TUCKER SAT SLUMPED in a chair in his brother’s office. “Rip definitely said the word Madeline. Just like I told you.” He’d been over his story a half dozen times already, including why he’d gone there.
“But why kill Rip?” Flint said.
“I have no idea except that Rip was the one who got Madeline to lay off Lonny,” he said. He’d related what Jayce had told him about Lonny and how Rip had apparently squared things with Madeline so the blackmail stopped. “I suspect that Rip and Madeline knew each other better than we have been led to believe.”
“Rip was killed with a knife and your slashed tire. Madeline?” his brother asked.
He shrugged. “Someone at least wants me to believe that Madeline was behind it. The article of clothing on my steering wheel was a teddy in her favorite color smelling of her perfume.”
“But you’d just interrupted an argument between Jayce, Lonny and Cal, with Lonny and Cal leaving just minutes before you found your slashed tire,” Flint said, as if he needed the reminder. “If Lonny helped set you up with Madeline... That damned Lonny. I never liked him. He’s a whiner... So there is a good chance that they’re all involved? Do you trust Jayce?”
“I used to. Now I just don’t know.” Tucker didn’t want to admit it. Jayce had been his best friend since they were boys. But he reminded himself that he’d been gone for nineteen years. People changed. “In some way, I’m afraid they’re all involved, Jayce included.”
“So any one of them or all of them could have been in on planting your pistol in your pickup.”
“Isn’t it more likely that Madeline stole the gun? She used it to kill Misty, then her father and then framed me with it. Also, there were two place settings at Rip’s table.”
Flint nodded. “All true, but Madeline wasn’t working alone.”
“Maybe she was working with Rip and they had a falling-out,” Tucker suggested.
“A definite possibility, if we can trust his dying word. He might have been trying to tell you something about her.”
“I think he was aware of how much I already knew about her,” he said.
“The lab will run prints, DNA, but all of that is going to take time,” the sheriff said. “The problem with murder is that it often leads to another one to cover up the first. Rip was involved with Madeline from what you’ve said, but... Expecting a call?”
“Kate,” Tucker said, checking his phone again. It surprised him that she hadn’t returned his calls. “Sorry, it’s just that I haven’t heard from her. It isn’t like her to not get back to me.” He thought about what had happened between them at the cabin. Was that why she wasn’t returning his calls?
“If you’re worried—”
Tucker was, but he told himself he shouldn’t be. It was Kate. Kate, who prided herself on her independence. Kate, who just might need a little space right now.
“I might drive to Helena,” he said.
“Tucker, do I have to remind you that you aren’t to leave the county? Not to mention, there is a murderer out there.”
“There’s been a murderer out there for nineteen years.”
“But now that person has killed again.”
“You don’t want to believe it’s Madeline because a knife was used,” Tucker said, realizing it was why his brother hadn’t taken Rip’s dying word as seriously as he’d thought he would.
“Women kill in more civilized ways. Usually.”
“I suspect Madeline is the exception,” Tucker said. “So trust me, I’ll be watching for her. But I don’t think she wants to kill me. Why bother to frame me? No, I’m more worried about Kate.”
He knew it would sound crazy, but he had a feeling that if Madeline—even after all these years—thought that he cared for Kate that she would want to hurt her out of some warped sense of jealousy.
He shook his head. “It still amazes me. They must have been fooling people for years. I doubt anyone could tell them apart. I know I couldn’t and I thought I knew Madeline extremely well.”
He checked his phone again, feeling himself growing more anxious. It just wasn’t like Kate.
“Why don’t you call the hospital?” Flint suggested, seeing him on his phone again. “See if you can talk to Kate and relieve your mind. I don’t want you taking off. If I have to lock you up, I will.”
Tucker held up his hands in surrender. “I’ll call, okay?”
“Thank you. I need to get back out to the body shop. I have deputies out there looking for the murder weapon,” Flint said. “Go out to the ranch. I’ll let Hawk and Cyrus know you’re on your way. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise, it’s a jail cell. I get it.”
“Tuck.”
He looked up at his brother, saw the worry and knew Flint wanted to lock him up to keep him safe.
“I’d much rather sleep in my bed than on that cell cot again, so I’m heading out to the ranch. I won’t drive to Helena.” Not unless he couldn’t reach Kate, then nothing could stop him. Flint had to know that.
* * *
KATE MOVED AROUND the building where she was being held, counting off each step. Her fingers skimmed over the rough concrete walls. No windows, but after her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she’d found two places where the moonlight leaked in. One up by the roof, out of her reach. The other adjacent to the door. Both were small slits, nothing she could break through bare-handed.
The building was small and smelled like a locker room. She recognized that smell. A hot spring. Hadn’t someone mentioned that there used to be an old hot spring outside Gilt Edge? Was it possible that’s where she was? She thought of Tucker, her heart soaring at the thought that they’d brought her back because of him.
That didn’t make a lot of sense, she realized. Unless Madeline was involved. Her pulse jumped at the thought. Unless she was bait!
She thought of Tucker and fought tears. Her heart ached so much she could no longer stand. Sitting down, she buried her face in her hands. She would give anything to see him one last time. But if she were right, then it would be the last time for both of them.
Kate knew she shouldn’t be thinking like this. But hours had gone by and the two men hadn’t returned. She had to face the fact that they might never return. She had to face some other truths, as well. She’d been using her brother’s death to keep from living her own life. She’d been so focused on her quest and hadn’t even thought about how it would all end. Could she really kill someone? She’d always thought she could kill Madeline, but she wasn’t even sure of that anymore.
Not that she was going to get a chance. She’d made a promise to her brother at his funeral. She would get him justice or die trying. If she didn’t get out of here alive... It hurt that she wouldn’t get him justice. That Madeline and the people she was involved with were getting away with it all. That made her want to scream her heart out.
But she had already screamed until her throat felt like it was bleeding. No one had come because no one was out there. She wondered if she would die here, her bones found like Misty’s—so many years from now that she would have become only skeletal remains.
Realizing that she was wallowing in self-pity, she angrily pushed herself to her feet. As she did, she felt something cold and metallic on the floor. A screwdriver. She moved to the door and shoved the screwdriver into the small opening. Some of the old, weathered concrete crumbled to the floor.
Kate began to work faster, encouraged by how easily she had made the opening larger. Fresh air rushed in as she worked. She thought of Tucker and kept digging.