Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Claire
The forty-eight hours after the search were a blur. There was no time to catch up on the sleep we desperately needed. Vance and I pretty much worked around the clock, building our case against Darla Barrington.
Our hard work paid off.
Serena confirmed what we’d suspected. She’d driven by the coffee shop that evening after dinner out with her friends and had seen Sheriff McGrath and Katelyn together on a night when he’d said he had to work late.
The next day, she told Darla and Leslie, looking for reassurance that she had nothing to worry about.
A few months later, Darla started actively feeding Serena’s concern about Katelyn.
She needed a viable suspect for when Katelyn’s body was discovered.
When Sheriff McGrath assigned the investigation to me, Darla and Trey started planting seeds about a second affair, making Serena question everything about the husband she loved.
She wanted to trust and protect him but was overwhelmed with fear and betrayal.
She never even realized she was being manipulated.
The moment Trey was offered a deal in exchange for testimony, he dropped all loyalty to Darla and filled in all the missing pieces.
Darla had killed Katelyn. Not because of anything Katelyn had done, but because Judge Barrington had fallen in love with her. For the first time since they’d opened up their marriage, he started talking about the future, dropping hints that he wanted one—with Katelyn.
One night, Darla overheard him telling Katelyn he was going to file for divorce. After all, he’d never wanted an open marriage to begin with. That had been all Darla’s idea. Now that he’d found love, he wanted to make Katelyn his wife.
That was a threat Darla couldn’t endure.
Judge Barrington had no idea Katelyn was dead until we’d found her body.
Darla had texted him from Katelyn’s phone, telling him that she’d changed her mind and was leaving.
Then she’d recruited Trey to help cover it up, promising him the one thing he wanted—and threatening to pin the whole thing on him if he didn’t cooperate.
I’d been right about the snowmobile. Trey had used one of the SAR ones from the storage locker to dump Katelyn’s body in the park, knowing she’d eventually be discovered—in Sage County. That was the only way Trey would get the homicide investigation experience he needed.
When we told Judge Barrington the truth, he crumbled. He told us how he’d met Katelyn and had become taken with her. He’d made up excuses to bump into her while she was there, trying to lay the groundwork for a connection.
Then one day, she’d shown up at his office, crying and making him believe that Tony had hurt her. He’d never realized she was playing the same game he was, looking for a conquest of her own.
He gave us full access to everything, including her second phone. He had no interest in protecting himself from the consequences of his affair.
Only in taking down the woman who’d killed his lover.
“Seems like we have a solid case,” I said, snagging the last egg roll from the carton. We were at Vance’s cabin, finishing up a late dinner of Chinese takeout—paired with scotch, of course. It was the first chance we’d had to even be alone since making our arrests.
“Yeah.” Vance grinned. He grabbed the fortune cookies and tossed me one. “Darla never counted on both of her men turning against her like that.”
“I’m glad they did. She’s awful,” I said, shaking my head. “I feel terrible about what she did to Katelyn—and to Sheriff McGrath and Serena.”
“Think they’ll be okay?”
I nodded. “I do. He loves her. And now that she realizes she was being manipulated, she knows that. I think she feels really stupid for listening to Darla’s lies.”
“She is stupid.” He leveled a look at me. “She should have known better about you. ”
“She doesn’t really know me.” I shrugged. “But she apologized. And I think we’ll be okay, too.”
“What about you and the sheriff?”
Sheriff McGrath had asked to speak with me privately earlier that afternoon, but Vance and I hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.
“I think we’ll be fine. Eventually.” I blushed.
“I definitely read too much into that conversation with him. He admitted that he figured Tony was our guy, which was why he wanted his hands out of it. And he hoped we would go gentle on Leslie if she lied to us to protect her son. That’s what he meant about the good people in Wildwood. ”
“Politics,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Exactly.”
He cracked open his fortune cookie and pulled the fortune out.
“Did you get a good one?” I asked.
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Says I have a long journey ahead of me.”
I swallowed hard. “Guess they nailed that one.”
“Guess so.” He looked away, then said the words I’d been dreading. “I’m leaving tomorrow. I have to go back to the field office in Laramie to wrap things up there before…” He trailed off like he couldn’t bring himself to voice it.
No. I wanted to scream it, wanted to rage, even though we’d both known that this was coming. There was really nothing more for him to do here.
But I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
He held my gaze. “It’s been really great working with you, Claire.”
No.
“Sure,” I said, forcing a laugh. “Minus getting shot at and roughing it in the wilderness.”
He didn’t smile. “All of it. I wouldn’t trade any of it.”
My heart thundered against my chest. “When do you leave for New York?” I asked quietly.
“Friday.” He drained the last of his scotch and stared straight ahead. He looked miserable.
“That’s … fast.” Too fast. I wasn’t ready.
“I’ll be back and forth for a few weeks. I need to find a place to live there, then pack up and get things moved over. Plus, I need to be available to the DA.” He gave me a tentative look. “Maybe we could see each other when I’m here.”
“Maybe. But I know we’re both going to be busy over the next few weeks.
” I toyed with my fortune cookie, afraid to crack it open and see what it said.
“Rhett and Cheyenne’s wedding is this weekend, remember?
Did I tell you that my brother Cole and his wife, Willa, are flying in for it?
She’s pregnant and they were afraid she might not be able to fly, but the doctor approved it. They’ll be staying for a week.”
“No, you didn’t tell me.” He took a swig straight from the bottle, then passed it to me. “But I need to point out that you changed the subject.”
My pulse quickened. “Did I?”
“Yes.” Those sharp blue eyes honed in on me. “I wasn’t done talking about us.”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “There is no us. ” My eyes filled with tears, but I refused to let them fall.
“I’m crazy about you, Vance. I don’t—I don’t even want to think about you leaving.
But your future is in New York, and mine isn’t.
And I’m scared that, if we drag things out, it’s going to hurt even worse when you leave for good.
Saying goodbye to you is already going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
I don’t think I can do it over and over and over again. ”
His eyes darkened. He let out a sigh that was half growl. “What if I’m not okay with saying goodbye at all?”
“I don’t think you even know what you want,” I said, letting out a shaky laugh.
“You keep contradicting yourself. You want to stay in Wyoming, but you want the job in New York. You want more, but—” But not enough to do anything about it.
I stopped myself before finishing the sentence, blushing as I realized that my words could describe me as well as they described him.
“Must be contagious.” He smirked. “Tell me, Claire. What do you want?”
“I—” I stopped, realizing I didn’t have an answer.
At least not one I could give him.
“Tell me,” he demanded.
“I don’t know what I want.” Liar.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you talking about life or about us?”
“Life.” I knew exactly what I wanted from him. I just couldn’t have it.
His gaze heated. “So put life aside. Life is complicated. What do you want regarding us ?”
I knew all the things I should say. But only one word made it past my lips. “More.”
A look of satisfaction settled onto his face. “Me too.”
“But you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“I am. That’s the reality of the situation. But life is short, Claire.” He leveled a look at me. “We both could have died on that rock face. And in that moment? You mattered more to me than the job.”
“I felt the same way.” I couldn’t deny it. It’s why I’d kissed him, even knowing I couldn’t ask him to stay if we made it out of there alive. With our survival uncertain, all that had mattered was the one thing we had—that one moment.
“I don’t know how we’ll work it out,” he said, shaking his head.
“Maybe we’ll have to settle for eating Chinese food over video chat and taking turns flying in for weekends when we can.
I’m not asking you to give up the life you love and come with me.
I’m just asking for you to give this a chance, even if we have to figure it out as we go. I don’t want to lose you.”
A chance. It made me hopeful and terrified at the same time.
But I was Claire Hawkins. I’d never let fear stop me before. I’d risked my life countless times.
Maybe it was time to risk my heart.
I took his face into my hands and kissed him, pouring everything I felt into that moment. “I don’t want to lose you, either,” I whispered. “And if all we have is tonight, then I want to make it count.”
I woke up the next morning in Vance’s arms. It was different this time. We were in an actual bed, for one thing. We weren’t numb with cold or filthy from hours of hiking.
And the way he’d touched me the night before hadn’t been a fantasy.
I’d spent more time than I cared to admit imagining what it might be like if Vance took me to bed. The reality had been a thousand times better than anything I could have dreamed up.
There had been no rush, no frenzy—at least not the first time. Vance had taken his time, focusing that same patient intensity on me that I’d seen him apply to his work. He’d teased and touched every inch of my body until I begged him for release.
He’d only smirked and continued that exquisite slowness, holding himself back until I’d exploded in ecstasy.
Then he’d ravished me with all the furious, fast energy I could ever desire.
But this—the sweet intimacy of him holding me against his chest the next morning—was the best part of all.
“I hate to leave,” he whispered in my ear.
“I know.”
“I’ll call you when I get back into town next week. Maybe you can drive down to Laramie and spend a night.”
“Yeah.” But my answer was hollow. Rhett and Cheyenne would be on their honeymoon. The ranch would need every minute I could spare. I wouldn’t be able to get away for a trip to Laramie, much less New York when he settled there.
I was crazy about Vance, but I knew there was no telling when we’d actually be together again. My life stretched out ahead of me, empty and sad.
Lonely.