From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,111
found one in the same handwriting with the same wording wadded up and stuffed deep in Devlin Wright’s pocket.”
Leroy felt his pulse jump. Their first good lead. “I assume you have examined the handwriting of our suspects?” Hepner smiled in affirmation. “Who wrote this note?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
JEN GLANCED UP as the marshal walked toward her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew. She smiled to herself, thinking of her mother, who would say “I always knew it would end badly for Jennifer. She just couldn’t seem to help herself when it came to trouble.”
It was true. When she’d lured Megan into that spot in the woods, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to kill her. The rock had just been lying there on the ground as if it was meant to be. Poor little rich girl hadn’t seen it coming, but she should have. She’d been asking for it. Before Megan died, Jen had crouched down next to her because, as her mother would tell you, Jen always had to have the last word.
She’d been at the creek when luckily she’d heard the half-drunk Shirley busting through the woods like a herd of elephants. She’d known she couldn’t let Shirley see her washing off the blood and getting rid of the rock she’d used to kill Megan, so she’d finished and hurried back to the fire. There’d been no time to get rid of the body. Nor had she known how to, until recently she’d discovered the tunnel from the outbuilding—and that handy hunter’s cart.
When she’d sneaked out Friday night to meet with Claude—fortunately, Shirley was a deep sleeper—she’d just happened to see the old man going through the woods. Curious, she’d followed him. She’d seen him go into the shed. Peeking inside through a crack in the wall, she’d watched him lift the trapdoor and disappear through it, the door closing behind him—but not all the way.
She’d been intrigued and had stepped inside the dilapidated outbuilding. As she’d knelt down to lift the trapdoor, she saw why it hadn’t closed completely. There was a dusty bone caught in it. Glancing down into the dimly lit space, she could see what appeared to be a sloped dirt drop to the bottom.
Rising, she’d let the trapdoor close.
She’d made only one mistake—the note she’d given Megan to meet in the woods. She’d forgotten to pick it up when she’d left the body to go get cleaned up in the creek. By the time she heard Shirley screaming and returned, the note was gone. One of the staff had picked it up.
She’d known who. She’d seen the smudge of blood on his fingers before he’d wiped it away as he and the others stood over Megan’s body. She’d thought then that she would have to kill him. The note was evidence. But then she’d realized that he hadn’t taken it to show the marshal. He’d taken it as a memento.
She might have let it go even after the reunion, but he’d opened his wallet that first night to offer to help pay for the beer, and she’d seen it. The fool still had the note. If her handwriting could be compared to that note along with Megan’s blood...
Claude had actually come into the woods thinking he was smarter than she was. He misunderstood why she’d gotten him there. He had actually thought she’d gotten him there for sex? That she was that desperate? The boy genius hadn’t expected her to be the killer. Like Megan, he never knew what hit him.
Devlin had to go because of that moment at the bar when he’d seen what everyone else had missed. Jason had been trying to come up with a timeline as to where everyone was when Megan was killed. Jen saw Devlin glance at her and quickly look away. He’d known. Because he’d seen her in the woods that night? She’d seen him. She’d even taken his photo with Megan.
Once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop. She’d remembered how Jason had felt sorry for her just the other night and taken her into the woods. She would have paid back his kindness, but he hadn’t wanted her. He’d wanted to talk about that bitch Megan.
The marshal stepped in front of her. “Jennifer Mullen, you are under arrest for the murders of Megan Broadhurst, Claude Drake and Devlin Wright and wanted for questioning in the death of Jason Underwood. You have the right to remain silent—”