Page 133 of The Killing Plains

“She only ran till she got near town. Then she put on the old-lady shoes and walked back to the clinic. Getting back in her office was the riskiest part. If Pearl came back from lunch a little early, the jig would be up. But Brenda’s luck held. My first day here, she told me that an elderly woman wandered in from the alleyway looking for a bathroom while she was alone in the building. I was asking questions, and she got nervous that we might have a witness or footage of her coming in the rear door.”

Back in her office, Brenda put on her own clothes, hid the suitcase and all of Denny’s belongings in her office closet, and saw clients till six o’clock, then did some paperwork. She went home and washed Denny’s clothes to make sure she hadn’t left behind anyevidence. In the middle of the night, she returned to the clinic and entered through the alley.

Colly shrugged. “There’s a camera back there, but she gambled that the cops wouldn’t check it. Why would they? Footage showed Denny leaving through the front door hours earlier.”

Brenda planned to redress Denny, but by then he was in full rigor mortis in a fetal position. She put the suitcase—with Denny’s body inside it—into her van, along with his belongings, and drove out to the Newland Ranch, stopping on the way to pick up the bike from behind the fireworks stand.

Wearing an old pair of Lowell’s rubber boots—for the mud, as well as to make police think the murderer was a man—she wheeled the suitcase to the stock pond.

“They saw the tracks,” Colly said, “smoother and narrower than a hand truck’s. But the Rangers never thought of a suitcase. Neither did I.”

Brenda left Denny’s body and his bike on the shore and threw his backpack in the water, not knowing an insert from the old-lady shoes was still in it. “Then she planted something on Denny that she knew would make us think we had a serial killer in town.”

“Planted what?”

“That’s confidential, for now. It was the mother of all red herrings—a stroke of genius, Brenda thought. But it backfired, in the end. It’s how we caught her.”

Colly fell silent. Jace sat staring at the cell floor. After a few minutes, he looked up with a furrowed brow. “Who’d I see messing with the van at the ranch Monday night?”

“That was Brenda. She slipped away sometime after dark during our family get-together, put on Lowell’s ranch coat for a quick disguise, and rigged up that rattler. I don’t know where or when she got it, but she knows how to catch snakes—she does it every yearfor the Rodeo.” Colly shook her head. “I should’ve guessed. She parked in the one security-camera blind spot that night.”

“Then who stole the printouts in my garage freezer? Brenda didn’t know about them.”

“She did. Denny told her. Kids find everything. She knew you couldn’t go public with them without incriminating yourself, so she wasn’t worried. But when Carmen told her you’d left, she got scared we’d search the place and find those papers. She figured you took them with you, but she wanted to make sure.” Colly laughed suddenly. “It’s ironic—everything Lowell did to keep her from finding out about the embezzlement, and she knew all along.”

“She could’ve destroyed him.”

“Not without hurting her own kids’ futures.”

The cell grew quiet. Finally, Colly leaned forward. “Listen, Jace, I want to apologize. If I’d known how fragile Jolene was, I might’ve done things differently, questioned her differently.”

Jace blinked. “Ain’t your fault. She’s been hanging by a thread since Denny died.”

“Well, your family’s suffered more than it should’ve, and I’m sorry.”

Jace nodded, tugging distractedly at a clump of mud-colored hair. “What happens now? Y’all sending me to county?”

Colly stood and shook her head. “Avery and I discussed it. We’re dropping the assault charges. You’re off the hook for embezzlement, too, as long as you keep your nose clean. You’re free to go.”

Chapter 36

Colly squinted into the sunrise. The empty highway stretched before her, dark and straight, while high above it, red-tailed hawks wheeled against a windy sky. Already the vultures roosting on fenceposts had begun to unfurl their dusky wings, warming them in the swelling light.

A glance in the rearview mirror showed Satchel napping against the car door. Even in sleep, he clutched the ant farm, protective of its delicate lacework of tunnels and nests. He had cried when she’d woken him in the predawn darkness. Couldn’t they stay just one more day? Just till lunchtime? But Colly held firm. She had said her goodbyes. She couldn’t bear the thought of running into anyone she knew and having to say them again.

Iris had held a farewell cookout the evening before. Practically everyone was invited: Avery, Niall Shaw, Earla Cobb, Jimmy Meggs—and, of course, Talford Maybrey. It felt strange to be there without Lowell or Brenda. Despite everything, Colly knew she would miss having a sister-in-law as an ally against Iris’s frigid courtesy. Last night, however, Iris had been warm and gracious.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she’d said when the two of them were alone in the kitchen. “Willis can finally rest in peace.” She laid a hand on Colly’s arm. “I hope you’ll come back soon. Satchel needs family. Besides,” she added with a melancholy smile, “you’rethe only daughter I have left.” Then, Iris hugged her—not her usual stiff clinch but a long, affectionate embrace that Colly returned clumsily.

Back outside, she’d looked around. Niall stood chatting with Avery and Earla. Colly wandered to the grill, where Russ, in a denim apron, was cooking hot dogs for the kids. A platter of raw steaks waited on the table nearby.

“Need any help?” Colly asked.

“Propane’s nearly out. Come with me to grab another canister? There’s something I need to say.”

Apprehensive but curious, she followed him around the house and down the footpath to the barn, waiting in the breezeway while he ducked into a storeroom and emerged with a fresh propane tank.

He set it down and dusted his hands. “I’m quitting the force.”

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