Walking on Her Grave (Rogue River Novella, Book 4) (7 page)

“I can’t thank you enough for saving Tim and Bob,” she said in a throaty voice.

Grief invaded Seth’s chest. “I wish I could have done more.”

“You did everything possible. We are devastated by the loss of one of our own.” She toyed with a sleek lock of blonde hair at her shoulder, her provocative behavior at uncomfortable odds with her words. But that was Katelyn. Everything about her screamed sex. The sheer force of her sluttiness turned Seth off, but he’d seen lesser men reduced to stammering idiots in her presence.

“We’re trying to reconstruct what happened at the resort yesterday.”

“Where’s Zane?” Katelyn tilted her head.

“He’s tied up,” Seth said. “But considering we’ve linked your old foreman, Walt, to dealing drugs, Zane and I are working this case together.“

Katelyn’s eyes narrowed. Seth had always suspected her bombshell-blonde act covered a sharp brain.

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Faye appeared in the doorway. “Katelyn, what’s going on?”

Seth stood. “Afternoon, Faye.”

“Hello, Seth. How is your arm?” Despite the sweltering temperature, Faye clutched the edges of her powder-blue cardigan together.

“It’s fine. Thank you, ma’am.”

“What brings you here today?” Wheezing, the older woman eased into the second chair.

“As I was saying to Katelyn, we’re reconstructing the activity at the site yesterday.” Seth didn’t like Faye’s color. Could she be sick? An illness would explain how she’d missed the signs that her foreman was involved with drugs.

Faye nodded. “I already e-mailed a current list of employees, contractors, and suppliers to Zane, and noted which ones were at the site yesterday. I’ll make you a copy.”

“That’ll help.” Seth said. “Can you think of anyone with a grudge against you?”

Faye considered. “Sure. It’s almost impossible to avoid conflict in business. I heard Alex Rollins expressing discontent at the Founder’s Day celebration. He claims I let him go for no reason and that I owe him money. Both accusations are false. The fact is that Alex’s work wasn’t up to O’Rourke standards. Our resort is going to be the most luxurious in the area. Alex’s carpentry is better suited to rougher work. In fact, if Walt had been doing his job instead of conducting illegal activity on my property, he would have let Alex go long ago.”

“Is Alex the only sub you’ve let go?”

“No. There were several,” Faye said. “The names are highlighted on the list I sent to Zane.”

“Have you had any other disagreements lately?” Seth asked.

“Eric Hearne and I had a heated discussion a few days ago,” Katelyn added. “He invoiced us for more nails than he delivered. He claims he didn’t, but our records are clear. I’m sure it was simply an error on his part, but he was upset.”

“Is he still a supplier?”

“Yes.” Katelyn smoothed the fabric of her skirt. “Apparently he wasn’t upset enough to drop his largest customer.”

Or he couldn’t afford to
, thought Seth. “Were either of you at the site when the fire started?”

“No.” Faye shook her head. “I was at home. I wasn’t feeling well yesterday.”

“I was here,” Katelyn said. “Except at lunchtime when I ran out to the house to check on Mama.”

Seth pulled a small notebook and pen from his pocket. “What’s the damage to the resort?”

Faye paled until her skin was the same color as the strand of pearls around her neck. “We’re insured, but we’ll definitely lose time. My projections are dependent on getting the resort open by spring. Now I don’t know if we’ll make it. The delay is a cost we can’t recoup. It’ll be some time before I have a dollar estimate.”

“You don’t have any emergency funds or property to sell?” Seth asked. At one time the O’Rourkes had owned a large chunk of the land around Solitude.

“Besides the resort, the only land I have left is my house. I sold off all my extra acreage, including the old campground, to the state last year for the startup funds for the resort.” The older woman twisted the pearls at her neck. “This is it. If the resort doesn’t open in the spring, O’Rourke Properties will be bankrupt by next summer.”

“Have you seen Mike Bell lately?”

“Last week, I think, but I’ll get Katelyn to check for sure. Mike inspected the supports for the new boathouse.” Faye rubbed her arm. “I really thought we’d gotten past the major problems when Walt was arrested. I replaced a few subs, like Alex Rollins. The work was going smoothly. Oh my.” Faye pressed a hand to her chest.

Seth moved forward. “Faye?”

“Mama.” Katelyn slid off her perch.

“I’ll be all right,” Faye wheezed. “I just need my medicine. It’s in my purse.”

Katelyn rushed out of the office, returning in a few seconds with an orange prescription bottle. She opened it and gave her mother a pill.

Faye put it under her tongue.

“Nitroglycerin?” Seth asked. Years ago his father had taken the drug for his heart.

She nodded. “I guess I can only put off that bypass for so long. I had a minor heart attack last winter.”

“How did you ever keep that a secret?” he asked.

Faye laughed. The color slowly returned to her face. “It wasn’t easy. My cardiologist is over an hour away.”

“Don’t put it off too long.” Seth exhaled. Depending on their location, it could take the EMTs fifteen to thirty minutes to respond to a call, and the ambulance ride to the nearest hospital was forty-five minutes long. “I have no desire to test the portable defibrillator in my trunk.”

“And I have no desire to be your first test subject.” Faye patted his hand. “But thank you for your concern. Please keep this to yourself. I’m having enough trouble with the resort. As soon as it’s up and running, I can tend to my health.”

“No problem.” Seth stood.

“Thank you,” she said.

Katelyn tapped Seth on the shoulder. “I’ll walk you out.”

For once she looked sincere and worried.

He followed her down the hall toward the empty reception area. “Your mom is tough.”

She nodded.

“When was the last time you saw Mike Bell?” Seth asked.

“Last week.” Her gaze faltered.

“Where did you see him?”

She scanned his face. “Why do you ask?”

“I have a witness who saw you coming out of Mike’s house before dawn last Friday morning.”

Katelyn crossed her arms and rubbed her biceps. “Mike and I were seeing each other, but we didn’t want our relationship to be public knowledge.”

“Why is that?”

“We were afraid it would look like I was sleeping with him for favors.”

Which is exactly what Seth had thought when he heard the news. “Were you?”

Anger colored her cheeks. “Of course not.”

“I wouldn’t think of Mike as your type,” Seth pointed out.

Katelyn lifted her chin. Her lips compressed, the tightness wrinkling the porcelain skin around her mouth. “Mike is a nice guy. He’s gainfully employed and, let’s face it, Solitude doesn’t have a very large dating pool.”

When a woman was as loose with her
favors
as Katelyn, eventually she ran out of prospects.

She snorted, an indelicate sound from her china doll face.

In such a close-knit community, a certain amount of personal drama was unavoidable. A middle-aged and lonely guy like Mike might not let the legal, political, or professional ramifications of his actions get in the way of having a woman like Katelyn in his bed.

“Have you been with him since last Friday?” he asked.

“No.” She examined a bright-red, pointy fingernail. “I’ve seen him around town this week, but I haven’t been at his place.”

If Mike had been willing to dismiss the law to sleep with Katelyn, had he strayed across the line in any other areas? Considering what had happened to Roy, Seth could only hope that Mike hadn’t gotten himself killed.

Carly pulled up in front of the Rollins house. She tensed, remembering her visit the day before. But Seth was with her this time.

He parked his cruiser at the curb behind her Jeep. He got out of the car and lifted his suit jacket from the passenger seat. Shrugging into it, he joined her on the sidewalk.

Alex answered the door. He frowned, suspicion tightening his features as his eyes swept from Carly to Seth and back again. “What do you want?” he asked her.

“Actually, I’m the one who needs to talk to you, Alex.” Seth had interviewed both father and son when Peter had been arrested for selling drugs. “Can we come in?”

A defeated sigh escaped from Alex’s chest. “I guess.”

They followed him into the kitchen. Peter was sitting at the table eating a sandwich. Taking their presence in, Peter put down his lunch as if unable to eat.

Seth didn’t bother trying to create atmosphere, and he didn’t waste words softening anyone up. “Where were you yesterday, Peter?”

The teen shrank. “I had counseling in the morning and community service in the afternoon. We picked up roadside trash along Route 7.”

The pressure in Carly’s chest eased. Peter’s alibi was solid.

“Thanks, Peter. I don’t have any other questions for you.” Seth shifted his gaze to Alex.

The boy cast his dad a questioning look.

Alex nodded. “Go on upstairs.”

Seth waited for Peter’s footsteps on the stairs to fade. “How about you, Alex? Where were you yesterday?”

“Driving Peter to his appointments. Had some time to kill. Stopped at Walmart. Was here part of the afternoon.” He inclined his head toward Carly. “
She
was here first thing.”

“You hear about the fire at O’Rourke’s?”

“Impossible not to,” Alex said.

“Can you be more specific about where you were?”

Alex straightened, as if he was just starting to connect Seth’s line of questioning to the fire. “You can’t think I had anything to do with the fire?”

“Arson
is
a possibility.” Seth’s shrug was anything but casual. “Can you account for your whereabouts?”

“All day?” Alex swallowed. His eyes flattened with opposition.

Seth nodded. “To start.”

Alex exhaled hard through his nose and raised his gaze to meet Seth’s head on. Even beaten down by the summer’s events, the carpenter wasn’t the kind of man who would back down from a challenge. “I drove Peter out to Hannon. His counseling appointment was at ten. We left here at nine. I sat in the waiting room. They call me in for the last half hour.” Alex breathed. “Since his community service project was also out in Hannon, there was no point wasting the gas driving back to Solitude. We grabbed hot dogs at the DQ out there. I dropped him off and went to Walmart to get soap.

Seth made a note. “Got a receipt?”

“I might. I’d have to check the truck.”

“Why don’t you do that?” Seth suggested.

Alex stood and left the room, his movements stiff and awkward with anger. Keys jangled. The front door opened and closed as he left the house and again as he came back in. He threw a crumpled register receipt on the table.

Seth picked it up. “You checked out at one thirty-two p.m. What time did you pick up Peter?”

“Five o’clock,” Alex said.

“What did you do for three and a half hours?”

Alex shifted in his chair. “I came home.”

Seth leaned against the doorjamb and stared for a few heartbeats, as if waiting for Alex to confess something.

“I don’t have a choice about talking to
her
.” Alex jerked his head at Carly. “But next time
you
want to interrogate me, I’m calling a lawyer.”

“Then we’ll be having our next conversation at the county sheriff’s office.”

Alex met his eyes with a steady, indignant glare. “I have nothing else to say to you.”

“I’ll be in touch.” Seth pushed off the doorway.

Carly picked up her file and followed Seth out of the house.

“Where are you going?” He removed his suit jacket and tossed it into his car.

“I have two home visits.”

Seth’s brows rose.

“Nothing I can’t handle on my own.” She waited for his response.

Six months ago he would have launched into an interrogation about her clients. He’d have pressed for names and addresses. But today he simply nodded. “Okay. Call me if you need me. I’d like to stop and see Brianna tonight, if that’s all right.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll bring chicken from Nell’s.” He got into the cruiser and started the engine.

Climbing into her Jeep, she drove away from the curb. Seth pulled out behind her. Carly glanced back at the Rollins house. The dead landscaping reflected the family’s despair. She didn’t need this animosity between her and Alex Rollins. But there was no way to separate her case from Seth’s. She wished she knew whether Alex and Peter had been swept up in something out of their control or were active players in a dangerous game.

Entering the Solitude PD, Seth waved to Sheila, who was taking a phone call.

At ten minutes after five o’clock on a Friday afternoon, he’d expected the chief to still be working, but not Sheila. The county support staff cleared out at five on the dot. There was no money in the budget for overtime.

“Zane?” he mouthed.

She nodded and waved him toward the break/interview/supply room. The multipurpose space was the size of a walk-in closet. Seth closed the door behind him.