A Rancher's Dangerous Affair

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A Rancher's Dangerous Affair Page 9

by Jennifer Morey


  She felt Brandon’s body tense about the same time.

  As quickly as the animalistic quenching of pure physical lust had overtaken them, shame took its place.

  Brandon’s head lifted. She caught a quick glimpse of his eyes before she had to look away and he moved off her. Rolling to the edge of the bed, he stood. While he dressed, her need to be gone from there burgeoned. As soon as he went to the bathroom and closed the door, she rose, dressed and went down to the guest room.

  Once there, she showered and donned a different pair of pajamas and lay in bed with the television on, hoping the distraction would ease her into sleep. Instead, guilt burdened her. What David would think. How hurt he’d be. And even that didn’t cover her emotions. It was the total disregard for another person that got to her most. Didn’t she care about anyone but herself? Was sex more important that David’s feelings?

  Then the kindling of rightness began a slow blossoming. Guilt faded. It didn’t go completely away, but the truth emerged. Making love with Brandon had been the product of rightness, of what they’d shared in their youth. That was why it had been so explosive. Disconcerting it was so explosive. She couldn’t even wrap her brain around it.

  She and David had married on impulse. He didn’t love her any more than she loved him. Even without the history between her and Brandon, their marriage would have ended anyway. It may have lasted awhile longer, maybe even years. But the truth wouldn’t change. They hadn’t loved each other. They’d married out of convenience. He was thinking he could continue his wild ways; she would have at least the semblance of love.

  Eliza was a one-love woman. She would never love anyone the way she loved Brandon. So why not marry a close second? Was she supposed to live her life single? Waiting for another love like that to come along? What if it never did? The thought of growing old alone saddened her. It always had, ever since she’d left Vengeance.

  Being alone didn’t scare Brandon. He preferred being alone. She was glad there’d be no chance for them to make something of what had happened tonight.

  He hadn’t changed. He’d keep running until someday it would dawn on him that he was an old man and he was still alone. Needlessly.

  What had made him so dogged? So afraid of love?

  Chapter 6

  September 9th

  The next morning, Eliza woke to soft knocking. Blinking her tired eyes open, she stretched, utterly rested, basking in—

  She sprang up on the bed. Brandon’s guest room bed. Not his bed.

  Had she dreamed it?

  The bedroom door opened. She lifted the sheets over her pajama-covered breasts. Was David home?

  Seeing Brandon’s tense face, she almost relaxed. They were going to have to face what they did sooner or later.

  “The police are here.”

  Shock cauterized her. “What?”

  “It’s...” He lowered his head, obviously struggling with heavy emotion. Grief.

  Alarmed, Eliza threw off the sheet and stood from the bed. “What is it? What happened?”

  He lifted his head, his mouth tight and eyes a portal to great pain. “David.”

  “What about David? Is he here? Did he see us?” Panic made her grip her pajamas at her neck.

  “He’s dead.”

  Going still, sucking in her breath, she covered her mouth with her free hand.

  “The police are here to question you. You better get dressed.”

  Frozen inside, she lowered both of her hands. “Me?”

  He entered the room and closed the door. “There were a lot of witnesses at the bar the other night.”

  Witnesses had told of David’s unhappiness and how upset she’d become. Did that give her motive to kill him?

  Numbly, she found some clothes and went into the bathroom to dress. The slight soreness between her legs was an ugly reminder of the scandalous act that put it there. David was dead. While he was dying or already dead, she’d been screwing his brother.

  Back in the bedroom, Brandon leaned against the wall next to the door, his head back and eyes closed. He opened them and lifted his head when he saw her.

  His brother was dead.

  “Did they tell you what happened?”

  “He was murdered. Strangled. Some geology students found him with two other bodies near Darby College yesterday afternoon.”

  Darby College. Yesterday afternoon...

  Three bodies...

  “David was one of them.”

  She shared a lengthy gaze with him, overwhelmed. Confused. Sad and guilt-ridden. Scared.

  “They think I...?”

  “They asked to speak with you. That’s all.” He opened the door and waited for her to precede him down the hall and into the living room. To possible doom.

  “When was he killed?” she asked.

  “His body was found yesterday, and the time of death is estimated twenty-four hours before that.”

  Dear God. While she’d kissed Brandon in the yurt, he’d been dead. And last night...

  She stepped into the living room to a throng of police officers and detectives, sick to her stomach.

  “Mrs. Reed?”

  She turned to see a six-foot-tall detective with salt-and-pepper hair. His pale blue eyes had faint lines around them, and the dark shade underneath hinted at sleepless nights.

  “I’m Detective Zimmerman. I’m helping out with the murder investigation on your husband and the others. Why don’t we have a seat and talk for a while?”

  A very nice way of saying he wanted to question her.

  She sat on the sofa, and he sat on the chair adjacent to her.

  Another man approached, standing in front of her on the other side of Brandon’s big, bulky wood coffee table. This man was bigger. Blond hair thinning. He flashed a toothy smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Detective Kelly here will be taking some notes,” Zimmerman said.

  Eliza merely nodded. Politely saying it was nice to meet them seemed pointless.

  “We’re very sorry for your loss,” Zimmerman said. He sounded very practiced and neutral, as though he’d done this more times than he could count.

  Eliza felt awkward. Did she have the right to call it a loss? “Thank you.” And did he even mean it? He probably only said it because he had to.

  “Why don’t we start with the last time you saw him?”

  Eliza rubbed her hands in her lap, a gesture that the detective didn’t miss. “Two nights ago.”

  Detective Kelly began writing on his small notebook.

  “Where did you see him? What were you doing?”

  He must already know. “He didn’t show up at my brother’s birthday party.” She looked up at Brandon, who stood with his hands in his front pockets, watching her with that same tense set to his mouth and eyes. Then she met the detective’s patient regard. “Afterward, I... Brandon and I went looking for him and found him at the Cork. He was with another woman.”

  “Who was the woman?”

  Again, that was something he already must know. “Jillian Marks.”

  “Did he leave with her?”

  “Yes.” She explained the entire exchange. “Our marriage isn’t doing so well right now.”

  “How did you feel when he told you he wanted an annulment?”

  “I was hurt.”

  “Hurt enough to do something about it?”

  Anger shot through her. “Like kill him? No. Maybe you should be questioning her.”

  “We’re questioning everyone,” he said without inflection. “Is this the first time you’ve caught him with another woman?”

  “No.” She lowered her head and moved her eyes to see Brandon, who still watched her. Did he wonder if she’d killed his brother?

  “How many times before now?”

  “Just once.” As far as she knew. He could have been sleeping with many more than one. “He had an affair with someone before we came here on vacation. And after he was with Jillian, he took another woman to a hotel room
.”

  The detective studied her as he digested that. Then he asked for the woman’s name, and Brandon was the one who gave it to him.

  “How long have you been married?” Zimmerman asked.

  “Six months. We married quickly in Vegas.”

  “Did you love him?”

  The deceptively personal question was anything but.

  “I...thought I did.” She looked up at Brandon again and added, “I thought I felt enough to make it work.”

  Now it was obvious that she hadn’t. Brandon was the man she loved, the man she’d never stopped loving.

  Brandon’s eyes blinked and softened briefly.

  But being with him was detrimental. Destructive. The cost to her heart too great. She should remember that the next time they were in bed together. If that ever happened again.

  “You’re well acquainted with Senator Merris and Sheriff Burris, aren’t you?”

  Turning back to the detective, she answered, “Yes. I grew up in Vengeance. They’re friends of mine.”

  “Friends or business associates?”

  “Friends. I’ve planned parties for them both from time to time, especially John. Why?”

  “David used your services before, too, didn’t he?”

  That gave her pause. “I planned a party for an athlete he knew. That’s how we met...or how we reconnected. He found out I was in Hollywood and called. We arranged everything over the phone, and I saw him in person at the party.”

  Detective Kelly hadn’t stopped jotting things down in his notebook since the interrogation had started.

  “The senator and the sheriff were also murdered.”

  Eliza gasped. The sheriff and the senator were dead? Questions slammed her. How had David ended up with the senator and the sheriff? How did he know them? Through her parties?

  Did the detective think her event planning was somehow related?

  “I—I don’t understand. How? Why?”

  “You’ve had no contact with your husband since the night of your brother’s birthday party?” He didn’t answer her question.

  “No.”

  “Were you concerned about his whereabouts?”

  “Of course. We tried to find him.”

  “Yes, and dropped by the police station to see if he’d somehow ended up there.”

  He knew. “At first I assumed he was with Jillian.”

  “You say he was on his way into the party when he ran into Jillian Marks?”

  “Yes.”

  “And met up with this other woman after he left Ms. Marks.”

  “Yes.”

  “At a hotel.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “That will be easy to corroborate.”

  Did he doubt her? “Naomi said he got a room.”

  Zimmerman glanced at the other detective, who nodded. Silent communication for checking into what she said.

  Eliza was beginning to dislike Zimmerman. He was clearly a detective who’d formed his own assumptions about her. And they had guilt plastered all over them.

  “Did Jillian mention anything to you about what she and David discussed at the Cork?” she asked.

  “Let’s stick with you for now.” He evaded her.

  “Jillian Marks is hiding something,” Eliza said. “She wants Brandon all to herself.”

  Zimmerman looked up at Brandon. “She claims to be seeing you, Mr. Reed. Is that true?”

  Brandon remained rigid. “We broke up the night before the party.”

  “The two of you were together the night of the party?”

  “No. Well, not really. She came to the party and we talked.”

  “When she left the party, did she have any reason to believe the two of you might be together?”

  Brandon hesitated. “Possibly. She took the breakup hard. I didn’t want her to cause a scene at the party. She may have gotten the idea that I’d changed my mind. I haven’t.”

  “So you were nice to her.”

  “Yes.”

  “She told us she ran into David on the way out of the party,” Eliza said.

  “She told us the same.”

  “Did she say why she left with him?”

  “She said he didn’t like it that Brandon was there.”

  So, Jillian was sticking to her story. “Don’t you find it strange that she went with him when it’s Brandon she wants?”

  “A few drinks as friends is fairly harmless.” Zimmerman’s hand went out, palm-up, adding to the condescension Eliza was detecting. “And she didn’t let him go home with her. Even you agree that’s what happened, correct?”

  Now she really didn’t like him. “David knew something about her that she didn’t want Brandon to know.”

  “Something that would give her motive to kill him?”

  Eliza said nothing. He was goading her.

  Detective Kelly still scribbled away.

  “What motive would she have for killing the sheriff and senator?” Zimmerman asked.

  “What motive would I have?” she countered.

  Zimmerman stood. He had no motive to implicate her in all three murders. He wished he did, but he didn’t.

  “Are you planning to stay in Vengeance awhile, Mrs. Reed?”

  He said her title and name sneeringly.

  “Yes, until David’s killer is captured.”

  “Good. We’ll contact you if we need anything else.”

  “I’ll do the same.”

  He met her belligerence dead-on. “One more thing. There were three greeting cards found on each body. Each had a word written on it. Liar. Cheater. Thief. Do you know why anyone would do that?”

  She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of answering that directly. “Let me guess. The one found on my husband’s body was Cheater.”

  “Good day, Mrs. Reed.” He nodded at Brandon. “Mr. Reed.”

  His sarcasm was barely masked. Eliza trailed him to the door and slammed it after he left.

  “The nerve of that man!” She turned to Brandon, who now stood in the living room. “Can you believe that?”

  He just looked at her.

  “What?”

  “Did you go anywhere the day David was killed?”

  Stunned, she took a second or two to reply. Why was he asking? “No. I was here.” When he said nothing, she snapped, “I didn’t kill David, Brandon. Don’t piss me off.”

  “If you went somewhere, the police might be able to put you close to the crime scene.”

  “I didn’t go anywhere. Ask your housekeeper.”

  “She didn’t see you.”

  He’d already checked? “Then ask someone else. My rental stayed in the driveway. All day.”

  After studying her, his speculation cleared and he sighed. “Sorry. It’s just such a shock.”

  Shock.

  Yes. It was also bizarre. And terrible.

  And infinitely sad.

  David died believing she wanted Brandon more than him.

  * * *

  Ryker was about to leave his auto repair shop in the hands of his manager. That morning his wife had told him she was going to spend the night at her mother’s. It was a girl thing, she’d said, her sister was going to be there, too. He didn’t believe her. He was afraid she was seeing someone else.

  “Going home early?”

  Distracted, Ryker hadn’t seen Jillian Marks enter the shop. He’d repaired her car a few days ago, and they’d had a friendly talk. He’d seen her around town before that. She’d moved here not very long ago, and it fascinated him that she’d chosen Vengeance.

  I like the name, she’d said. Dallas is too big.

  He’d give anything to live in a big city. Why was she here?

  “Hey, Jillian. What brings you here? Is your car acting up again?”

  “Are you busy? Can we talk?”

  Talk? They weren’t close friends. What could she possibly need to talk to him about if it had nothing to do with her car?

  “Sure.”

 
She glanced around. “How about we go over to the coffee shop across the street?”

  Whoa. She really wanted to have a talk. What could it be about? “I don’t really have time.” He needed to know where his wife was.

  “Please. It won’t take long. I just need to ask you some questions about your sister.”

  His sister? One of his mechanics had come in this morning and told him about her husband. He’d thought about talking to her, but he didn’t know what to say. Besides, he hadn’t felt like picking up the phone to talk to Eliza in years. She wasn’t picking up the phone to ask for his help or advice anyway.

  Even as conflicting feelings nudged him, he said, “All right.”

  The Corner Newsstand was an older coffee shop that sold used books. He walked with her over there.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard what’s happened,” she said on the way.

  “Yeah. You holding up okay?” He opened the door for her, wondering if she’d told the truth about David merely dropping her off and that she’d spent the night alone.

  “Sort of.” She entered and found a table. “Have you talked to Eliza?”

  “No.”

  She searched his face as though surprised and wondering why.

  “What would you like?”

  “Vanilla latte.”

  He hurried to get the coffees and returned, sitting across from her at a small table.

  She sipped first before starting. “David was upset about his brother and your sister.”

  “Really?” Eliza and Brandon had dated in high school, but that was ancient history. He had noticed how Brandon had watched her the night of his birthday party, though.

  “I ran into him after I left your party. He invited me for drinks. He wanted to know why Brandon broke up with me. Brandon didn’t say it outright, but I know it was because of Eliza. She came back, and all the old feelings started returning. David said he didn’t think she was still hung up on him until he started talking about coming home to spend time with his brother. Eliza didn’t want to go. He kept asking her why, and she never told him. Then it dawned on him that she was still in love with his brother. He was angry that she married him without telling him that. He said he had an affair and would keep having them to hurt her the way she hurt him.”

  “Why not divorce her if he’s that unhappy?”

 

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