had gone on in those few days leading up to Webb’s disappearance.
“You’ll question Rudy about the knife?” Sarah asked.
“Definitely,” Dallas assured her.
She nodded, then gave a quick breath of relief. “I must be going. My quilting group will be arriving soon.” She started to leave but then stopped. “Rudy was right about one thing, though. It might not be safe for you to continue this investigation. The person who killed my husband won’t care for having his identity revealed.”
Unlike Rudy’s comments, Sarah’s didn’t sound like a threat, but there was still something uneasy about it. Or maybe it was the whole situation that made him uneasy.
“I worry about Kirby and all the ones he’s took from here,” Sarah went on. “That gives Kirby a powerful motive for murder.”
Dallas had to shake his head. “How do you mean?”
“Well, Kirby was trying to close the place, but the day he disappeared, Jonah had gotten word that Rocky Creek was staying open.”
That was news to Dallas. He looked at Joelle for verification, but she only shrugged. “Sarah told me that in the interview, but there’s no proof.”
Sarah made a sound of disagreement. “Maybe no written proof, but Jonah said he’d gotten the right people to back him up and that the place wouldn’t be closed after all.” She paused. “You should ask Kirby about this because Jonah told him, too. Kirby wasn’t too pleased, of course. He wanted Rocky Creek shut down so it’d be easier to get custody of you boys.”
Dallas wanted to know if this was something Joelle had discussed with Kirby, but he didn’t intend to ask in front of Sarah.
“Guess I don’t have to spell it out,” Sarah went on, “that this could be Kirby’s motive for killing Jonah.”
“No, you don’t have to spell it out,” Dallas snapped. “Especially since there’s no proof what your husband said was true.”
Sarah didn’t have much of a reaction to that, but she did check her watch. “I really must be going. Let me know if I can help you with anything.” She turned and left.
He didn’t say anything to Joelle until he heard Sarah’s footsteps trail away, and even then Dallas went to the door and shut it.
He’d had his fill of surprise visitors for the day.
“Kirby didn’t remember any conversation with Webb about the facility staying open,” Joelle said before he could ask.
So maybe Sarah was lying about the conversation and other things, too. Of course, he could say the same for Rudy.
“Interesting, huh?” Dallas said. “It sets off alarms in my head when someone volunteers that much info.”
“Especially when they didn’t volunteer it before.” Joelle went to the window and looked out. “Maybe their tempers got the best of them, and they said more than they’d intended to say.”
Maybe. Dallas joined her at the window and saw Rudy in the back unloading what appeared to be mulch and bags of soil from a truck. That explained why the grounds were still in such good shape—Rudy was actually doing his job.
But that didn’t make him innocent.
“Do you remember Rudy ever carrying a knife?” Dallas asked her.
Joelle shook her head and turned toward him. Her arm accidentally brushed against his chest. A simple touch. But it cruised right through him.
“I’ll ask Rudy about it,” she said, glancing away. But not before he saw the discomfort, and maybe the heat, in her eyes.
He followed her gaze now past Rudy and to the heavily treed area on the west side of the grounds. He’d kissed her there, but then he’d kissed Joelle in a lot of different locations around Rocky Creek. This place was one gigantic memory. And it would have been easier if they’d all been bad.
But Dallas rethought that.
Loving Joelle had taught him plenty about just handing over his heart. If he hadn’t learned that lesson from her, he would have had to learn it from someone else.
She swallowed hard. “I left you because I didn’t have a choice,” she said as if she’d known exactly what he was thinking.
Except her confession sounded like a little more than just a rehash of their past.
Something flashed through her eyes, as if she’d said too much, and her chin came up. “Besides, you never asked me to stay. You never told me if you even cared about me.”
He was sure he looked at her as if she’d sprouted a third eye. “We were lovers,” Dallas reminded her. “Frequent lovers,” he added. “I figured that was proof enough I cared.”
“No.” She stretched that out a