Page 42 of Final Escape
Rick flipped through the notebook in his hand. “I was out here the second of June on a 911 call because Ms. Randall reported a prowler. She does have a shotgun—I saw it myself. She told me that she’d owned it for years and that she knew how to use it.”
So they were already figuring she had both motive and means...and out in the dark pine forest, they’d assume that there would have been plenty of opportunity. But there wouldn’t be evidence. Therecouldn’tbe. “It—it’s hardly uncommon to own a weapon if you’ve grown up on a ranch.”
She appeared so pale and fragile. No wonder, after what she’d just seen, and now the two officers seemed as intent as terriers after a rabbit. As if they thought they could close the case in the next few hours and get back home for a good night’s sleep.
The sheriff and his deputy exchanged looks. “Where is that shotgun now?”
“It’s in my a-apartment. But I haven’t used it for a good six months or more.”
“So you’d have it handy in case your ex-husband showed up, I take it. Did he threaten you, Ms. Randall?”
“I had put it in the back of my SUV when I moved to Granite Falls. When Deputy Peterson was out here, he insisted that I bring it up to the apartment so I’d have some protection. It’s on the top shelf of my bedroom closet.”
“Rick—go get it and tag it as evidence. The BCI can run the ballistics.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But it hasn’t been loaded inmonths,” Carrie protested, her face pale.
“Right.”
“But—”
“We’ll check it out, ma’am.”
“You won’t find any connection—I can promise you that.”
Tyler arrowed an impatient look back at Rick. “Go.”
Rick hesitated. “Another thing you should know...Ranger went crazy inside the cruiser the night I was here on the prowler call.”
“Did you let him work the area?”
“I got called out to that fatal accident on the highway. I had to leave.”
“So something might’ve been going on out here even then.” The sheriff ground out his words, his eyes narrowed on Carrie, then he swept Logan with a satisfied look, a faint smile curled the edges of his lips. “My men and I need to process this scene, but after that, the three of us are going to have a long, long talk. So don’t eventhinkabout going anywhere. Understood?”
“Are you saying we’re under arrest?” Logan stared at the man.
Not one thing could prove he’d had anything to do with the victim’s death, yet the sheriff immediately assumed the worst.Small-town law enforcement in Granite Falls—the easy way out, every single time.
“Let’s just say that you are both ‘persons of interest’ and that I’m guessing you two might have some valuable information to share.” Sheriff Tyler tipped his head toward Rick. “Go get that shotgun and tag it, then come back and settle these two in the backseats of separate patrol cars so there’s no more time for any collaboration on details. I’m really looking forward to what each of them has to say.”
Rick jogged over to the rafting company office, climbed the outside staircase, and went into Carrie’s apartment. Ten interminable minutes later he returned with a grim expression.
“I know she owns a shotgun. She admitted it was hers, and I saw it myself. But I just searched every corner of that place and only found an empty box of shells.”
Sheriff Tyler turned to stare at her, his eyes cold and suspicious. “Where’s that shotgun, Ms. Randall?”
“On my shelf. Like always.”
“Well, I’ve got an officer who says it isn’t, and now we have to wonder. What was it used for, and where is it now?”
* * *
STILL NUMB WITH SHOCKand horror, Carrie stepped out of the sheriff’s office four hours later. Billy wasdead.
Any love between them had dissolved long before the divorce. It had then descended to outright animosity on his part, though she’d felt only a cold, empty place in her heart that grew every time he turned up again to rail at her about the settlement and how she “owed” him.
