Eve knelt at the overhang, her shoulders slumped. “Tell Kasey I’m sorry I hurt her.”
“You need to tell Kasey yourself.”
Eve winced. “But I’m not sorry Nate’s gone. He’s been nothing but trouble for Mom and Dad.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s the reason the ranch is failing. At least his insurance money can save it now. Kasey had nothing to do with his death … tell that to the investigators. There’s nothing to keep them from paying her.”
Mattie doubted Nate was the sole reason for the Redmans’ financial problems, and she wondered if, under these circumstances, the insurance company would contest the benefit payout. But she didn’t want to bring that up, and the longer she could keep Eve from jumping, the better the chance she would change her mind. “How did you know about the insurance policy, Eve?”
“I heard Kasey tell Mom they planned to borrow money on it to pay them back, but it wasn’t enough to save the ranch. Besides, Kasey was crying her heart out about Nate running up their credit card bills, too. He was causing more trouble than he was worth.” Eve scooted closer to the edge as she wept. Thunder cracked overhead, and huge raindrops splashed down, splattering on the rocks. “Dad loves our home. He grew up there. I couldn’t stand by and let the bank take it away from him. Not after everything he’s been through lately.”
Mattie hoped the girl’s father would be the key to changing her mind. “Just think how heartbroken your dad would be if he lost you, Eve. Don’t put him through that.”
Eve rocked back and forth, hands fisted against her thighs. “He’ll suffer no matter what I do. I’ve made such a mess of things. Everyone will be better off if I’m dead.”
“These are your parents you’re talking about, Eve. Losing you is the worst thing that could happen to them.” Mattie judged the distance between them to be about twenty feet. Too far for her to be able to grab Eve and hold on, when it would take only a split second for the girl to lean to the side and fall. “Don’t make your parents suffer the death of their youngest child.”
“It wasn’t just Nate; it was Wilson, too.” Eve stared at Mattie as if looking right through her. “I tried to pin it on him, but I screwed that up.”
Though the rainfall drenched Mattie within seconds, the dead look in Eve’s eyes chilled her more than the storm. Maybe if she tried to align herself with Eve in some way, it would help. “Why did you want to set Wilson up, Eve? Help me understand.”
“He wanted to cheat Dad out of the ranch. Prey on my parents when they were down and try to get them to sell their home. The only home my dad’s ever known.” A spark of anger seemed to put some life back into her eyes. “Tyler and I told him to back off, but he said he planned to talk to Mom. I thought if I could send him to prison for Nate’s murder, that would get him out of our way.”
“How did you try to pin it on Wilson, Eve?”
“I took his gun from his car when he came out to see Tyler at the ranch, and I planted it in the ditch beside Nate’s van before I set it on fire. I also left the Molotov cocktail supplies outside his office. I thought my plan was going to work, but then it all started falling apart.”
Mattie projected her voice over the clatter of the rain. “What do you mean?”
“Wilson called Tyler and accused him of stealing his gun to shoot Nate. It made Tyler so mad. Of course he denied it. Tyler didn’t know I was the one who took that stupid gun.” Eve hung her head, shaking it woefully. “It scared me. I figured it was just a matter of time until Wilson pointed the finger at me. Or worse yet, he’d point it at Tyler. I wanted to make Wilson’s death look like a suicide, but I botched it.”
Mattie figured the girl wasn’t used to planning a murder, and she didn’t seem to be thinking clearly. “What do you mean, botched it?”
Eve’s mouth tightened with scorn. “I called Wilson, told him to come up to see the tiger. When he got there, he was all excited. Brought his binoculars. But then I panicked and shot him in the chest instead of the head. Nobody shoots themselves in the chest. I planned to put that gun in his hand, but ended up keeping it instead.” Eve gestured toward the gun she’d put down on the rock.
“Where did you get this gun, Eve?”
“I’ve had it since I was in high school. Dad taught me how to shoot, and I used it for target practice.”
Mattie’s mind went in two different directions. One, they now had a murder weapon to match to the slug Robo had found at Wilson’s crime scene. And two, how could she talk this girl off the ledge?
“I’m curious, Eve. Why did you burn Nate’s van?”
“I didn’t want the stuff he’d been doing to fall back on Kasey. She had nothing to do with his crap.”
“What stuff?”
Eve shook her head and glanced away before answering. “Bringing in that tiger to hunt. Running drugs and God only knows what else across country for months.”
The breaking of eye contact was enough to make Mattie believe Eve knew about all the trafficking activity, and if she knew, then Mattie believed Kasey knew about it as well. But now wasn’t the time to bring it up.
“Eve, listen to me, okay? What I’m going to say is very important. Everything you’ve done has been to try to help your parents. I can tell how much you love them. But if you kill yourself, it would be the worst thing you could ever do to them.”
Eve straightened, staring at Mattie with strained eyes, reddened from crying, her blond hair plastered to her head in the rain.
This seemed to be the only statement that brought Eve out of herself, and Mattie decided to press the point. “Parents love their kids more than they love property. Your mom has faced tough times this year. Don’t give her something she can’t bear. And I’ve seen the way your dad looks at you. He loves you dearly. Don’t hurt him, Eve. Don’t make him endure that kind of pain on top of what he’s suffered this past year.”
Eve bowed her head and sobbed, covering her face in her hands. Cautiously, Mattie rose from behind the boulder. “Let me take you to them, Eve. Let’s go to your parents.”
Eve extended her hand, and Mattie took that as permission. She hurried forward and knelt close enough to gather Eve into her arms and snatch her away from the ledge. As the girl sagged against her, Mattie held her and rocked backward, scooting away from Eve’s gun.
They sat that way in the driving rain while Eve wept for what seemed like a very long time, huddled together on the hard stone. The things we do for love, Mattie thought as she gently rocked the sobbing girl back and forth.
She wanted to assure Eve that everything was going to be all right, but nothing would ever be the same for her again. Eve loved her parents and her home, but her reasoning had been driven by anger and hate.
Eve had lost everything, trading her blessings for a life in prison.
THIRTY
It was dusk by the time Mattie and Eve arrived at the spot where Brody waited with the captives. On their hike down the mountain, Eve had at first chattered, like she was driven to talk. She told Mattie about her hopes and dreams for the ranch, how she wanted to use her education to help turn it around so it could support not only her parents but also their three kids. Mattie let her talk, even though it became painful to hear. If only the girl had stuck to legal means for producing income rather than criminal ones. It was a relief when Eve apparently talked herself out and fell silent.
Robo stayed close to Mattie as they traveled downhill, but he was not averse to the occasional petting from Eve. His presence seemed to be a comfort to the girl, and she called him to her whenever they paused to rest. His work was done, so Mattie allowed it, because she found herself feeling sorry for Eve even though she told herself not to. After all, the girl had confessed to a double murder. Truthfully, she felt sorry for the entire family. Eve was completely right about one point: she’d made a mess of things.
At the station, Stella and McCoy took Eve into an interrogation room to get her statement while Mattie took Robo back to he
r office to feed him. The three hunters and Flint had been booked into jail to await charges, which would be sorted out once Glenna returned from Colorado Springs. Mattie wondered if Glenna would go easy on Flint in exchange for his help and testimony.
After Robo ate his fill and bedded down on his cushion, Mattie sat at her computer and wrote her own report of what had happened on the mountain. It was late by the time she finished and Stella entered the room to find her. Robo was curled up on his cushion, lightly snoring.
“Does he always snore like that?” Stella asked as she settled into a chair she pulled up from Johnson’s desk.
“Sometimes,” Mattie said. “He’s really tired tonight.”
“I bet.” Stella studied her. “You look like you’ve had better days yourself.”
Mattie brushed her cheek, touching the scratches and the sore spot on her cheekbone. She hadn’t checked a mirror yet, but she figured she was sporting a few bruises. “How did the statement go?”
Stella sighed. “She waived her right to an attorney and confessed to both murders.”
There were a few details Mattie still wanted to know. “I assume Kasey and Nate were using a trip to Nebraska as a cover story with the family when really he was up in the BLM releasing that tiger, right?”
“Yep.” Stella released a heavy sigh. “I took the bait on that one the night we met Kasey.”
Mattie admitted that she had taken the bait, too, and she felt Stella’s frustration. “So how did Eve get Nate out to the county road where she killed him?”
“She tried hard not to implicate Kasey, but when I told her we already knew Kasey had been involved with the tiger hunt, she opened up enough to tell me that Kasey confided to her that she and Nate had been fighting last week. Evidently Nate wanted out and threatened to not go through with the hunt. Eve decided to take matters into her own hands. She called him, told him her car had broken down, asked him to pick her up, and that’s when she shot him.”
It sounded cold-blooded, but Eve’s story had indicated feelings of resentment and anger; she had seized the opportunity and acted on it. “What about the gloves? Why a pair of men’s gloves?”
“She grabbed a random pair. She doesn’t know if they’re Tyler’s or her dad’s.”
“DNA will tell us that. I guess it doesn’t matter as much now, but can we find the glove that matches the one we have?”
“She says she burned the matching glove in their trash barrel. We’ll have to go out and see if any of it’s left. She was pretty tearful through the interview, but when she realized we’d found the glove, she really poured on the waterworks. It tore her up to think she’d accidentally planted evidence to implicate her dad or her brother.”
“Yeah, but her DNA will be inside that glove, too.” Mattie shared a little bit of what worried her. “When you compare her intentions with the crime scenes, you can see she was disorganized. It makes me wonder about her reasoning and what kind of stress she’s been under during the past months.”
Stella rubbed the back of her neck. “Sheriff McCoy called her parents and has allowed them to see her. They were devastated, as you can imagine, but they say they’re going to hire an attorney. I suppose that’s something that will be sorted out by someone other than us. It’s our job to have the evidence and statements in line when they’re needed. We’ve already got a warrant to retrieve clothing and her boots, cell phone and records, a cast of tire prints from her car, and anything else we can find to back up her statement. Sheriff McCoy and I will head out there now to execute it.”
“Do you need my help?”
“No, you’ve done enough today. You need to go home.”
After Stella left, Mattie texted Cole to tell him she was getting ready to leave work. He replied right away: DO YOU WANT TO MEET AT YOUR PLACE OR MINE?
After this long, hard day, the one thing she wanted was to feel his arms around her. She knew he didn’t like leaving the kids alone at night, so she told him she would come over. It was shortly after midnight when she parked at the edge of his yard.
He opened the front door and strode down the sidewalk, meeting her at her car door as she stepped down from the driver’s seat. He took her in his arms to hold her close, and she felt like she’d come home.
But the closeness made her think of his friend. “How’s Garrett?”
“A little better. The doctor thinks it’s possible his vision will clear with time. He’ll probably come home in a day or two.”
The thought of Garrett and Leslie at home together after such a scare made her teary. “That’s such a relief. And what about the tiger?”
“He’s stable. He came out from under the anesthesia without problems and is resting quietly in a secure area at the zoo. The bullet caused a lot of damage, but they cleaned it up and decided to leave the leg until they see if the shoulder heals. Maybe he’ll get by without having to lose it.”
“I hope so.”
“Me too.” Cole put his hand under her chin and tilted her head back to examine her face in the moonlight. “Did you get those scratches tended to?”
“I washed them. It’s nothing.”
“I guess I’ll get used to you mixing it up with the bad guys someday.”
Cole bent his head, and Mattie welcomed his kiss. The kiss was deep and long and it took her breath away, but it no longer felt confusing; instead it left her with a warm sense that she was loved. There were no more secrets to hide from him, and still … he loved her.
After the kiss, Cole spoke quietly against her lips. “I love you, Mattie.”
With her lips against his, she was finally able to say it, though in a whisper. “I love you too.”
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say that.”
She shrugged inside his embrace, not sure what to say. “I guess I’m a slow learner.”
Robo barked from inside the Explorer.
A short chuckle rumbled in Cole’s chest beneath her ear. “I don’t even want to know how I stack up against him in your affections.” He paused for a moment. “Did you eat dinner?”
“No, but I’m not hungry.”
“Too tired.”
“No, it’s been an eventful day. We solved both our homicides, but there’s not much to celebrate.”
“Let’s get Robo out of the back and go inside where we can talk.”
Mattie leaned in and released the door latch at the front of Robo’s cage. He bailed through, jumping down to the ground to circle Cole’s feet, his tail wagging. Cole thumped his side, told him what a good dog he was, and then took Mattie’s hand to lead her up the sidewalk to the porch. Robo darted in front.
Belle and Bruno greeted them at the door with exuberance, and it took a few minutes to get the dogs sorted. Cole led the way to the kitchen. “Did Robo eat?”
“I fed him at the station.”
“How about some hot chocolate for you? Does that sound good?”
“Actually, it does.”
It took a while for Mattie to summarize everything that had happened after Cole left with the tiger.
When she told him about Eve’s confession, he made a sound of exasperation. “What a shame.”
Grim faced, he handed her a cup of steaming hot cocoa. “So will Kasey be arrested?”
“We have no evidence against her yet, but we’ll investigate her on suspicion of drug and wildlife trafficking. Even though both she and Eve will deny it.”
“And Tyler’s in jail, on hold pending the wildlife charges?”
“Along with Flint, Ben Underwood, and Zach Irving.”
“Poor Lillian and Doyle.” Cole shook his head, staring at the floor for a moment while he absently sipped his chocolate. “Let’s go sit in the living room where it’s more comfortable.”
He led her to a seat beside him on the sofa, placing his arm on top of the cushion at her back. With the warm cup between both hands, she nestled against him while Bruno and Belle went to their dog beds. Robo lingered at Mattie’s feet, bu
t with a bit of encouragement, he went to the extra cushion, circled a couple of times before plopping down, and opened his mouth in a squeaky yawn with a great deal of pink tongue curling against his sharp canines.
“That’s good, Robo,” Mattie said. “Time to sleep.” He placed his head between his paws and heaved a sigh.
“It’s hard to believe Eve Redman could get that desperate,” Cole said. “I mean, that ranch is special to the Redmans, but to go to the extreme to kill for it?”
“I think there’s more to that family dynamic than we know at this point. Eve holds a lot of anger and resentment against Nate and perhaps some misplaced blame for the foreclosure. I think their inability to make ends meet has more to do with the kids growing up. Foreclosure doesn’t happen overnight, and they’d already sent Tyler and Kasey to college. Now Eve. I think the family needed more income than they could generate.”
“Not to mention that cattle prices have been down the past few years. Family-owned farms and ranches struggle to compete with agricultural corporations. Sometimes I worry about my own parents in today’s times.”
They sat and sipped their chocolate for a few minutes while Mattie thought about Cole’s family, his parents’ connection to the land, and the different choices for careers their children had made. “What will happen to your parents’ ranch when your dad needs to retire?”
“We never talked about it, but they might already be thinking about what they would do. I suppose their land could be the only retirement investment they have. I really don’t know.”
“Would you want to start working on the ranch?”
She could feel Cole cringe beside her. “It tears me up to think about my parents selling their land, but I wouldn’t want to go into ranching. I’m happy being a vet.”
“How about Jessie?”
“I think she’s happy with her life in Denver and her career as an attorney, but if she wants to take up ranching, I hope she’ll say.” Cole remained silent for a minute before sharing his thoughts. “Ranching is a hard way of life. You battle the elements to raise your livestock and your crops, and you tend to your animals and plants three hundred and sixty-five days a year. You work outside during rain, sleet, and snow to give your animals food, water, and shelter, and you don’t even know what a family vacation is. Your income fluctuates depending on the agricultural markets, and you never know when things are going to tank. But the lifestyle gets under your skin and into your bloodstream. You love the land and your animals, and you want to pass it on to your family.”
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