Chapter Seventeen
Corner Motel
Tupelo Pike
Rory paced the floor of the small room. On the way back from the prison, she and Chance had discussed at length every horrible thing Rick Hill had told them. Particularly the last part when he’d inadvertently confessed to killing Pete.
What he’d said wouldn’t hold up in court, since it would be their word against his. But she knew. She had understood him perfectly.
Chance had started reviewing the case file as soon as they arrived back at the room. The conclusions he had thrown out to her were looking more and more on the money. This whole business about the other man—the one who assaulted her—being protected had to mean he was…maybe…probably a cop.
She stalled, turned to the desk where Chance sat with the file spread out in front of him. “You really think it could be Shane?” Now that she thought about it, he did have brown eyes. She exhaled a weary breath. But so did millions of other people. Brown was the most common eye color.
Putting aside what had been done to her…the idea she was mentally tossing around would mean that Shane knew who killed Pete! He had been there when it happened and done nothing. Told no one.
“It’s possible,” Chance agreed. “He would fit the profile as someone protected in Hill’s eyes since he’s a cop. He could be in a position to manipulate evidence. He would know how to clean up a crime scene…how to ensure he wasn’t caught.”
Rory considered what she knew about Shane.
“His mother was Mr. Harris’s younger sister.
I remember Pete mentioning that she didn’t do very well for herself.
Married some drug dealer who ended up going to prison.
She and Shane had a difficult time. I think Pete’s dad helped them out, but Eudora wasn’t happy about it.
Mrs. Carter died, overdosed, and Shane ended up going into police work. ”
“He was a traffic cop with the city,” Chance said. “The deputy position came along right around the same time Pete was murdered.”
The thought that he was the protected one—that he had hidden the identity of Pete’s killer—made her sick. Even worse, unless Shane confessed, there was nothing they could do to prove any of this. Rick Hill certainly wasn’t going to own a murder rap and risk being sentenced to the death penalty.
Rory turned to Chance. Defeat sucked the certainty out of her. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Chance looked down at the pages spread across the desk. “I say—” he looked to her then “—we have a go at Carter. See what he has to say for himself.”
Could she do that? Could she stand face-to-face with Shane and not lose it?
She had tried calling him twice since they left the prison.
He hadn’t answered or called back. That left only one option.
Find him and confront him. Yes, she could do it.
She had to. It was imperative if she was ever going to find the truth.
If he was innocent in all this…then he shouldn’t have a problem talking to them.
For God’s sake, he was the one who told them about the Henagar case!
Deep breath. Guilt drove people to do strange things.
Part of her hoped he was innocent…she had never had any reason to dislike Shane. But if he was the one and, dear God, it sure seemed possible, she would see to it that he…what? She couldn’t force him to confess. She couldn’t produce evidence that did not exist.
“I’m ready,” she said to Chance.
She needed to remember that she was no longer in this alone. The Colby Agency would help her get to the truth. Look how far they had come already in just two days.
Carter Residence
Old Larkinsville Road
Scottsboro, 7:00 p.m.
Rory’s nerves started to tangle when Chance pulled into Shane’s driveway. His truck was there. Surely that meant he was home.
She climbed out of the car, surveyed the area.
It would be dark in another hour. The gloom was already setting in.
On the drive over, she had kept trying to recall the moments when her attacker had been on top of her that night.
But the drug had held her firmly in its grip.
She knew he’d been strong and that he had brown eyes.
And that he seemed nervous. His body seemed to tremble or shiver.
She shuddered at the thought. Hugged her arms around herself.
When they reached the steps that led to the porch, Chance hesitated. He turned to Rory. “The door is open.”
Her gaze shot to the door. It was partially open. Fear snaked up her spine. “Shane!” she shouted. “You home?”
Chance started up the steps. He held up a hand when she would have followed. He shook his head. Instead, she reached into her pocket and withdrew her cell phone, ready to call for help if there was trouble.
Could Rick Hill have managed a phone call to warn Shane?
Her heart thundered so hard in her chest she felt as if it might burst. Could he have taken off? If he had, they might never find him…might never be able to confirm the truth.
Chance pushed the door open wider. “Carter, you here?”
Rory held her breath as Chance disappeared into the trailer. What if Shane had gotten a call, and he’d rushed home to grab a few things before taking off? What if he had seen them pull up and was waiting to ambush Chance?
She rushed up the steps and through the door.
Then she froze.
Shane lay on his side on the kitchen floor, his back to her. She couldn’t see any blood. Had he fallen and hit his head? Passed out from some sort of medical episode?
“Is he okay?”
Chance walked around Shane and lowered into a crouch next to him. When he looked up at her, his face was grim. “He’s dead.”
Rory’s knees nearly buckled. Bile burned her throat. “How…” She swallowed at the tightness in her throat. “How did he die?”
Chance stood. “Stabbed.”
She dared to step closer and see for herself. The knife was large…like the bigger one found in those knife block sets. A quick survey of the counter confirmed her assumption. The block, one slot empty, stood ominously next to the sink.
Shane had been their last hope to find the truth. Now he was dead. How in the world would they ever make Fowler see how wrong he had been? She stared at the man she had known as shy and nice. Who would have killed him? His partner in crime, Hill, was sitting in prison.
“Rory.”
Chance’s voice sifted through the haze of disbelief and defeat shrouding her brain. She turned to him.
“We should go outside and call this in.”
She blinked. Another question suddenly overriding all else. “How long has he been dead?”
“Not long.” Chance nodded to the man on the floor. “The blood hasn’t even coagulated. His skin is still fairly warm. We need to get outside.”
Rory got it. They were contaminating a crime scene.
Once they were outside, leaving the door ajar just as it had been, Chance ushered her toward the rental car. He called 9-1-1. Rory stood next to the passenger door, her arms once again around her body.
Shane was dead…but was there evidence somewhere inside that could prove he had lied? That he had been at White Cottage the night Pete was murdered?
Would the police cover up any evidence they found inside now?
She had to go back in there and look.
When she started forward, Chance stopped her. “You can’t go back in there, Rory. The police will be here soon, and—”
She glared at him. “There could be evidence in there. Something that proves what he did.”
Chance nodded. “I know, but we can’t go back in. It’s too risky. We’re already going to be viewed as persons of interest just because we’re here.”
She wilted. “They’ll hide the truth…just like before.”
He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “We won’t let them hide anything this time.”
Scottsboro Police Department
South Broad Street
Scottsboro, 9:00 p.m.
Fowler had questioned her extensively, and every word had dripped with accusation.
He saw her as his prime suspect.
Rory wanted to scream. It had been after eight before she was brought here.
Chance had been allowed to drive his car, but one of the deputies who showed up at Shane’s trailer had brought her in.
She’d expected to be taken to the sheriff’s department, but she’d been brought to Fowler’s office instead.
He’d explained that the homicide was part of his ongoing investigation.
His first words to Rory had been: “Do you really think you can murder your way out of this?”
He obviously truly believed she was guilty. That she had murdered her husband and was now desperately trying to prove her innocence by whatever means necessary. Unbelievable.
Maybe there was a way to find out if Rick Hill had called Shane or someone else.
The thought was a foolish one. Still, she knew better than most how some prisoners managed to get their hands on burner phones.
No one would ever know if and to whom he might have made that call.
The realization that Rick Hill was the only remaining witness who could prove what really happened in the cottage that night terrified her.
If he ended up dead…she would never be able to prove she was telling the truth.
She glanced at the doors that led down the corridor where Fowler’s office was.
Once he’d taken Chance back for questioning, she had been sequestered to the lobby.
It wasn’t like she was going anywhere unless she wanted to walk in the dark.
There was no one for her to call. All her friends had abandoned her.
Austin was in Nashville, and she wasn’t ready to call him yet. There was nothing he could do anyway.
Besides, she wasn’t going anywhere until Fowler was finished questioning Chance.
Rory drew in a big breath and slumped in her chair.
She was so tired of butting this brick wall.
She closed her eyes. If not for Chance and the Colby Agency, she would likely be charged with Shane’s murder already.
Chance was the only reason she had gotten this far.
She worried that at this point, it would take a miracle to ever make anyone see she had not killed her husband.