Page 60 of River Wild

“Which would give Norma motive for murder. You can’t think she killed Willow, though.”

He shook his head. “The first thing I’m going to do tomorrow is talk to Annette. Then I’ll go see Ralph and Norma.” He yawned. “Once the crime team gets through at the outbuilding, hopefully we’ll have him.”

Bailey nodded, but she feared it wouldn’t be in time.

He reached for her hand. “We’re going to find him. We’re getting closer all the time.” She nodded. “Don’t give up hope.”

That made her smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fighting right to the end.”

Those words seemed to send a chill through him. “Not alone,” he said, squeezing her hand. “Not alone.”

STUARTHADBEENlooking forward to talking to Annette Cline, especially after what Bailey had told him. The police chief had released her yesterday, telling her not to leave the area. She’d claimed that she was only going home, that she had nowhere else to go.

That’s why he was surprised to get her call so late that afternoon saying she needed to talk to him. “I need to talk to you too,” he’d told her.

Now as he drove out to the Cline ranch, the sun dropping behind the mountains, he felt tired and anxious. If Norma was telling the truth, Annette had put the bloodstained towel bundle into Bailey’s SUV. Where could she have gotten it? Had someone put her up to it? The man Stuart was desperately searching for?

The woman who opened the door at the ranch looked nothing like the one only days earlier. Annette wore no makeup. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that appeared still wet from her shower. She wore a T-shirt and a pair of worn jeans. Her feet were bare.

She opened the door wide and motioned him in without a word. “Coffee?”

He declined, thinking of Norma’s coffee. “Why did you want to see me?” he asked the moment they were sitting at the kitchen table. Annette had both hands wrapped around a mug of coffee as if she was cold on this fall afternoon.

“It’s about my friend, Brock.” She looked up, tears filling her eyes. “The one who was killed in Miles City.” He nodded. “He’s been driving up from Wyoming to see me. I guess you already know that. Well, this one morning...” She stopped to take a sip of her coffee as he felt his pulse jump at the thought that he already knew what morning she was referring to.

“He saw the killer,” the sheriff said.

“He wasn’t sure at first,” Annette said quickly. “The man was coming out of the river, fully clothed, soaking wet. He seemed surprised to see Brock drive past. They’d looked at each other for those few seconds. Brock didn’t think too much about it until he heard about Willow’s murder.” She sniffed and touched a paper napkin to her eyes. “I can’t believe he’s dead.”

“Why didn’t he tell someone what he’d seen?” Stuart asked, not about to let her get distracted right now.

“He was scared. The man had seenhim.”

“Did he describe the man to you? Or the vehicle? There should have been one parked close to the river’s edge.” The killer had carried Willow’s body out into the river. He would have parked as close to the bank as possible.

“Big, strong-looking. Scary, that’s all. Brock said he didn’t get a good look, just a glance in passing. He said the man’s truck was gray, but that’s all he knew.” Annette took another sip of her coffee.

There must have been fifty gray pickups in the Powder River Basin alone. “So Brock saw him again.” She looked up in surprise. “How else did he get the bloody towel bundle to give to you?”

She looked shaken. “How did you—”

“You were seen putting the bundle inside Bailey’s SUV.”

“It isn’t what you think.” He wasn’t sure what he thought. “Brock found it in his truck. It had a note on it saying he was to see that Bailey McKenna got it or he would get another visit—one involving his own blood.”

“He knew who left it for him?”

“He knew when he looked into the bag and saw the towel and the small horseshoe.”

So it was public knowledge about the brand, Stuart thought. Also, Brock Sherwood’s prints and DNA would be all over the towel and its contents. He swore under his breath. “How did he talk you into delivering the bundle to Bailey’s SUV?”

“Brock was scared. Dickie had called to say he was coming home. We decided to go to Miles City and get a motel for the night,” Annette said. “He still had the horseshoe wrapped up in the towel. I told him to get rid of it, but he said he was afraid that if he didn’t get it to Bailey, the man would kill him too. We were driving through Powder Crossing, and I saw Bailey talking to Norma. I had Brock pull around the corner, and I jumped out and took care of it. I didn’t think anyone saw me, and if they did, they wouldn’t think anything of me putting something in her car.”

She looked up at him. “I assumed that would be the end of it, but Brock was still scared. He said he was going to come talk to you, but...”

But he hadn’t lived long enough.

Annette’s eyes filled with tears as she reached for her coffee. “I can’t believe Dickie killed him.”

---