Page 66 of Shadows Reel

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“Are you going to sitout here all night?” Sheridan asked in the dark. She slid a lawn chair over next to Joe and sat down.

“Probably for a while,” he said. “I hope I can head off any more surprises before they happen.”

“I didn’t know you smoked cigars.”

“This one was a gift. I checked on a bunch of hunters at an elk camp last week and one of them gave me a cigar. I kind of like it. He was probably guilty of something.”

“Mom told us about that Bert Kizer guy,” she said. “Do you think Lola’s murder is connected with him?”

“That’s what I’m trying to puzzle out. I don’t know if they even knew each other or why someone would go after them. Maybe they knew each other from the senior center? There are a lot of questions about what’s happened in the last two days and I don’t have any answers. Problem is, I don’t think the sheriff has any, either.”

“He isn’t really on the top of his game, is he?” Sheridan asked. She’d had experiences with the sheriff when Joe was lost in the mountains.

“He might surprise us,” Joe said.

“Doubtful.” Sheridan was a harsh judge of character, Joe thought. Like her mother.

“Are you going to investigate it yourself?” she asked.

“You know how that works. The sheriff has to invite me in. He hasn’t done that.”

“When has that ever stopped you before?”

Joe grinned. Good point.

“If you do decide to get involved, I hope you’ll let me know,” she said. “With Nate gone, I could be your partner.”

Joe was touched. He reached out and grasped her hand.

“You need to stay close to Liv and Kestrel and keep an eye on them,” he said. “That was the deal with Nate, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, even though Liv is tough and fully capable of handling herself.”

“But not Kestrel.”

Sheridan’s silence was an indication that she had to agree with her father.

“Not that I wouldn’t appreciate your company,” Joe said. “We’d make a pretty good team, I think.”

“I think so, too,” she said. “I learned a lot of things when I used to go on ride-alongs with you back in the day.”

Joe’s phone burred and he checked the screen. Deputy Bass.

Bass told Joe he was making the rounds at all of the lodging facilities in Saddlestring, looking for the SUV with Colorado plates that Joe had seen the night before. He hadn’t found a vehicle matching the description yet, but he’d put the word out county-wide and said he’d keep looking. If the vehicle couldn’t be found, he said, he’d do the same at the three motels and two bed-and-breakfast outfits in Winchester.

Joe thanked him for the update and punched off.

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As it gotdarker outside and more still, Joe could hear the volume increase inside his house. His daughters had broken out board games and opened more bottles of wine, and there were whoops and shouts. He continued to watch the tree line and catch occasional flashes of wigwag lights from the crime scene.

Marybeth came outside and stopped abruptly as she looked around.

“Look at that,” she said, pointing over the roofline of the house. Joe turned in his chair to follow her gesture.

Blue and pink northern lights shimmered and pulsated across the big sky. This was a rare occurrence in Wyoming, but not unprecedented.

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