“Sol Green told me they looked at Poole, but he had friends who vouched for him—he was at a bowling alley. Said he cooperated. Everything pointed to a random shooting.”

Bonny whistled.

Tess said, “He wanted to get rid of her, so he made it look like a robbery.”

“Audacious.”

Tess told Bonny about her meeting with Dave Barnes a.k.a. Wade Poole at Jaimie Wolfe’s place. Remembering how he’d smiled and looked around the barnyard and picked himself out a nice, unmemorable name. Remembering the chunky ring on his finger. “He was good, Bonny. He was just your friendly neighborhood rancher type looking after a friend’s property.”

She saw his face now: open, honest, affable. A sunny personality.

Only a psychopath could pull that off.

Bonny said, “Jesus.”

Driving back, Tess superimposed the image of the man she’d met at Jaimie’s over the hooded figure at the convenience store. Fortunately, she could run the tape back in her head exactly as she’d seen it on the video recorder.

Tess recognized his movements.

Subtle things.

The man had always been in control. He knew how to get the upper hand from the beginning—like a good cop would.

And then, there were the gloves, and the bulky ring hidden underneath one of them.

CHAPTER 45

After chores were done, after calling to cancel lessons yet again, Jaimie heard the phone ring in the house.

She was hopeful. Maybe someone had found Adele.

As she walked to the house, she thought for the hundredth time that something might have scared Adele. Dogs did run away. If so, she hoped Adele would find her way back. She’d taken Adele as a trophy, but already loved her like one of her own. The idea of Adele out there on her own, lost, hungry, maybe even hurt—was unbearable. Every time the phone rang, she hoped it was someone looking for a reward—she’d gladly pay a hundred dollars. Two hundred, even, if she could just get Adele back.

She was still in shock over Chad’s death. She felt as if she’d been beaten around the head. And Michael—she sensed that something was going on with him. Michael, the rock of the family. She sensed that he was holding something back. She sensed that he was scared.

Everything going to shit.

She got to the phone just before the recorder came on. “Hello?”

“Listen carefully.”

It had to be a prank. Whoever it was had been sucking on helium. “Michael, is that you? Because it’s not very fun—”

“I have your dog.”

“What? Who are you?”

“A friend. I found your dog on the road. She’s got a collar and tags, and the tag says ‘Bandit.’ That’s your dog, isn’t it?”

The weird Donald Duck voice, high-pitched and thin as a thread. She heard whoever it was pause, suck on something, and then he piped: “I want a reward.”

“I offered a reward. One hundred dollars—it’s all yours.”

“Good.”

“Why don’t you bring her here and I’ll write you a check.”

“No check—cash. I don’t trust the DeKoven family.”

That high Donald Duck voice.

“Okay, bring her here. When are you coming?”

“No, you meet me.”

“Meet you?” That didn’t sound like a good idea. Fear began to thrum in her stomach, in her heart. Was this a crank call? “No, you come here.”

“What a shame.”

“What do you mean, what a shame?”

“Poor doggie. Looks like Bandit is gonna go to heaven.” And the caller hung up.

Jaimie succumbed to panic. She’d blown it! Now this monster would kill Adele. She tried to find the number on the readout, but it was blocked. There was no place to call. How’d they do that? She had to talk to him—had to. The motherfucking bastard was going to kill her dog!

She sat there, trembling. Unable to move, unable to think.

The phone rang again. Jaimie stumbled to her feet and snatched it up. “Who’s this?”

Helium Man said, “I’ll give you one more chance.”

CHAPTER 46

Tess and Danny were once again in the Scofield kitchen. This time the subject was all about Wade Poole.

“So it was him,” Pat Scofield said, after heating up a plate of tamales. “You want one? They’re homemade—Bert made them.”

“Thanks,” Danny said. They each took one, doled out on dinner roll plates.

“Let’s go out onto the patio,” Pat said. “It’s so nice out there, even though it’s sweater weather.”

Pat said, “I saw him again. I was sure it was him, but Bert said it was my imagination. Even though he wasn’t there.” She shot him a resentful look.

Tess let Danny take this. She thought that he and Pat had a better relationship, for whatever reason. Bert looked put out, discounting his wife as usual.

“Can you tell me where you saw him?” Danny said, his voice quiet and gentle.

“Well, I was at the Safeway. And he was in line in the checkout—two people ahead of me.”

“Do you think he saw you?”

“He looked back. He tried to hide it, but I’m pretty sure I saw surprise on his face.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“No.”

“Did you say anything to him?”

“I wouldn’t give him the time of day.”

“So what did he do then?”

“He just turned around and stacked his groceries on the conveyer belt. Like he never even saw me.”

“So you think he recognized you.”

“Oh, he recognized me all right. How do you not recognize your dead wife’s sister?”

“Did he react in any way?”

“You could tell he wasn’t going to. He thinks he got away with how he treated my sister, but he knew my feelings about him.”

“What happened next?”

“He left. I was still in line—I couldn’t exactly follow him out! But I watched him go, you better believe I did.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw him go out the sliding doors, you could see through them, and walk into the parking lot with his groceries.”

“Did you see him get into a car?”

“No. The person in front of me only had four or five items and I was putting things on the belt.”

“So you didn’t see what he was driving.”

“No.”

Danny looked at Tess. “Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate—”

“But I did see the truck when he drove by that couple of times. What you’d call cruising.”

“Can you describe the truck?”

“It was white.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t know anything about trucks. Sorry.”

Danny looked at his notes. “Can you tell me about your sister’s nephew from her first marriage? His name was David, right?”

“Yes.

“She really liked him. But you have to understand, I wish she’d never met him. If she hadn’t, she would have never—” Pat’s fingers abruptly went to her mouth and her eyes grew wide. She looked at Tess.

She’d made the connection. After all these years.

Tess could see she was flailing. Her eyes were glassy as she looked from Tess to Danny and back again.

Danny hunkered down so he could look in to her eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I…” She glanced around, focused on her husband.

Tess noticed the stubborn look on Bert’s face. Had he thought the same thing at one time, but then discarded it as impossible? Tess had no way of knowing.

Danny said, “Do you think that is possible? That she was killed on purpose?”

“By someone, do you mean Wade?” demanded Bert Scofield. “Because that’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of.”

Tess thought that the idea must have crossed his mind before.

Pat said, “You didn’t see the way he had her under his thumb. There’s a mean side to him, as I keep telling you, but you won’t listen and neither would Dad.”

Danny shot a look at Tess. Tess said to Bert, “Would you mind—I like those tamales so much. I’m wondering if you can give me the recipe.”

“Sure.” He led her back into the kitchen. He reached into the cupboard and plunked down a bag of blue corn and husks for the wrapping. “It’s pretty straightforward.”