No One Else to Kill (Jim West Series) (31 page)

I imagined someone whisked Bruno away before the Sheriff
showed up, but I didn’t say anything.
 
Bruno handed me the second cup of coffee and we sat down.
 
The strong coffee helped rid my head of the
remnants of fatigue, a result of being awakened before I was ready.

A waiter showed up, and we both ordered the full “Pecos”
breakfast.
 
Once I had ordered, I
realized how hungry I was.

“So, what can I do for you this morning?”

“A few answers are all that I need.”

“Fire away.”

“We have your story,
Bettes
’
story, and Mrs.
Schutte’s
.
 
You say that you went out from the lodge to
the car where the
Schuttes
were arguing because you
believed that she might be in some sort of danger.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Did you and she have any prearranged agreement that you
would watch out for her?” he asked.

“No.
 
I had talked
to her earlier in the day about her disagreement with her husband.
 
I knew there were some bad feelings, so when
I saw him slap her, I simply had to step in to see if I could diffuse the
situation. It kind of backfired on me.”

“You hadn’t decided by then that he was our killer?”

“No, at least not consciously.
 
He had to be on everyone’s short list, but at
the time, I don’t remember thinking that I’d better get out there to help her
because he’s the murderer.”

“And you had no agreement with Sean
Bettes
that he was to watch your back?”

“No, none at all.”

“So everything happened as you all have said: that each of
you acted independently based on what you witnessed at the time.”

“Yes.”
 
I almost
added that there actually was a lot more to it.
 
All of us had complicated motivations.
 
None of us reacted simply because of what we saw, but I didn’t want to
get into all that, and I doubted that any of it would interest him.
 
Bettes
’ emotional
baggage could be an hour long discussion by itself.

“Didn’t any of you think about calling me first?”

“I would’ve, but Vic took my phone immediately after
pulling the gun on me.”

“You know your stunt almost got you killed.”

“Hey, come on, give me a break.
 
You would’ve done the same thing.”

“Yeah, maybe so.”
 
He paused for a minute and looked around. “In
all your contact with
Schutte
or any of them did you
get any feeling for where he may have fled to?
 
That is if he isn’t still hiding behind a tree out there?”

“No, none at all.”

Our breakfast arrived, and Bruno’s personality improved
immediately.

“Oh, look at this,” he said. “Let’s dig in, and enough about
this investigation for now.”

“Amen to that.”

We both attacked the plates set in front of us.

“You know, this might be the biggest case we’ve seen in
this county in the last decade.
 
I have
to say that I’m certainly happy it’s been resolved.”

So much for not talking about the investigation, I
thought.

“Well, you still have to catch him.”

“Of course, but it’s no longer one of those unknown
subject cases.
 
The DA, the Sheriff,
everybody agrees
Schutte
is our guy. Yes-sir-
ree
, it’s a good day in the Pecos.”
 
Bruno focused his attention back on his
breakfast, and I did the same.

I saw Bev peek her head around the door to the dining
room. She saw me, smiled, and mouthed “later” or something like that. I
wondered what brought her here so early.
 
I started to excuse myself when Sean entered the dining room.

“There’s Sean now.”

Detective Bruno had to turn around to see him.
 
Sean took a table not far from us and nodded
a “Good morning” at us.

“Oh, good.
 
He was the next person I wanted to talk to,”
Bruno said to me.
 
“Do you mind if I move
over to his table?
 
I think we covered
everything we’d wanted to double check with you.”

“By all means.”

“And, I’ll get the check. I owe you at least that.”

For about one micro-second I considered arguing with him
over the bill, but he was right.
 
He owed
me.

He took one last bite of toast, got up, and went over to
Sean’s table taking his coffee with him.
 
Sean appeared to be in a good mood. He stood up, met Bruno as he
approached the table, and motioned for Bruno to join him.

When our server returned and refilled my coffee cup, I
told him that Detective Bruno would be paying for our breakfast.
 
I took my coffee and went out into the lobby
to look for Bev. I saw her bent over behind the bar going through one of the
cabinets.

“Kind of early to be opening the bar,” I said.

“Oh Jim, I’m glad you’re up this morning.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we talked across the
counter to each other.

“I wanted so much to talk to you, and I’m leaving.”

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“Yes, but first, I wanted to ask you what happened last
night?
 
The word is that you, Mrs.
Schutte
, and Sean
Bettes
discovered that her husband killed those two people. I heard that he almost
killed all of you, too.”

“It’s a long story, but we’re all fine,” I said in hopes
of avoiding the full story.

“Tell me something about it.”

I summarized the events of the prior night the best I
could. She had a few questions, but for the most part she let me tell the
story.

“Wow, that’s fantastic,” she said when I finished.
 
“Do they have any idea where Vic might be
now?”

“No.
 
Everyone’s
best guess is that he’s hiding out back in the mountains somewhere. I imagine
they’ll catch him in the next day or so.”

“I hope so.
 
You
don’t think he’ll come back here, do you?”

“No.
 
He’d be crazy
to do so.
 
I think the sheriff will leave
a deputy or two here until Mrs.
Schutte
leaves
anyway.”

“Oh yeah, her.
 
I bet you’re really her hero now.” Her eyes
couldn’t conceal the fact she was playing with me.

“You would think so,” I said in mock disappointment, “but
she seems to be smitten with Sean.
 
After
all, he’s the one that literally picked her up off the ground and carried her
off to safety, while I had the easy job of being a zigzagging target for Vic to
chase and shoot at.”

She reached over and placed a hand on mine.
 
“You are a brave man, Jim West. I think she’s
smitten with the wrong hero.”

“Yeah, me too.
Now tell me your
story.”

“While you were out having all the fun last night, I
decided to call an old friend.
 
His name
is Eric Brooks.
 
Years back, he and I
became good friends.
 
It was before I
moved here.
 
He used to pass through on
business, so I would see him every few months. It wasn’t one of my normal
relationships with men.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, to say I’ve been a little rough around the edges
would put it mildly. I think I bored you with my life’s story that first day
you were here. Well, this relationship was different.
 
Whenever he was in town, we did things
together, but he never made a move on me.
 
At first, I thought it was refreshing, but after a while I wondered what
was up.”

“Like maybe he wasn’t into women?”

“Yes and no.
 
I knew
he had a wife, so I thought that might be it, too.
 
But I also worried that maybe he really
didn’t find me attractive.
 
Stupid me.
I set him up one night.”

“Set him up?”

“Yes, and to this day I’m not proud of it.”

“What happened?”

“I made an excuse to have him over to my apartment for
dinner, plowed him with wine and seduced him.”

“And?”
I asked, now hooked and
wanting to hear the rest of the story.

“It was a great night.
 
He told me he loved me.
 
I felt
like a young girl in love again myself.”

“So?”

“That was the last time I saw him.
 
He sent me two dozen roses and a long
letter.
 
He apologized for his
behavior.
 
He said he should’ve known
better, that from the first day he met me he knew if he kept seeing me he would
fall in love with me.
 
He said despite
knowing better he couldn’t stay away.
 
Did I tell you he was married?”

“Uh-oh,” I said, even though she had already told me that.

“It was my fault.
 
As usual I was only thinking of myself. I don’t blame him. I knew he was
married and like I said, looking back, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist
to see that his relationship with me wasn’t motivated by his desire to cheat on
his wife. I encouraged him. Hell, I pushed him across that line.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I’ve always felt like I betrayed our relationship.”

“That’s silly.
 
Believe me. He probably happily remembers that night.
 
He just had a choice to make, and he chose
not to leave his family. So getting back to your story, what happened on the
phone call last night?”

“About a year ago, I received a letter from him. I was
surprised it got to me here at all, but the person who is renting the same
place I used to live at knew someone who knew where I live now.
 
Anyway, to make a long story short, the
letter arrived here, and in it, Eric told me his wife had passed away about a
year earlier from cancer.”

“See - he hadn’t lost interest in you.”

She smiled, and I couldn’t help but be happy for her.

“The letter was pretty simple asking me how I was doing
and telling me a little about his life on the ranch. At the end, he did say he
would like to stay in touch.”

“Did you write him back?” I asked.

“No.
 
I had just
started my relationship with Rick and felt pretty happy about my life. I’ve
never been good at making good decisions, Jim.”

“So, are you going to go see him?”

“Yes.
 
I’m leaving
today.”

“That quick?”

“Yes.
 
Last night
Rick gave me hell for not being nicer to his wife.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“No. When I was driving home last night, I decided that I
had to leave.
 
I guess I won’t actually
drive away for another day or two, but I’m quitting this place today and will
leave as soon as I can get the
U-haul
filled.”

“I think you’re doing the right thing, Bev.”

“I’m so worried about whether I can do it.”

“Do what?”

“Settle down, be a normal person, not screw things up.”

“Not worried about if he’ll want you to stay?”
 
I didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but she
took my comment in stride.

“A little, but I can handle that.
 
I can appreciate his deciding that I’m not
for him. In fact, it seems that’s the role I normally have: the extra.”

“Oh come on,” I said.

“I don’t mean to sound so morbid, but his telling me it’s
been a nice visit, but don’t I have somewhere to go, I can handle.
 
Of course I’ll be disappointed, but I can
handle rejection.
 
It’s whether or not I
can control myself that scares me. He’s a good man, Jim.”

“So you’ve told me.”

“If I get there and things go good and I end up staying--”

“Getting married?” I interrupted.

“That’s up to him, I don’t care.
 
But, what if I get there and things start off
great, and in a few weeks, a few months, I end up throwing myself at the first
cowboy that looks good in jeans?”

“Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know. I just do.”

“We’re all a little older now, and a little wiser.
 
You may find out that you’re not as bad of a
person as you think you are.”

“I hope so, Jim, because I’m going up there as soon as I
can, and I do want to make it work.”

“Then make it work. You simply must do your best.
 
Remember, it’s as important to you as it is
to him.
 
Be yourself, unless you’re
around some cowboy in tight jeans.”

“I will,” she said.
 
“I’m so happy I met you Jim.
 
If
it doesn’t work with Eric, I’ll come looking for you.”

“No way.
 
You’ll make it work.
 
Don’t start thinking of a fallback
position.
 
If you want this to work,
you’ve got to be committed to this.”

“I know,” she said.

We talked a little while longer before I wandered back to
my room. I hoped things would work out for Bev, and I couldn’t agree more that
she needed to get away from her futile relationship with Rick.

In the room, for some reason I thought about Stu and his
problems.
 
If he had come out here like
we planned to hike the Rockies, I wondered how everything would have turned
out.
 
Perhaps it wouldn’t have affected
anything, but deep down I believed it was a very good thing that Stu had stayed
home.
 
Sure, he had to get better, but
unlike Sean and perhaps even Bev, something made me think it wouldn’t have been
as easy for Stu to handle the past few days.