Page 55 of Mile High Mystery

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Martin Chalk is dead,” Shelby said. “I remember now. He drowned six months after Judge Hennessey was killed, before Charlie and Christopher’s trial. It was ruled an accidental death.”

Zach sat back, trying to sort out the thoughts spinning in his head. “Do you think Martin was killed to silence him about whatever he saw at the restaurant that night?”

“His death was never investigated as a possible murder,” Shelby said. “I’d have to review the file, but the only mention I remember seeing was that he died in an accident when his boat was swamped on a lake where he was fishing, and that he had nothing to do with the Chalk brothers’ crimes.”

“Why was Thomas Chalk here?” Zach asked. “Did he kill Camille?”

“We sent his hair to the FBI lab to see if it matches the one you found at the campsite,” Travis said. He turned the computer monitor back to face him and typed. “Now take a look at this photo.” He turned the monitor again, this time to show a photo of a beautiful blonde.

“That’s Janie!” Both Shelby and Zach spoke. He leaned closer, but there was no mistaking the woman in this photo for anyone other than the woman who had pursued him.

“Her name is Janelle Chalk,” Travis said. “She’s Thomas’s twin sister.”

ZACHTRIEDTOfocus on the road on this short drive to Shelby’s hotel room, where she wanted to retrieve her laptop and files. But everything Travis and Shelby had told him kept pulling his thoughts away. “What were Janelle and her brother doing here?” he asked. “Did they kill Camille? Were they stalking me or something? And why?”

“Maybe they found out you saw their brother at the pub that night,” Shelby said.

“But what difference does that make if their brother is dead?”

“I don’t know.” She stared at her phone, typing furiously. “I’m trying to log into my files at the Bureau, but the system isn’t exactly set up to be read on a phone screen.” She laid the phone in her lap. “I texted my boss with the news about the twins, though I don’t know if he’ll read the message tonight.”

“You said they aren’t involved in the Chalk brothers’ crimes.”

“Not that we know of. But maybe that’s changed.”

“Maybe Martin was at the pub that night to try to stop the killing,” Zach said. “He got frightened and ran away.”

“Or maybe he was the killer,” Shelby said. “Maybe the Chalk brothers were right, and they didn’t pull the trigger after all. Though that doesn’t mean they didn’t orchestrate the whole thing. Maybe Martin wanted in on the action, and killing the judge was the price of admission.”

“Then why kill him six months later?”

“Maybe his death really was an accident. Or maybe he got cold feet and threatened to turn himself in. Or Charlie and Christopher were afraid he would cave under pressure and decided to eliminate the risk.”

“So what were Thomas and Janelle doing in Eagle Mountain? Were they following Camille?”

“Or they were here to kill you,” she said. “Maybe that’s what led Camille here. I don’t know. But we’ll do our best to find out.”

At the motel, Shelby fired up her laptop and scrolled through her files. Zach couldn’t sit still, so he paced, mind and heart racing. “Where is Janelle now?” he wondered. “Is she hiding from whoever killed her brother? Or did she kill him?”

Shelby shook her head. “My files have almost nothing on those two. They’re on a list of Chalk relatives, but as far as the FBI knows, they’re both living quiet lives in Wyoming. This says that Thomas works on the ranch with his father and Janelle is a dental hygienist.” She glanced up at him. “They both sound so ordinary.”

“I wasn’t really worried before,” he said. “But now I feel like I’m waiting for the next terrible thing to happen. And I know the sheriff said he had contacted the police in Junction about protecting my parents, but maybe I should go to them.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea,” she said. “It would get you away from here, someplace safer and with a law enforcement presence twenty-four hours a day.”

“What will you do?” he asked. “Do you still have to be in Houston Monday?”

“I don’t know. I would think this would change things.” She closed the laptop. “Let’s go back to your place. You can pack to go to your folks while I keep trying to get more information on the Chalk twins.”

It probably would have been easier for her to stay at the motel and work alone, but he appreciated that they would be together a little while longer. He took her hand as they walked out to his car. “I’m going to miss you while I’m gone,” he said.

“I’m going to miss you, too.” She leaned against him. “But I promise, we’ll talk every day.”

And what about when this is all over?he wondered, but didn’t dare ask out loud. What about when she went back to Houston, and he tried to settle in once more to life here in Eagle Mountain? Would they try to keep up a long-distance relationship, something that seemed to him doomed to fail? Or would they part as friends? The idea made his chest hurt. Better not to dwell on that uncertain future. He needed all his attention on now.

He parked in the lot in front of his townhouse and led the way down the path to his front door. But when he tried his key in the lock, it wouldn’t go in.

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