Page 30 of Tears on Her Grave

“You know, I don’t even remember what Marissa Kendrick looks like.” Hallon brushed a hand under his nose. “She is just a name from my past, is all.”

“Can you account for your whereabouts on Wednesday and Thursday?” Rio took a step closer to the desk.

“Yeah, sure.” Hallon turned to his computer screen and typed on his keyboard. “Wednesday I was in town from about eleven through to maybe two. I went to Guns and Ammo. After that I grabbed a bite to eat and then came home. Thursday, I took my wife, Dawn, to visit her mom. I messed around town for a time. I went to look at new saddles, visited the produce store, put in an order, and paid my bill. I went to the pizzeria for lunch.”

“Did you meet up with anyone who can verify your whereabouts in town on those occasions?” Rio had adopted a bored expression.

“Only the storekeepers, I guess.” Hallon removed his hat and scratched his head, smoothed down his shaggy hair, and replaced it. “No, I tell a lie. I did speak to someone that day in the pizzeria: Lily Jones, a girl I knew from college was waiting for her pizza. I shot the breeze with her for a few minutes to pass the time.” He let out a long sigh. “I hope you’re not going to make a big deal about that. My wife is the jealous type and if she believes I’ve been meeting up with some girl in the pizzeria when her back is turned, she won’t be amused.”

Rowley’s mind went immediately to his wife, Sandy. They had a very loving and trustful relationship. He didn’t have to worry if she met old school friends in town, they were as solid as a rock. “Don’t worry, we have no reason to discuss this with your wife.”

His phone buzzed with a message. It was from Jenna with instructions to ask if the suspects ever competed in woodcutting competitions and to ask if they still had their fraternity pins. Wondering what this had to do with the case, Rowley pushed on with the interview. “Just one other thing. Have you ever competed in woodchopping competitions?”

“I know you were raised in Black Rock Falls.” Hallon smiled. “Didn’t you attend the local college?”

Rowley shook his head. “Nope, I wanted a career in law enforcement so I went to UM.”

“University of Montana, impressive.” Hallon smiled. “Well here in Black Rock Falls lumberjack contests are an extracurricular activity. Back in those days on the football team, any way of building upper-body strength was good and competing was encouraged.”

Listening with interest, Rowley toyed with the way to introduce the question about the fraternity pin. “Did you join one of the fraternities?”

“Yeah, I was in Alpha Pi.” He stared into space for a few moments. “Those were the days. We thought they’d last forever.”

Needing to wind up the interview and move on to the next suspect, Rowley nodded. “We sure did. Have you still got your fraternity pin? I always wear mine to reunions.”

“Now that’s a question.” Hallon rubbed his chin. “It’s not something I would toss away, so it must be around somewhere.”

“What about the other members of your fraternity? Do you get to see them often?” Rio gave him a long look. “You were all like brothers, if yours was anything like mine.”

“No, I don’t.” Hallon waved a hand as if encompassing the entire ranch. “Working here takes up all of my time, especially now as I’m doing my pa’s work as well.”

Satisfied he’d gotten as much from Hallon as possible, Rowley stopped recording. “Okay that’s all we need for today.Thank you for your cooperation.” He handed him a card. “Should you have any recollections about that night, apart from what you’ve told us, please give me a call.” He tapped the desk with his fingers and then headed for the door.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Justin Crawley turned onto Main and headed to the produce store. As he passed the beauty parlor, he couldn’t help noticing the sheriff and her deputy standing outside speaking with Lily. He slowed his truck to a crawl, watching with interest as she climbed inside the sheriff’s vehicle and both the sheriff and deputy turned to speak to her in the back seat. After their recent conversation, seeing Lily with the sheriff concerned him. He contacted Wyatt Twotrees on the burner phone and explained what he’d witnessed and his earlier conversation with her. “Do you figure Lily is confessing to the sheriff?”

“I have no idea. Did you get anywhere speaking to her?”Twotrees sounded agitated.“I know that the sheriff is working down a list of everyone who was on the mountain that night. They have spoken to me and Clint this morning, so I would imagine Lily is on the list as well and so are you.”

Crawley ran a hand down his face. “I’m in town so they won’t find me at home and I don’t really want them speaking to my folks.”

“It’s no good stressing out about it. I figure finding the bodies has opened up a whole can of worms and all we can do is stick to our story. There’s no evidence at the caves, nomatter what the media keeps reporting. We cleaned that place and nothing was left behind. I figure they’re saying all this shit to get one of us to crack.”Twotrees let out a long sigh.“I’ll call Jess and see if they’ve dropped by to see him. I’ll get back to you. You’ll need to contact Lily again. I believe we all need to know what’s going on.”

Crawley’s other phone buzzed. “I have a call on the other phone. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” He disconnected and slid the burner phone beneath his seat before accepting the call through his vehicle’s Bluetooth connection. “Yeah, what is it, Pa?”

“The local deputies dropped by looking for you. I figure it was to give you some information about Cole and Abby. I told them you were heading for the produce store, so likely they’ll catch up with you there.”His pa cleared his throat.“Terrible thing about them two kids being murdered.”

Swallowing hard, Crawley pulled his truck into the parking lot outside the produce store. He backed up to the delivery ramp and slid out of his vehicle. “Yeah, it is. I need to go. I’m just heading into the store. Thanks for the heads-up.” He disconnected.

He’d just finished loading all his purchases onto the back of his truck when the sheriff’s black vehicle slid in beside him and the sheriff climbed out, her deputy close behind. Crawley jumped down from the back of his truck and slammed the tailgate. He turned and almost collided with the tall deputy blocking his way to the door of his vehicle. The sheriff stood just behind him and to the right. He looked from one to the other. “Is there something I can do for you, Sheriff?”

The questions that followed were exactly what he’d expected after speaking to Twotrees. He gave them the account they required, sticking to the storyline. He, like the others, had entered lumberjack contests during his time in college but hehad no idea of the location of his Alpha Pi pin. When they started asking him about Marissa’s murder, his stomach clenched with anxiety. This part of the story they hadn’t discussed, so he had no idea what the others had told her. Due to the flooding, he’d been driving back and forth collecting things they needed to make on-the-spot repairs. The heavy and relentless rainfall had caused roofs to leak and gutters to rip from the buildings. They had fences down all over and they had men working around the clock trying to fix everything. He’d told the truth when he’d admitted not knowing exactly where he’d been over the time Marissa went missing.

When the sheriff eventually stopped her barrage of questions, he decided not to stop at Aunt Betty’s Café for a well-earned slice of pie as planned but parked opposite. He dug out his burner phone and, checking inside his notebook for the correct number, called Lily. “I saw the sheriff speaking to you. She’s been visiting everyone in our group. What did you tell her? She was on my back like a rat up a drainpipe.”

“I didn’t tell her anything we haven’t already discussed.”Lily’s voice echoed, as if she was speaking to him in the restroom.“I stuck to the story we decided, to the letter.”

Irritated, Crawley stared out of the window. “You know, if you hadn’t reported Marissa missing, none of us would have been in the spotlight. What you’ve done is given them a list of people they can investigate. Before this, as far as the sheriff was concerned, we didn’t exist. Now we’re all fighting for our lives.”

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