Page 25 of The Sheriff's Baby

Kate didn’t show any flares of temper as Brad had done. The woman sighed and shook her head. “I did loathe her,” she admitted. “I thought she didn’t handle her miscarriage and divorce nearly as well as she could have, and I believe she never actually loved Brad.”

Duncan lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t pick up on that last part from either Brad or Shanda.”

“You wouldn’t have.” Kate glanced away, groaned softly. “Brad was blindly in love with her, and he couldn’t see Shanda for what she was. A gold digger. That big house she lives in? That was part of her divorce settlement. She took half of Brad’s money when she divorced him.”

Now there was some anger, but she kept her gaze pinned downward while she picked at the sheets covering her. Duncan had to wonder if she was looking down so he wouldn’t be able to see some truth that she couldn’t conceal in her eyes.

Truth that she was glad Shanda was dead. And that she was the one who’d made that happen.

“I should tell you something in case it comes up later,” Kate said. “I don’t want you to think I’m withholding anything.”

“I’m listening,” Duncan assured her.

“On the night Shanda was arrested, she and I were arguing on the phone. A very heated argument,” Kate emphasized. “I’d called her about some charges I saw on Brad’s credit card. Shanda had gone to a high-end boutique and treated herself to the best the place had to offer. I’m talking nearly ten grand. Shanda said that Brad had given her the shopping trip as a surprise gift, and I told her that Brad wasn’t paying the bills, that I was.” She stopped. “Anyway, Shanda was yelling at me and that’s probably why she was driving erratically.”

Duncan had known about this. It’d been in the statement Shanda had given. Well, she’d given a thumbnail of it, anyway. She’d told Sheriff McCullough that she’d been having a dispute with her mother-in-law.

“You must have been very upset when you found out that Brad and Shanda were getting back together,” Joelle threw out there. All sympathy. Fake, of course. But Duncan knew she was going for the “good cop” angle here. That gave Duncan the leeway to go badass.

“I was,” Kate muttered. “I thought it would only lead to Brad being crushed all over again.” Now she finally looked up, her attention going to Joelle. “Crushed,” she emphasized. “Brad was never the same after the miscarriage and his marriage breaking up.”

That was Duncan’s cue to jump in. “Is that why you went to Molly’s to accuse Brad of trying to kill Joelle?”

On a heavy sigh, Kate closed her eyes. But she nodded. She took in a few shallow breaths, opened her eyes and looked at Joelle again. “I’m sorry, but Brad blamed you and your father for what happened to Shanda. He should have blamed Shanda herself. She’s the one who got herself arrested. Instead, Brad decided she wasn’t at fault and that the cops involved needed to pay.”

“Pay by killing me and kidnapping a former deputy?” Joelle supplied.

Kate nodded again and repeated her apology. “I think my son has had some kind of mental breakdown. I blame Shanda for that. She led him on, making him believe she’d get back together with him, but there were always new conditions for a reconciliation. One day, she’d say he had to go to counseling. The next, she’d tell him he had to cut me out of his life.” She paused. “And he did.”

Neither Brad nor Shanda had mentioned that so Duncan had no idea if it was true. However, it was something he would definitely ask Brad about.

“It must have hurt when Brad did that,” Joelle murmured.

“It did.” There was another flash of anger in her eyes, but Kate seemed to quickly shut that down. “It cut me to the core.”

“And that cut made it easier for you to go to Joelle and tell her that Brad wanted her dead,” Duncan pointed out.

Kate’s mouth tightened for a couple of seconds. “Yes, it did make it easier,” she confessed. “If my son hadn’t basically disowned me, I might not have been willing to believe the worst about him. But I do believe it. I think Shanda convinced him to go after the people who arrested her. I think this was all her doing.”

That was possible, but there was a big question mark in that theory. “Then, why is Shanda dead?”

“Maybe she hired the wrong people to do her bidding, and it backfired.” Kate offered that up so quickly that it was obvious she’d given it some thought. “If you play with fire, sometimes you get burned.”

“So, you don’t think Brad would have killed her?” Joelle asked.

Kate stayed quiet a while. “I don’t want to believe he would, but it’s possible. Shanda broke him, so anything is possible.”

Duncan wasn’t sure about the broken part, but it was obvious that Brad had some serious issues. Obvious, too, that he could have certainly murdered his ex-wife.

“I saw your tox results,” Duncan said, and he noted the flash of surprise in Kate’s eyes. She hadn’t been prepared for a quick shift in topics. “There didn’t seem to be enough of the sleeping aid in your system for you to behave the way you did when you arrived at Molly’s.”

Kate stared at him and touched her fingers to the bruise on her forehead. “This must have caused the wooziness,” she said. “That and maybe my blood pressure.” She paused again. “But I don’t recall taking any of my sleeping pills that night. In fact, I’m sure I wouldn’t have since I’d planned on driving to Saddle Ridge to see Joelle.”

Duncan and Joelle exchanged a glance, and it was Joelle who voiced what they were thinking. “You believe someone might have drugged you with them?”

“Yes,” Kate muttered. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “Brad came to see me as I was getting ready to leave. He was furious because I’d shut off his accounts and canceled his credit cards. I was paying him a hefty salary to manage some of my businesses,” she added. “I figured since he’d disowned me, then he shouldn’t have access to that money.” Her mouth tightened again. “He’d planned on buying Shanda another big engagement ring and was enraged when his credit card was declined.”

“You two argued?” Duncan prompted when Kate went quiet.

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