Page 47 of Dark Side of the River

Stu sighed and read one note after another, making a small pile of them on the corner of his desk. As he read the last one, he sighed again. “She doesn’t mention another man.”

“It’s implied and you know it.” He snatched up the notes and read from the most telling of them. “‘I know you won’t approve. But I’ve thought about this a lot. I need to leave here and I don’t want to go alone. You can’t save me, so please don’t...’”

“Don’t what?” Stu asked. “‘Don’t kill me’?” Cooper shook his head, wondering why he’d thought this evidence would make a difference with the sheriff. “Maybe she was leaving you for someone else,” Stu conceded. “But that seems to only strengthen the prosecutor’s suspicion that you killed her.”

“No matter our differences, you don’t believe that. Come on, Stu. You can’t have it both ways. Either she killed herself or she was murdered. If she didn’t kill herself and I didn’t do it, what does that leave?”

The sheriff sat back, chewed at his cheek for a moment. “You think the man she was planning to run away with murdered her?” He shrugged. “Why would he?”

“Maybe he changed his mind. Or maybe she changed her mind. They argued and things got out of hand.”

Stu shook his head. “Or maybe he realized she wasn’t the woman for him after she’d been with you.”

“That sounds awfully personal,” Cooper said.

“I was just spitballing.”

“While getting in a few licks of your own.” He put the notes back in the book where he’d found them. “Leann didn’t kill herself,” he said, more to himself than the sheriff. “It never made sense. She and I were friends. I saw how restless she was. She wanted to change her life. She was looking for something that would make her happy—outside of Powder Crossing. Didn’t you feel that?”

Stu looked away for a moment. “Who, then?”

Cooper pulled out one of the notes and held it up to the light. “Ever seen this notepaper before?”

Stu took it from him, held it up to the light and frowned. “CH4.”

“How was it that no one questioned, myself included, the paper she’d written her alleged suicide note on was from the gas exploration company that had moved in here two years ago?” Cooper said. “The man had to be someone connected to the company who had access to these notepads.”

“You’re grasping at straws,” the sheriff said as he sat forward, opened a drawer and dug around for a moment. He pulled out a half-used notepad that matched the paper Leann had used. “Don’t get excited. The gas company was handing these out like hot dogs. I’d forgotten I even had one.”

Cooper thought it could be true, but he wasn’t going to let this go. “Find the man she planned to leave town with, and you’ll find her murderer.”

Stu rose. “Right now, I’m busy looking for the person who shot Oakley Stafford. I’m sure you can understand why that is my priority.” He started to step around his desk to leave.

“That the way you’re going to play this?” Cooper demanded.

Stu stopped at the end of his desk and sighed. “You sure you want to reopen the case, Coop? The county prosecutor is still convinced that you killed Leann. You’d be behind bars if they’d found even one piece of hard evidence. They reopen the case and dig up that one piece of evidence that makes you look even more guilty, you might be facing life in prison.”

“That almost sounds like a threat.”

The sheriff groaned. “Not everyone wants you out of Powder Crossing.”

“Just you.”

“Leave the notes. I’ll take them to the prosecutor if you’re sure that’s what you want, but right now I’m kind of busy trying to find out who shot Oakley Stafford rather than dig up an old closed case.”

Cooper hesitated. “I think I’ll make copies and leave those with you until the prosecutor wants to see the originals.”

Stu shook his head. “Little paranoid?”

“Whole lot paranoid but maybe with good reason.”

“You really don’t trust me?”

“I used to,” Cooper said.

“Funny, I feel the same way. Close the door on your way out.”

He waited until the sheriff was gone before reaching over and taking the half-used notepad from the desk. He tucked it into Leann’s book and walked out.

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