Burnt River (27 page)

“Trixie is hungry.”

Macy looked around. “You have a lot of horses.”

Tara corrected her. “They’re quarter horses. I had a pony named Honey but she died.”

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Honey was pretty old. It happens.”

They found Jessie sitting at a long wooden workbench, sorting through a pile of harnesses. The gloves she wore were stained with the dark wax she was rubbing into the leather. The usual collection of bracelets was roping both her wrists and a bandana was tied in a knot around her throat. It had slipped down, revealing finger-shaped bruises. It didn’t look as if she’d slept. Her eyes were swollen and red and her hands trembled. She took off the gloves and kissed the top of her daughter’s head. Her voice was hoarse.

“You found them.”

Tara rolled her eyes. “I waited forever.”

“I need you to do one more thing.”

Tara swung from her mother’s arm, nearly toppling them both over. “I’m tired.”

“Well, this is easy. I want you to pick a DVD for us to watch together. I’ll come up to the house when we’re through here.”

“Will we have lunch? I want peanut butter and jelly on white bread and I want you to cut off the crusts.”

“It’s a bit early for lunch. I’ll make you a snack.”

Tara waved back at them as she skipped out into the sunshine, her heels slipping out of her boots with every step.

*   *   *

Jessie brought them into Annie’s office. Show ribbons and photos crowded the walls. She saw Macy looking at a picture of her mother.

“That’s from before she was ill. Sometimes people forget how strong she used to be.”

“It’s hard to believe she’s the same person.”

Jessie fidgeted behind the desk. If she wasn’t picking at her nails, she was twisting the ends of her hair. She kept glancing up at the door. Along one wall, documents were placed in neat stacks. Two large sacks were stuffed with garbage.

“I’ve been tidying up.”

Aiden took the chair next to Macy. “Are you going to take over the business?”

“At the moment, I’m just trying to stay out of Jeremy’s way. As a rule, he never comes in here.”

“How are you holding up? Dylan said you were in a bad way when he found you the other night.”

Jessie folded her arms across her chest. Even though it was hot, they were covered in goose bumps. “Dylan’s one to talk. He’s the one who lost it yesterday.”

Macy slipped her notebook out of her bag. “We’re making sure Dylan is getting the help he needs.”

“Did you know that aside from a little clinic in Kalispell, the closest VA hospital is all the way over in Helena?” Jessie pulled her hair back from her face and adjusted the bandana. “He’s stoned on meds most of the time. He’s got no business driving all that way on his own.”

Aiden cleared his throat. “It’s going to take time.”

“I don’t think he believes that anymore.”

Macy passed a piece of paper to Jessie. “Amongst other things, we need to talk about what happened yesterday afternoon. This is the statement you gave to responding officers. According to this, you were with Dylan when you both received a text from Tyler requesting that you come to his house at four o’clock in the afternoon. The text stated that he had something urgent to discuss regarding your brother’s murder.”

Jessie stared at the piece of paper.

“Is that correct, Jessie?”

“Yes. We drove over to Tyler’s together.”

“Why would you think that Tyler had information about your brother’s murder?”

“He has friends that work for Alden. I thought maybe he’d heard something.”

“We don’t believe that the explosion was just meant for Tyler. Whoever set it off was waiting for you and Dylan. They nearly got me instead.”

“You really think it was Ethan Green?”

“He’s wanted for questioning.”

Her voice cracked. “At that press conference that man said he was your prime suspect.”

“He is.”

“Did you know that he’s also my father?”

Macy pulled another sheet of paper out of her file and handed it to Jessie. “That’s not true. The DNA analysis from the crime scene came in yesterday. Ethan Green is a convicted felon. We have his DNA on file. There was no match to John or anything else we found at the crime scene.”

“My mother said—”

“It doesn’t matter what your mother said. Ethan Green is not your father.”

Jessie covered her face in her hands and started crying so hard it sounded like she was choking.

“We’re under the impression that John also believed Ethan was his father. We think he may have been looking for him. Did he talk to you about it?”

Jessie grabbed a wad of tissues. “No, not a word.”

Aiden leaned forward. “You’d said that you thought John was keeping things from you.”

Her chin bobbed up and down.

“I think maybe he was just trying to protect you.”

Jessie smoothed her fingertips along the edge of the desk. The rose tattoo on the back of her hand was partially hidden under a bandage. The skin around it was yellowing. “I read my mother’s journals. She’d had an affair but never said who the guy was. I checked the employment files in my father’s office because I thought it might be someone who used to work at the ranch. I found a file Jeremy was keeping on Ethan Green.”

“They used to be friends.”

“The year John and I were born, Jeremy paid Ethan thirty thousand dollars to stay away from our family. My mother had been hinting about something for a few days, but only told me Ethan was my father when I visited her a couple of days ago. She said that Jeremy couldn’t have children.”

Aiden rubbed his face. “I’m sorry, Jessie. I wish we could have gotten this information sooner. It would have saved you a lot of heartbreak.”

“It’s not your fault.” She took a stack of photos from a drawer and pushed them across the table. “Ethan didn’t stay away from us like he promised. These are from last summer. Dylan took them.”

Macy laid the photos out on the tabletop one by one.

Aiden’s voice broke. “Did he do this to you?’

“I’d been at The Whitefish. I was too drunk to drive home and he offered me a lift. We stopped by the mini-market and he bought me a Coke to sober me up. I remember that he insisted that I drink it. I thought he was looking after me, but as usual I got it wrong. Instead of taking me home he drove me out to Darby Lake. I woke up at two in the morning, half dressed, with Ethan lying on top of me. I thought he was dead. There was a big bruise on his forehead.”

Macy stared down at an image of Jessie’s swollen eye. “Do you remember hitting him?”

“That’s one of the few things I do remember clearly from that night. I guess I should have hit him harder.”

Aiden kept his voice low. “Jessie, did he rape you?”

“I don’t think so. I know he tried.” She closed her eyes for a second. “Nothing made sense. I was so panicked I had trouble breathing. I couldn’t remember everything properly.”

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“Calling John was what I always did when I was in trouble. I thought he’d sort it all out for me, but when he and Tyler got there they had other ideas. They kept saying that no one was going to believe it was an accident and that I’d end up in prison.”

“What did they do?”

“John and Tyler dealt with Ethan, and Dylan took me home to his place.”

Aiden’s voice rose. “How exactly did they
deal
with Ethan?”

“They dumped his body into the deep end of Darby Lake.”

Macy sat back in her chair. “It must have come as a bit of a shock to find out that Ethan is our prime suspect.”

“We all thought he was dead. His truck is still there. You can see it now because the water is so low.” Her voice trailed off. “He got out somehow and now he wants to kill us all.”

“We’ll know for sure soon enough. There’s still a possibility it was an associate of Ethan’s who found out what happened.”

“None of us told.”

“You can’t be sure. Someone might have seen you getting into Ethan’s truck that night or witnessed something up at the lake. We’re interviewing everyone who was close to him.”

“After I saw the press conference I wanted to go to the police, but Tyler wouldn’t let me. We argued. He thought we should take care of Ethan ourselves.” She almost whispered. “If he’d listened to me he’d still be alive.”

Macy pointed to the bandana Jessie was wearing. “Jessie, what happened to your neck?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Did Tyler do that?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Aiden leaned back in chair and sighed. “Stop being a victim, Jessie. It’s never okay for a man to put his hands around a woman’s throat.”

She brushed away tears. “I’d never seen him so angry. If Dylan hadn’t been there I’m not sure what would have happened.”

Macy spoke quietly. “May I see?”

Jessie untied the bandana and lifted her chin.

“You should probably have that looked at.”

“I don’t want Tyler to be remembered for doing something like this. He was a good guy. It’s the war. It changed him.”

Macy tapped her pen on the table. “Jessie, you covered up a serious crime. There will be consequences. If you can show that you were forced to stay quiet you may have an easier time in the courts.”

“I know.”

“You really should have reported it. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were defending yourself.”

“Are you going to arrest me?”

Macy looked at Aiden. “What do you think?”

Aiden glanced down at the photos. “We’ll work something out. I’m not going to be the one to put you in a cell for this.”

*   *   *

Macy took the binoculars from Aiden and scanned the northern shore of Darby Lake. The area at the base of the cliffs was in shadow. “That’s quite a drop. If he was alive when he went over I’d be surprised that he could survive the fall.”

“You have to keep in mind that the water level is very low this year. Last summer the lake would have been a good fifteen feet higher.”

“When will the divers be here?”

“Any minute now. We’re going to need a salvage crew. The only way to get that truck out of the water is with a crane. That will take some doing if it’s wedged into the rocks.”

Macy sat down at a picnic table in the shade. The temperature had risen along with the humidity. It was stifling. On the news they were starting to talk about rain again.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired.”

Aiden kept his eyes on the lake. “You should know that I overheard your argument with Ray Davidson.”

“I was worried you might.”

“You can’t keep letting him treat you that way. You’ve got to draw the line.”

“I don’t think I should talk about this with you, or anybody.”

“I disagree. I think you should scream about it. And just so you know, I don’t have any agenda here.”

“I keep hoping there will be a time when I finally give up on him.”

“Imagine how good it will feel to walk away.”

She shook her head. “I think it’s easier when you’ve been in a relationship that’s run its course. You can look back and see everything that went wrong and move on. I’ve not had that with Ray. It’s difficult for me to let go when I don’t know where it went wrong. I feel like we have unfinished business, and then there’s Luke. He needs a father.”

“What Luke needs is a mother who’s happy. That’s not going to happen until you move on.” Aiden’s phone buzzed in his hand and he looked at the message. “They’re unloading the boats over at the ramp. We should head over there.”

*   *   *

It was nearing dusk and clouds of insects danced above the still waters of Darby Lake. A mosquito buzzed near Macy’s ear and she brushed it away. The police launches were anchored at the base of the cliffs. Aiden and Macy stood on the bow of the smaller one and watched as the divers prepared to get in the water. Finding the pickup truck had been easy. The cab’s roof was less than four feet below the surface. Macy tried to be patient but she couldn’t understand why they were bothering with wet suits and air tanks. She swam laps once a week at the gym a couple of blocks from the state police headquarters in Helena. As far as she was concerned, all that was needed to do the job was a waterproof flashlight and a pair of goggles. When at last the divers were ready, they tipped backwards off the side of the boat like they were on a day trip out on the Great Barrier Reef. A couple of minutes later both of them were swimming in her direction. The first one to the boat took his mask off and told her the news.

“There’s definitely a body down there. Checked the license plate number as well. It’s the vehicle you’re looking for.”

Macy stared out across the water. Despite what Jessie had told them, she hadn’t really expected to find a body. She had a vague sense of unease. In a couple of hours it would be dark. They needed to move fast, but she wasn’t sure what the next step should be.

The divers waited for instructions. “What do you want us to do?”

“What can you see? Is there a way of identifying who it is without opening up the car?”

The second diver shook his head. “No way. The head and torso are all tangled up in the air bags. They must have deployed when it hit the water.”

“We’re losing daylight. Get lights down there if you have to, and start photographing the scene.” She turned to Aiden. “How long until Ryan is here? I’m sure he’s seen this sort of situation before.”

“They’re leaving Tyler’s place now.”

“How soon can we get a crane out here to lift the truck? It would be better if we brought the body up in situ. I don’t want to risk losing any evidence.”

“I’d say tomorrow afternoon or maybe the day after. It looks like it’s pretty wedged in there, so I’m not sure they’ll be able to get it out in one piece. It’s going to be tricky.”

“I’m not sure we can wait that long. Ethan Green is our only suspect. We need to know if it’s him that’s down there.”

“Who else would it be? Everyone else that was there that night is accounted for.”

“You’ve got a point.”

“Might have to start looking at Charlie Lott as a suspect again. He still hasn’t turned up.”

“But it makes no sense that he’d be involved. Aside from John Dalton’s death, there’s no motive. Besides, how would he have gotten hold of a gun that Ethan Green supposedly used to kill a highway patrol officer?”