“That’s my hunch, but we’ll know more once Magee tracks him down.” There was a flurry of activity behind the lobby desk as two deputies whispered to one another. I was guessing the sheriff had already started his search for Christopher Unger.
“One thing I know for sure,” I said. “We’re not going home until the sheriff rounds him up. I’m not taking any chances.”
Willa nodded. “We can just stay at my place and Ryder can crash in my parents’ guest room.”
The deputies behind the desk both disappeared deeper into the station. “For Ryder’s sake, I hope they find out who killed her. He deserves to know.”
“So do you,” Willa said.
“I said good-bye to her a long time ago, babe. Years before she ever came to Lark Cove. I just want to put it all in the past.”
She held me tighter. “It’ll be okay.”
With her in my arms? “It already is.”
“You guys want something to drink?”
Willa, Ryder and Nate didn’t look up as I stood from the dining room table. All I got were three slight headshakes as they stared at the cards in their hands.
They’d been playing three-handed pinochle for an hour. I’d helped Ryder out at first, but he’d gotten the hang of it quickly, so I’d just been watching them.
I pushed in my chair, then bent to kiss the top of Willa’s head. “I’m going to see if your mom needs some help.”
She gave me another absent nod before I left them for the kitchen. It was Saturday, over a week since my name had been cleared, and Betty and Nate had invited us all over for the day. We were going to play games, watch college football and then have Betty’s famous pot roast for dinner.
“How goes the battle?” Betty asked as I walked into her kitchen.
I chuckled. “If Willa wins this game, it’s tied at one win apiece. But I’m thinking Ryder might beat them both.”
“Good.” She smiled. “How’s he doing?”
“Better.” I went to the fridge for one of Nate’s cans of Sprite. “Yesterday was rough, but I think he’s just glad to know what happened to her.”
“I’m sorry it was difficult, but I hope you both can find some closure now.”
“Me too, Betty.”
Magee had personally come over yesterday to break the news.
Because of Ryder’s information, they’d found Mom’s killer.
“What else did Sheriff Magee tell you yesterday?” Betty asked, taking a seat by their kitchen island.
I slid into the chair next to her, then glanced over my shoulder. Willa and I had decided not to give Ryder the dirty details about Mom’s murder. We’d explained to him that Christopher, her ex-boyfriend, had killed Mom just as he’d suspected. But we hadn’t told him even half of what the sheriff had explained.
We were protecting him, at least I hoped, because it wasn’t a pretty story.
But it was one I felt comfortable sharing with Betty.
“Christopher was basically supporting Mom and Ryder for the year they lived with him in Las Vegas. Mom met him through a mutual friend. They hooked up. Two weeks later, he moved Mom and Ryder from Iowa to Vegas and right into his house.”
I don’t know if he really loved Mom or not. My guess was yes and the reason she was dead now was because she’d betrayed him.
“Christopher was a bookie,” I told Betty. “And he kept a lot of cash around the house. Mom decided to relieve him of some of that cash when she and Ryder left Vegas for Denver.”
“And that’s when she started to look for you, right?” Betty asked. “Just because she needed a place to drop Ryder?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. I think she was also running out of money while they were in Denver. She’d been spending it like crazy, buying a car and living out of a hotel. Plus Ryder was sneaking it away from her. Either way, I’m glad she came looking. Who knows where Ryder would be if she had decided to keep him along.”
I hated to think that he could have faced Christopher’s wrath too.
“So after she dropped off Ryder with me, I guess she went back to Vegas. I assume it was to blackmail Christopher for more money.”
That was what Magee assumed too. He’d been working nonstop to find evidence, though the most condemning pieces were the recordings she’d stashed with Ryder. Once Ryder handed those over, Magee found enough puzzle pieces to make sense of the picture.
Christopher had been skimming from his clients. Mom had found out. Just like she’d probably done with countless other people, she’d made recordings of Christopher admitting to taking extra “fees.”
“It backfired on her,” Betty muttered.
“Yes, it did.”
Instead of getting more money from Christopher, he’d threatened to kill her. She’d fled Vegas again. That could have been the end of it, except Christopher had followed her.
Magee had gotten transcripts of the text messages sent from the phone Mom had falsely registered under Ryder’s name. They showed an exchange between Christopher and Mom, further proving she was alive after I’d left her at the bar.
Thanks to the exchange, Magee knew Christopher had followed her to Montana. He’d likely promised to pay her off for her silence. Mom had sent him instructions of where to meet, down Old Logger’s Road. But instead of giving her a payday, he’d strangled her with his bare hands, then driven her car into a ditch.
We didn’t have proof that Christopher was the one who’d broken into my house. But based on his credit card activity, it looked like he’d been hanging around Montana ever since he’d killed Mom. He’d probably been watching, waiting to see if they’d find her body. And when they did, he must have panicked. He waited for the right time and broke into my house, likely in search of the recordings he’d known Mom had taken.
Or the last of his cash.
I actually thought the break-in was a good thing. Without that incident, we might never have pushed Ryder as hard in the interrogation room.
“So what happens now?” Betty asked.
“Magee arrested Christopher at the hotel he’d been staying at in Kalispell. They’ve already pressed charges.”
“And the phone registered under Ryder’s name? Did they find it?”
“No. I’m sure Christopher destroyed it. But they got the text history from the phone company, so at least there’s that.”
Betty sighed. “What are the chances he’ll get away with this?”
“According to Magee, slim to none. I hope to hell he’s right.”
Christopher hadn’t confessed to the murder, and I doubted he would. His conviction would all come down to the evidence. But Magee was a good cop and would find enough to put that asshole away for the rest of his life.
“So that’s it?” Betty asked.
I nodded. “That’s it. Now we move on.”
“Yes, we do.” She stood from her seat and looked around the kitchen. “All right. What do I need to do before dinner? The meat’s ready to go in. I need to peel some potatoes. Run the dishwasher. Take out the garbage.”
I smiled as she continued with her verbal reminders. Willa did the same thing when she was planning. Her to-do lists came out in a whisper as she thought them through.
I stood from my seat and went to the garbage, opening the lid and tying up the bag. “I’ll take this out.”
“Oh, thank you. Once upon a time, Nate and I made an agreement. I’d do all his ironing if I never had to take out the garbage. Let’s just say I haven’t ironed one of his shirts in twenty-five years.”
I chuckled. “I’ll make you a deal. If I’m here, I’ve got the garbage. Just ask.”
“Willa’s a lucky woman.”
“Nah.” I grinned. “I’m the lucky one. I don’t know if I deserve someone as good as your daughter. She’s had to put up with a lot of my bull—er, crap lately.”
“Yes, but dealing with the bullshit is how you know it’s real.” Betty smiled. “It’s easy to love someone when times are good. Real love is about holding on to one another when times aren’t.”
I nodded, letting her words sink in.
Somehow, the timid woman who’d occasionally come into the bar—the girl whose name I’d fucked up for years—was the only person who’d made it past my barriers. She’d broken them down, one by one, and given me a love I’d cherish always.