Chapter 37 #2
“No way. Thomas is strictly antidrug, as am I. We’ve both dabbled in the past, but not anymore. I never knew Seth to use drugs either. I can’t say about Sandy, but I can tell you none were brought into the cabin. Thomas searched their things. He wanted everything on the up-and-up.”
“Did Sandy bring clothes and a handbag with her?” Bent asked.
Alicia frowned. “She did. Sure.”
He and Vera shared a look. Someone had taken those items to slow down the investigation. Not surprising. That same someone had gone to great lengths to convey a certain perception of the weekend.
“Thank you, Mrs. Wilton.” Bent glanced at Vera. “We appreciate you answering our questions. If you think of anything else, just let the deputy outside your door know you need to speak with me.”
“One more thing,” Vera said. “Were you and your husband arguing in the weeks or days before your weekend at the cabin?”
A new sadness settled over her face. “No. Not at all. I suppose we were both feeling the tension of Seth’s sudden appearance and the other decisions in front of us.”
“What sort of decisions?” Bent nudged.
“We were planning to sell the property and move. Thomas thought we needed a fresh start. With the baby coming and after all he’d been through.
” She sighed. “It just felt like the right thing to do. We were moving to Southern California. He and his parents vacationed there when he was a child. He always loved it, he said.” She frowned then. “Did someone say we were arguing?”
“It was mentioned, yes.” Bent opted not to say by whom.
“Maybe we had a tense discussion or two. He wanted Valeri to come too.” She shrugged. “To continue being his assistant.”
“But you didn’t want her to come,” Vera suggested. “Because you felt she wanted Thomas all to herself.”
Alicia smiled, but it wasn’t pleasant. “Valeri is very good at her job, which Thomas truly appreciated and respected. But there’s something off with her.
She finds a sore spot and rubs it until it bleeds.
I mean, she loves to create trouble. Thomas told me she’s the one who warned him that Lena was cheating—which turned out to be true, but she flat-out lied about me.
She’s the one who told him about seeing me with Seth.
” She moved her head side to side, anger darkening her face.
“I swear, I will always believe she’s the one who sent Seth all those messages.
” Alicia looked from Bent to Vera. “If you really want to know what I think—the woman is a psychopath. Capable of anything.”
“She gossips,” Vera said. “She likes making trouble. Was there something more you saw? Something that scared you?”
“Perfect example,” Alicia explained, “she had Helen and the others believing I talked about them all the time. She would tell them how I wanted something done again or differently. She wanted them to hate me, and she succeeded. Once when I was out for a walk, I ventured into the barn. Jose was there, and he told me I’d better watch out or I’d end up like the other wife.
Whether it was all Valeri’s doing or not, they all hate me. ”
Vera looked to Bent then, and Bent asked, “Do you have any idea what he meant by that?”
“Well, I can’t be sure, but Thomas had told me that he would never understand how Lena failed to notice the problem with her saddle. It just didn’t make sense. He chalked it up to her being too distracted by her lover.”
“Did he ever say who she was involved with?” Vera asked. “He might be able to tell us his thoughts on her accident.”
“I don’t know who he was, and Thomas never said, but I can guarantee you Valeri knows. She knows everything. And if it doesn’t suit her purpose, she changes it.”
“Can you think of anything else that may have been bothering Thomas?” Vera asked.
“He wasn’t sure how Helen and the others were going to take the move.” She looked directly at Vera then. “But we had both decided we weren’t living our lives for anyone else a minute longer. We were going to live our lives for us and our child.”
“Was he concerned,” Vera asked then, “about their reactions to changes he intended to make to his will?”
Alicia made a sad face. “I’m sorry, but he never discussed the will with me. I know he was preparing changes, but he didn’t mention the details, and I didn’t ask.”
Just then the door opened, and Panter stuck her head in and suggested it was time to wrap up the visit.
Bent thanked Mrs. Wilton again and assured her once more that they would find the person responsible for this terrible tragedy.
He hoped like hell they could sooner rather than later.
Back in the elevator, Vera turned to him as they approached the lobby level. “Do you believe her? I noticed you didn’t ask about the knife.”
“I do. For now, anyway.”
Vera shook her head. “I knew Valeri Erwin was hiding something. Alicia Wilton is right: Erwin is a damned psychopath. Their stories are totally opposite.”
“One of them is lying. That’s for sure.” Bent’s money was on Erwin with that one.
“They’re all lying.” Vera looked up at him. “Erwin, Carter, Hernandez, and Martinez. You heard what she said about Martinez. He basically threatened her in that barn.” She shook her head. “All those loyal employees.”
“Loyalty sometimes only lasts for as long as it’s beneficial to one party or the other.” Bent had learned that during his military days.
“Another thing,” Vera pointed out. “The killer wanted Alicia to look guilty. Like she set the whole thing up and there would be no one to confirm she was telling the truth when she said otherwise—assuming she survived. Christ, and the way he banged her head on that step. I don’t think he expected her to be around to tell anything.
” She shook her head. “The way I see it, one or all had to know about the will and the move. That has to be the reason this whole thing was set in motion.”
“We know it wasn’t a burglary,” Bent agreed. “Not one thing appeared to be taken. Not the Rolex lying on the bureau in the bedroom or the wallet filled with cash next to it. That leaves the will and the move, like you said. Those with the most to lose had to act before it was too late.”
“The burner phone and the innuendos from the staff would leave Alicia—dead or alive—looking like the killer,” Vera said almost to herself.
“A jury would believe it, too, considering she’s the only one who didn’t get stabbed.
The drugs and the lack of clothing would all serve to confirm it was a wild sex party—just as we assumed. It has to be Erwin and the others.”
And like always, Vera was on the money with her conclusions.
Benton Ranch
Old Molino Road, 11:50 p.m.
Bent collapsed onto the mattress. He was spent. “That was . . . well . . .” He laughed. “Damn, I can’t find the right word.”
Vera rolled to her side to face him. “I think the one you’re looking for is out of this world.”
“That’s four words.”
“Whatever.” She flopped onto her back and appeared to admire the authentic historic beams he’d added to this room’s cathedral-style ceiling. “You know, I really do love this house. I know I’ve told you this before, but your mother would be so proud of you.”
He rolled toward her, a smile stretched across his lips. “I can say the same about you and your mother.”
Bent was grateful he had known Vera’s mom. She had been a very special woman. She had helped him when he had no one else. He wished Vera could have known his mother, too, but she died when he was just a little boy. They had both lost someone very important to them, and somehow they made it anyway.
“You absolutely can.” Vera smiled, traced a fingertip down his jaw. “I love looking at your face.”
Her words did things to him that made him want to . . . but they’d already done that a couple of times since getting back from Nashville. First in the shower and then just now. “You know if you love this place so much, you should just move in. Let Eve and Suri move to the farm.”
Vera made a face. “What makes you think Eve or Suri wants to live on the farm?”
“Because they love it. Remember last Christmas when you hosted dinner. It was all they talked about.”
More frowning. “You’re right. They love the grandfather clock. The fireplaces. Eve should have just said so.”
“She would never say anything to make you feel like you had to accommodate her.”
“You might be right.” Vera rubbed at her forehead.
“Your head hurting?” He wanted to kill the guy—or woman—who’d hurt her. But first he had to confirm their damned identity.
“No. It’s just too full of case notes and faces and scenarios.”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Stop thinking about the case. We talked out all the scenarios and details we know on the drive back from Nashville.”
“You’re right,” Vera agreed.
“We’re not talking about work anymore.” He tugged at a strand of her silky hair. “Do you want to move in here with me?”
She studied him again in the dim light the bedside lamp managed to cast across the bed. “You really want that, don’t you?”
“Don’t you?”
“Just say that you do,” she tossed back at him, “and then I’ll say.”
“You do realize how immature that sounds?”
“I do, but I stand by the demand.”
“Yes.” He stared into her eyes. “I want you to live here with me. I want you to be with me for the rest of our lives. I love you, Vera Mae Boyett. I have loved you since I was sixteen years old and saw you for the first time at the store with your daddy.”
She laughed. “You have not.”
“Yes, I have. But I knew you were out of my league. Then when I was helping your mother, I was finished. I understood there would never be anyone else.”
“I won’t remind you that you left me after that.”
“I did, and it was the only thing I could give you at the time. Your freedom to become the amazing crime analyst you are so you could come back here all these years later and help me keep the people in this county safe.”
She laughed, and he laughed with her. God, he loved this woman so much.
“You’re getting sappy, you know.”
“If that’s what it takes to get the point across, I’ll be sappy.”
“Well.” She sniffed. “Just so we’re clear, I love you, too, Sheriff. Now let’s get some sleep so we can get the bad guys in the morning.”
“So you’re moving in?” He held his breath.
“Damn straight, and you’re stuck with me even if you regret it.”
He sat up and reached for his phone on the bedside table.
“What’re you doing?”
“I have to call Eve. She made me swear to call if you said yes.”
“You two are awful.” Vera started to laugh, and Bent was pretty sure he would never be happier than he was at that moment.