Chapter Two #3
Clancy gripped the wheel as she tried to breathe. She’d left. She’d done it. And before her twenty-fifth birthday. If she had needed a sign that it was time to move on, this was it.
* * *
WHILE THE SHERIFF suspected the killer was someone inside Shady Rest, he still wanted to check on the place’s security. If it was possible to get in without setting off an alarm, he wanted to know.
When asked about that, Vernon quickly shook his head.
“The doors are locked at ten p.m. each night. Anyone who comes in after that has to be let in. Each person is required to sign the book at the door. According to the book and the person on duty,” Vernon said, “no one was allowed into the building last night.”
“Who is on duty at night?” Max asked.
“I live here on the premises, so I’m always around at night, but we also have a staff member on duty.”
“Who was on duty last night?”
“Sarah. Sarah Brooks. She’s worked here since Shady Rest opened,” the manager said. “She is one of our most valued employees.”
As Max considered that, he glanced toward the residents huddled outside Vernon’s office, and saw two women with their heads together. They seemed to be arguing over something. “Excuse me a minute,” he said and stepped out of the office in time to hear a snatch of their conversation.
“We should say something,” the larger of the two residents said, sounding angry.
“It wasn’t her,” the other resident said in a small but firm voice. “Don’t go getting her into trouble.”
Max walked over to the two women. “Is there something I should know?”
The smaller of the two pinched her lips together and shook her head at her companion. He looked to the other one. “If you have information that could help me with my investigation, I would greatly appreciate it.”
“I’m not saying Clancy had anything to do with this, but—”
“Myrna!” the tiny woman hissed.
“He asked for our help, Jane,” Myrna snapped back. “Everyone heard them arguing the afternoon before the murder.”
Max frowned. “Did you say Clancy?” He knew his wife’s cousin was in Grass Range, but Goldie had said she was working at the convenience store on the highway.
“Everyone hated Esther,” Myrna said, letting it all out. “She was a hateful person and a thief.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Jane cut in.
“Oh, we all do,” the other woman argued. Max saw nods around the room. As Myrna mentioned things Esther had done since moving into the facility, he could see that the woman he’d known was not well-liked.
“Let’s get back to the argument you mentioned,” he said, realizing they could apparently go on all day about the despicable things Esther had done.
Even Myrna appeared hesitant now.
“Esther had that girl running errands for her outside Shady Rest and refused to pay her,” Jane said. “Clancy just wanted to be paid the money she’d been promised.”
“I don’t blame her at all for getting mad at that woman,” Myrna said. “Clancy hadn’t been working here long, but we all liked her. We should have warned her about Esther.”
“I’m sure Clancy had nothing to do with what happened,” Jane said.
“Though no one would blame her if she did do in Esther,” Myrna said. “We all wanted to. She was a liar, thief and cheat. She owed that young woman money and refused to pay her—that’s the kind of person Esther Mason was.”
Having had her say, Myrna crossed her arms over her abundant chest and looked defiantly around the lobby. No one was disagreeing with her. Nor did anyone come to Esther’s defense. Apparently, she’d said what the rest of them hadn’t wanted to.
If it was the Clancy he knew, then she wouldn’t have had to be warned about Esther. All he could think was that she must have needed the money badly to trust the foul woman. “Clancy?” Max asked again.
“Clancy Roberts,” Vernon said. He’d come out of his office, no doubt at the sound of the squabble. “She’s been working here part-time for a while. I believe she and Esther knew each other from when they both lived in Dry Gulch.”
Max nodded, but he didn’t like hearing that Clancy had argued with Esther on the afternoon before her murder. “Where can I find Clancy?” he asked. He’d known Clancy all her life. He didn’t want to believe she had anything to do with Esther’s death, but he was anxious to talk to her.
* * *
THE WIPERS CLACKED back and forth as huge drops of rain splatted against the windshield of Clancy’s old car.
The thunderstorm the weatherman had predicted had moved in quickly, dropping over the highway ahead and blotting out the last of the day’s light.
It made her feel even more alone on this nearly empty highway.
She was still gripping the wheel, but not shaking as badly as she’d been earlier. She couldn’t believe what she’d done. She’d packed up and left. The thought made her want to turn around and go back. By now the sheriff would be at the rest home, and he could already be looking for her.
Having lost track of how far she’d driven, she told herself she couldn’t go back now.
The visibility had worsened as the rain fell harder and faster.
She’d had to slow down, the wipers unable to keep up.
She kept thinking about Esther. What kind of trouble had the woman gotten herself into that someone had murdered her?
And now what had Clancy gotten herself into?
Clancy couldn’t help but think it must have something to do with that bag of costume jewelry the older woman had been determined to force on her. What if she’d taken it? Would the killer be after her now?
She shuddered at the thought as she heard a loud clank and her car began to slow, the engine dying.
“No!” she cried as she pulled over to the edge of the highway and tried to restart the motor.
It cranked pathetically but refused to turn over.
This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Tears burned her eyes.
Staring out into the storm as the rain pounded the roof, she realized what a terrible idea this was. She tried the motor again. Same response, perhaps only worse, because she heard yet another awful sound.
She pulled the key from the ignition, her heart pounding like the rain drumming on the car’s roof. It was a lot darker out now without the headlights drilling through the rain. She should never have left this late in the day, but what choice did she have if she really was in danger?
What was she going to do? The thought of spending the night in the car beside the road made her shudder. She looked for headlights through the rain, hoping someone would come along and help her. But there were none. Maybe she should try to catch a ride back to Grass Range.
The thought made her ill. Even if she wasn’t under suspicion for murdering Esther and afraid a killer was after her, she couldn’t bear the thought of going back. She feared she would never leave if she did.
If she was going anywhere, it was Billings. She told herself that someone would stop and pick her up. But they wouldn’t be able to see her unless she got out of the car.
Pulling on her coat, she grabbed her backpack with most everything she owned inside and stepped out into the driving rain. Even with her hood up, she knew she wouldn’t last long in this downpour as she began to walk south.
* * *
IT WAS RAINING hard by the time Max reached the convenience store where Clancy worked.
He’d tried calling the number the manager had given him for her.
The call had gone straight to voice mail.
He didn’t leave a message. He wanted to talk to her face-to-face.
He definitely needed to hear her side of the story.
The store was deserted as he parked, got out and hurried through the downpour. Shaking off as much of the water as he could, he stepped inside. A young man was slouched behind the counter, looking at his cell phone.
“Is Clancy Roberts around?” he asked.
The man looked up, made a disgruntled face and shook his head. “She left.”
“Can you tell me where I can find her?”
“You can try her trailer out back. The pink one, but I doubt she’s there.”
“Why is that?” the sheriff asked.
The clerk shrugged. “Her car’s gone. The boss called me in because she said Clancy was sick. But I saw her loading her stuff in her car and then she took off in a hurry.”
That definitely didn’t sound good, Max thought, as he went back out in the rain.
He walked around the building and came upon a couple of older-model trailers.
He knocked at the door of the pink one, but like the clerk had said, there was no car outside.
He knocked again, then tried the knob. The door swung open.
Stepping in from the rain, he took a quick look around the small, confined space. What the clerk had said was true.
No Clancy and none of her belongings that he could see. Worry gnawed at him. He couldn’t believe Clancy had anything to do with Esther’s murder. But her leaving the way she had made him wonder if he could be wrong.
Back at the convenience store, he asked to speak to the boss.
The phone call to the female owner provided him with two more troubling facts.
Clancy had shown up for work late and almost immediately called in sick.
When her boss had arrived to relieve her, Clancy had rushed to her trailer, thrown her stuff into her car and left—just as the clerk had told him.
“I saw her drive away not fifteen minutes after she told me she was too sick to work,” the woman told him. “I got Roger to come back in and work a double shift. I can’t believe she’d quit without even giving notice.”
“Which way did she go?” Max asked.
“South. Toward Billings. She seemed in a real hurry to get out of here.”