Page 6 of Mile High Mystery

He shook his head, as if to clear it. “Did she tell you anything new?” he asked.

“Nothing big. But sometimes she would remember little details that hadn’t come out at the trial. Like she had seen the brothers in the restaurant two weeks before the judge’s murder, with a third man. We haven’t been able to identify that man, but we’re working on it. I stopped by her townhouse four days ago to show her some photographs, to see if she recognized anyone in them, and realized she was gone.”

“How did you know she was gone?”

“She had a cat. A gray tabby she named Peter. She had given it to her boss’s daughter at the insurance agency. She told the girl she couldn’t keep it anymore.” Sadness threatened to overwhelm her, and she looked away.

“Camille always loved cats,” he said.

Shelby nodded. “I knew if she had given Peter away, that meant she didn’t think she would be coming back.”

“Where did you think she had gone?”

“I thought at first she had decided to strike out on her own. It happens. People get tired of being watched and protected. Or they believe they’ll be safer. They move somewhere else—overseas, out West, to Alaska. They take a new name and start a new life. Most of them know a lot about how to do that because they’ve been in the program. Some of them are even successful. Some of them return to the program after a while.”

“And some of them die,” he said.

“Yes. People enter witness security because their life is in danger. If that threat hasn’t gone away, they are always vulnerable to being discovered and eliminated.”

“And you think that’s what happened to Camille? She was...eliminated?”

“We’re still piecing together exactly what happened, but people who get in the Chalk brothers’ way usually end up dead.”

“And no one is stopping them.”

“We’re trying,” she said. “That’s why I’m here now.”

“Showing up after Camille is dead doesn’t really help anything.”

The words hurt. He probably meant them, too. But she was good at hiding her feelings. It was practically a requirement in the Bureau. No one wanted the reputation of being too soft—especially not a woman. “I already told you, I believe Camille was near Eagle Mountain because she wanted to see you,” she said. “She was worried you were in danger.”

“So she came here to warn me. But why would I be in danger?”

She met his gaze. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me. I was hoping you had some idea. Do you know something that would upset the Chalk brothers? Maybe something you haven’t mentioned before.”

“No. And it’s been four years since their trial. Why come after me now?”

“If the Chalk brothers thought you knew something about the judge’s murder that hasn’t come out yet, they might go after you. Maybe something Camille told you that she forgot.”

“The Chalk brothers were already acquitted of that murder,” he said. “It wouldn’t matter if there was new evidence or not, would it?”

“Only if the evidence implicated someone else,” she said.

“Then the Chalk brothers ought to be giving the person who could provide that evidence a medal, not trying to kill them. Their whole case was built on the idea that some mysterious third person stepped out of nowhere to kill the judge and they were innocent bystanders.” His face twisted in disgust.

“So you’re positive your sister never contacted you. Maybe on social media? She might have used a false name—Claire or Carla, or even Gladys.”

“Gladys?” That surprised a harsh laugh from him.

Shelby forced herself not to squirm. “She had a couple of social media accounts under that name. She never posted, but she read other people’s posts. Maybe she read yours.”

“I don’t do social media,” he said.

“Never?”

He met her gaze again, his expression hard. “Having the FBI questioning me about every aspect of my life for the year before the Chalk brothers trial made me value my privacy.” He stood and stared down at her.

She rose also, though she still felt small beside him. “I’m probably going to have more questions,” she said. “I need you to answer them to help me find whoever killed Camille.”

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