Chapter Four
The twins scrambled ahead of them into the house, anxious to see inside of a home they didn’t remember but had heard their parents talk about. Ava and Logan had held onto their home in Corville for various reasons – the real estate market, wanting a place to stay if they visited Ava’s family, the ability to rent it out. But none of them were the whole truth. Ava suspected that Logan wanted a home near his mother’s grave, but he wouldn’t admit it. Eventually Ava’s parents had split up and Carol Hayworth had moved in to the house temporarily until she had found her own place. She still had a key though and checked on the home regularly.
Carol was standing in the doorway with her arms outspread, ready to hug her grandchildren and give them kisses. “Welcome back. Did you have a good drive?”
“I think we sang every Sesame Street song that exists,” Ava laughed, getting a hug from her mother as well. “I know them all by heart.”
“Maybe you can teach me too,” Carol said to Colt and Brianna who were currently checking out the large great room that led into the kitchen. “I think I remember a few from when your mother was your age.”
Both children stopped and frowned as if they couldn’t believe that their mom had ever been young.
Ava rolled her eyes. “Yes, I was once your age. But I was a perfect little angel and never gave Mom a moment of trouble.”
Carol snorted and headed into the kitchen. “You might want to see a doctor. Your memory seems to be more than a little faulty. Now…who wants cookies? I made chocolate chip.”
“If they don’t, I do,” Logan declared, hefting the last of their bags into the house. “In fact, I don’t think Colt and Brianna like chocolate chip. I think they hate it.”
Logan knew perfectly well that the kids loved chocolate chip but he’d decided to have some fun with them.
“I do, too,” Colt said, indignation in his tone. “Chocolate’s my favorite.”
Brianna pushed at her brother’s shoulder. “Peanut butter is your favorite. Chocolate is my favorite.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
They could do this all day.
“There’s enough for everyone,” Carol stated with a huge smile. “And juice, too. But first let’s get you washed up.”
The twins wanted to eat their cookies outside, so they set up the snack at the table on the back deck. Each one had two cookies and a cup of apple juice. Logan and Ava had opted for iced tea instead of juice, as had Carol.
“I want you to talk to Mary,” Carol said when the children were finished with their cookies and had scampered off to play kickball in the backyard under the shade trees. It was a perfect summer day, warm and sunny but not too hot. “She’s devastated that Lyle is gone but the police keep asking her questions. I’m hoping now that you’re here for Logan to take charge of the investigation all of that will stop and she can grieve in peace.”
“I will need to talk to her,” Logan replied, his expression neutral. There hadn’t been much love between Ava’s husband and her sister. In fact, it was all they could do not to hiss at each other like angry cats. “She knows things about his friends, business partners, and his daily routines. Those are details we need to know to be able to effectively run this investigation.”
“Of course,” Carol agreed. “I just want the badgering to stop. When I was over there earlier today one of Drake’s deputies kept asking her about her marriage to Lyle, suggesting that it was in trouble.”
“Logan is going to have to ask that same question, Mom. It’s standard procedure.”
Carol didn’t like the answer. “It’s already been asked and answered. Multiple times. I don’t understand why they keep doing it.”
Because they don’t believe Mary for some reason. Wonder why?
Luckily for Ava, she didn’t have to respond to her mother. The sound of a male voice from the side of the house stopped their conversation and turned their attention to Drake James, the man who had taken over for Logan as Corville’s sheriff.
“Hey Drake,” Ava called with a wave of her hand. “It’s good to see you. Sit down and have some cookies and iced tea.”
Ava stood to fetch another glass, but Carol shook her head. “Let me get it. I need a refill, too.”
Logan scooted his chair over to make room for Drake who was a big man, tall with wide shoulders. When he entered a room, he made an immediate impression. “Good timing. We arrived less than an hour ago.”
Grimacing, Drake reached for a cookie from the platter. “About that…you were seen driving through town. That’s how I knew you were here.”
Logan muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “fucking small towns” but Ava stayed quiet. There was no use letting something that was inevitable bother them. They’d known this was going to happen and their presence was going to bring up a bunch of crap and gossip about the past. That’s just how it was.
“I’m glad you’re here, though,” Drake said with a grin. “I’ve never been the lead on a murder and I don’t want to let the citizens of Corville down. Lyle was well-liked in this community and everyone wants to see justice done.”
Carol placed a glass of iced tea in front of Drake. “We certainly do. He was shot down in cold blood. Whoever did this needs to be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
Logan drained the last of his glass. “I’m here to help. So tell me, what do we know so far?”
“Not a whole hell of a lot. No witnesses because it was so goddamn early in the morning. I had a couple of deputies scour the area for evidence but they didn’t find anything. No one heard anything either. Another runner came up on his body and she called the cops. That’s pretty much it. It’s not much to go on.”
“Have you pulled Lyle’s finances?” Ava asked, her mystery writer hat firmly on. “Have you talked to Aaron?”
“Ava,” Carol chided, sounding slightly outraged. “Are you suggesting that the cops comb through Mary and Lyle’s private money affairs?”
Of course.
“It’s stand–”
“Standard procedure,” Carol finished for her. “I’m beginning to hate that phrase so I think I’ll go inside. This conversation is upsetting.”
“You definitely will hate it before this is over,” Logan said. “When a murder happens in the family all bets are off. Secrets are going to come out whether they like it or not. Nothing is sacred and I, better than most, should know that.”
Leaning down, Carol dropped a kiss on Ava’s forehead. “I think I’ll find a good book and read. One with a happy ending.”
Ava took a sip of her tea as her mother went into the house. “So you don’t have any suspects?”
Drake rubbed his chin, his gaze not quite meeting hers. “I wouldn’t say that we have no suspects.”
Ava and Logan exchanged a glance. The hairs on her arm were standing straight at attention. The former deputy now sheriff couldn’t look her in the eye. That wasn’t like Drake James.
“You got someone in mind?” Logan finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had built up between them. “It’s okay if it’s just a hunch. I’m going to need to know.”
Exhaling noisily, Drake winced and nodded. “Fine, it’s Mary. There have been rumors around town about marital problems.”
That was crazy talk. Mary? A murderer? She wouldn’t want to mess up her manicure or her hair. Sure, she had a temper and could be mean but she wasn’t a killer.
“And you think my sister decided to solve those problems by shooting her husband?”
“She owns a gun,” Drake replied. “It matches the caliber of bullet the medical examiner pulled from the body.”
That wasn’t good. In fact, that was very bad. But he hadn’t said it was a ballistics match. Just the same caliber. It would, however, probably be enough to get a warrant for Mary’s gun.
“It’s Montana, everyone owns a gun or several.”
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Logan said, cutting off the debate. “We do this investigation by the book. We dot every I and cross every T. That means talking to your sister, but it also means casting a wide net for suspects. At this point, we don’t know anything for sure.”
“Then we better go talk to my sister.”
Considering the state of the relationship between Ava and Mary, and Mary and Logan, this could get ugly really fast.