Page 33 of Lawless Ride

“Convince me.”

“I went over to his house that day because he called me and asked me to come. When I got there, he said he was ending our affair because it was driving his wife over the edge, and he was afraid she was going to O.D.”

“And it took y’all over half an hour to sort it out?”

“I was upset. I cried a lot and tried to make him change his mind, but he wouldn’t budge. He said his mind was made up because it was the only thing he could do that was right. Josie was his wife and he had ruined their marriage and turned her into an addict. When I left, Tory was alive. If your witness was worth their salt, they would’ve seen Tory walk me to the door and wave to me. Because that’s what really happened.”

“Seems simple enough. Why were you so hesitant to tell me the truth?”

“I’m terrified Floyd will find out. He has a terrible temper and I’m afraid of him.”

“Has he assaulted you in the past?” I asked.

Tanya nodded. “Several times. Yes.”

“And you didn’t leave him or bring charges against him for domestic assault?”

“I was afraid to.”

“What if Floyd knew about Tory? Would he have killed him?”

“For sure, but he didn’t know. I’m positive he didn’t.”

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t know either because the person who killed Tory had to have knowledge of the poison. Only you and Ray Dangerfield knew about Josie sending the poison threats to Tory’s cell phone.”

Tanya nodded. “Me and Ray. Ray wouldn’t do it.”

“He might if he had a motive,” I said. “Were you and Ray fooling around, Tanya?”

“Of course not.”

“Had you and Ray ever had a fling in the past?”

She hesitated. “About a year ago. It only lasted a couple of weeks when Floyd was at a conference in Florida.”

“Okay.”

I locked Tanya back in her cell figuring parts of her story were true. If she didn’t poison Tory, then it had to be Ray. First, I needed Harlan to pull the names of the various poisons off Tory Masters’ phone, so I was sure what the murder weapon was.

On the drive back to the ranch, I told Harlan Tanya’s story, and we chewed it over.

“You believe her?”

“Mostly.”

“Then we have to do something about Ray,” said Harlan. “And we should go back and talk to the neighbor again. She might have seen Ray’s truck on the street but didn’t actually see him go inside.”

“Yeah, that’s possible. We’ll get a list of the poisons and give the list to Doc Olson. Let him test for them on Tory and when he gets the one, we get a warrant and search Ray Dangerfield’s place for it.”

“If he still has it lying around wherever he lives,” said Harlan. “And why the hell would he? He should be getting rid of that shit right off.”

“Yeah, it might be a long shot that he still has it.”

“He’s just plain stupid if he’s keeping it,” said Harlan. “He didn’t seem stupid to me. Just the opposite. Seemed kind of tricky—like a fox.”

“Yep. He was smooth and a little on the slippery side.”

Wild Stallion Ranch.

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