One Foot in the Grave - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,112

happened?” I asked. “Before Christmas? Before Wyatt’s arrest?”

“Definitely after Christmas… I think before his arrest.”

“Did she ever say anything to make you think she might have been working with someone in the sheriff’s department to get money from Wyatt or his family?”

She gasped. “I never considered that, but if that’s what she was doin’, she never mentioned him.”

“Do you think she might have kept it a secret? She was meeting someone at the motel.”

She paused, considering it, then said, “I don’t know. But if it was him and she changed her mind, I can definitely see Paul gettin’ pissed enough to beat and kill her.”

I glanced at Marco, who sat stock-still.

“If you think of anything else,” I said, “could you please leave me a message at Max’s Tavern?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Thank you, May.”

“Yeah.”

She hung up, and I set my phone down and looked at Marco, my stomach tight. “She was lookin’ for drugs.”

“You think Hank was involved?”

“Maybe not directly,” I said, “but he was still dealin’ back then. I suspect she would have gone to him, or he would have heard something.” Had she told him the drugs were for Bart? Had he thought they were for Wyatt?

“To be fair,” Marco said in an even voice, “I don’t think he was the only source around. Especially when meth came into play.”

“But she wouldn’t have asked for meth for that, and we know that he had pills, which could have included sedatives.”

Marco didn’t respond.

I swallowed, fighting my rising dread. “We need to talk to him,” I said in a flat voice. “Now.”

I only hoped I could handle what he had to tell me.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“There’s no sense jumpin’ to conclusions,” Marco said as he headed toward Drum. “You don’t know it was him.”

“And I hope to God it wasn’t.” I turned to Marco. “But what if it was?”

He gave it a moment’s thought. “Then I guess you need to determine your line in the sand, your deal breaker. We know it’s unlikely he killed her, but he may have supplied her with the drugs. Especially if he believed she was going to use them on Bart. You know Hank’s committed crimes, Carly. I think you need to figure out which crimes cross the line for you. Have you given it any thought?”

“Not as much as I probably should have,” I admitted. “This shouldn’t even be a question. A year ago, I would have been horrified by all of it.”

“But a year ago, you were a different person. You’ve lived in Drum long enough to know the people here are desperate and unhappy enough to look for escape. Whether it’s goin’ to Max’s Tavern three or four nights a week to shoot the shit, hanging out at a friend’s house to get drunk, or finding an even deeper escape with drugs. I’m not condoning people gettin’ high, but to combat that kind of behavior, you need to understand why they do it. And in this case, I think you need to look at Hank’s motivation for dealin’.”

“I thought you were a sheriff’s deputy,” I said in a dry tone as I sat on my hands to quell my anxiety. “Aren’t you supposed to arrest criminals?”

“Unless you fix the disease and not just the symptoms, the cancer’s just gonna keep spreadin’,” he said with his eyes on the road.

“You sound like more of a social worker than a deputy.”

“Some days I feel like a social worker. There’s a lot of poverty and lack of education, both of which are contributors to crime. I’m no fan of Bart Drummond, but I sure hope his resort helps people around here get good jobs.” He shot me a glance. “Now let’s go over the rest of your conversation with May. Did you think she was on the up and up?”

“You didn’t?” I asked.

“It was hard to tell over the phone. I would have preferred to talk in person, but it seemed too risky.”

“Do you really think Paul would have May watched? Surely that would mean he was guilty of something. Do you think we have enough evidence to confirm that he was helpin’ Heather?”

“We don’t have any evidence. All we have are interviews, and there’s nothing directly tying him to Heather,” Marco said, “yet in my gut, I feel like he’s part of this.”

“Plus, his ex-wife confirmed that he met his girlfriends at the Mountain View Lodge, and we know Heather was meeting someone there.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Marco said. “I’m sure a lot of cheatin’ spouses