From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,110
very long time,” she said and kissed him.
It wasn’t until they were dressed that she told him her theory about the invitations.
“Your grandmother sent them?” he said in surprise, then nodded. “I suppose there is a way to find out. You said she would have had the family attorney take care of it?”
“Yes, and he’s been anxious to talk to me since her death. Anna had already signed the hotel and land over to me, but apparently there was more I was to be told.”
* * *
LEROY TOOK BOTH Casey Crenshaw’s and Finnegan James’s statements. He’d just finished with Finn when Hepner called him aside.
“A highway patrolman just pulled over Patience Riley,” Hepner said from the doorway.
Leroy couldn’t believe that she’d turned up. He’d been so sure she was dead and they just hadn’t located her body yet. “Patch him through to my cell phone.”
The moment the patrolman came on the line, Leroy said, “She’s wanted for questioning in a triple-murder investigation. Don’t let her out of your sight. Can you bring her here?” He’d find a way to keep her under lock and key until he could transport her to the jail. But right now, he wanted to hear what she had to say.
He disconnected and turned to see Hepner waiting.
“That warrant you asked the judge for?” the deputy said. “We got it. Several of the crime techs have gone over to search the Mullen house.”
Leroy doubted Vi Mullen would be surprised—if she hadn’t already left town, given what Casey Crenshaw had told him.
“She’ll want to know about her brother,” Hepner said.
Finnegan and Casey had given them the location where they’d last seen Emery, but it could take days to find the body, let alone the room where the man had held Casey, and recover any evidence of the murders.
“He is presumed dead at this point,” Leroy said, although he’d learned a long time ago not to presume anything.
It didn’t take long for the highway patrolman to bring him Patience. She had resisted arrest so had been cuffed and had her rights read to her by the time Leroy had her back in Buckhorn.
“Why would you resist arrest unless you had something to hide?” Leroy demanded.
“Are you serious? He told me he was taking me back to Buckhorn for questioning. I had no intention of ever coming back here. I just assumed this was Jason’s doing. He did everything possible to keep me from leaving. Look, I’m married. I made a mistake with Jason. I didn’t want to see him again.” She seemed to notice that Leroy had gone quiet. “What?” She looked from him to his deputy standing by the motel-room door. “What is it you aren’t telling me?” The color drained from her face as if she suddenly knew. “Jason. He’s...he’s dead?”
“Apparently he hung himself.”
“That’s ridiculous. He might threaten to do something like that, but he would never...” She was shaking her head. “No.” She must have realized that he was still watching her closely. “Wait. You can’t think I had anything to do with it?”
“He left what appears to be a suicide note.”
“I want to see it,” she demanded. “I know his handwriting.”
Leroy considered it for a moment before he nodded to his deputy, who retrieved the evidence bag with the note in it. He handed it to her.
She stared down at the note through the plastic and frowned. “This is the note he wrote to me before I left. I gave it back to him. This isn’t a suicide note.”
Leroy had suspected as much. His list of suspects had dropped to three. Benjamin, Shirley and Jen. Benjamin would have been the likely suspect, not that Shirley and Jen didn’t seem equally capable.
Hepner appeared, looking like the cat who’d eaten the canary. “The crime team found something they thought you’d want to see. It was found in Dr. Claude Drake’s wallet.” He held up what appeared to be a note inside an evidence bag. Meet me in the woods.
Leroy looked from the note to Hepner.
“Those droplets?” Hepner said. “They appear to be blood. You can see that the note is old. Dr. Drake had been carrying it around for some time. Probably ten years.”
“You think the blood might be Megan Broadhurst’s? That he found this—” he met the deputy’s gaze “—where she was killed.”
“Why else hang on to it all these years? If, for whatever reason, the killer wasn’t able to retrieve it at the scene,” Hepner said, “Claude could have picked it up. We also