?”
Joelle cleared her throat. “Someone found a knife that might have been used to kill your husband.”
“Who found it?” Sarah asked.
“Sorry,” Joelle answered. “I’d rather not say yet, but it was a hunting knife. Black wood handle with a curved tip for gutting animals.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Like Rudy’s.”
Dallas eyes widened, too. “Rudy has a knife like that?”
“Sure. He used to carry it with him all the time. Said it came in handy for skinning snakes.”
Well, there’d been plenty of those around Rocky Creek, but maybe Rudy had used it to commit a murder. Of course, that didn’t explain how Dallas’s prints got on it. He didn’t remember handling a knife like that, but it was possible he had. A lot