by B. J Daniels
Dorothea rushed to give him a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
He looked at the three of them and realized they didn’t know that he and Ariel had been over long before graduation night. Nor did they know that there was someone else he’d been interested in his senior year.
“So you’ve heard,” Shade said. “I saw her SUV being pulled out of the pond. Apparently, she and the car have been there for more than ten years—ever since graduation night. But just so you all know, we’d broken up.”
“What?” Dorothea said. “But I saw the way you were graduation night, primping in front of the mirror. There was definitely a woman in mind.” She looked confused.
“Just not Ariel.”
They all three looked confused now.
“I’d had a crush on Lizzy Conners most of my senior year.”
“The new sheriff?” Will blurted.
Shade nodded as he plopped down in a chair. “I’m still in shock. For ten years everyone was looking at me like it was my fault that Ariel disappeared. I’ve been waiting for her to turn up all this time so I wouldn’t have her disappearance hanging over my head.”
“And now you don’t,” Dorothea said.
“There is one downside in all this,” he said.
“That Ariel is dead?” Garrett asked sarcastically.
He ignored him. His brother had no idea what Ariel had really been like. Shade hadn’t either until he’d started dating her, but he’d realized soon enough and then just wanted out.
“I realized after talking to Lizzy at the sheriff’s department that some people might think I had something to do with her ending up in the pond,” Shade said.
“Some people?” Will asked.
He chewed at his cheek. “It wasn’t anything she said exactly, but I realized that the new sheriff is considering me a suspect.”
“Why would she?” Garrett demanded.
“Well, she’s wrong,” Dorothea said quickly as if that was the end of it.
“Lizzy was once Ariel’s friend,” he said. “And graduation night at the party, I kissed Lizzy. Ariel saw. She was already in a snit, but that set her off even more. In my defense, Ariel and I broke up long before graduation night. No one knew because she begged me not to tell anyone until after graduation. She didn’t want to go to the party by herself, she said. But then at the party, she broke up with me in a loud, embarrassing, drama-filled scene.”
Garrett let out a low whistle. “I can see why you’re the number one suspect,” he said, ignoring Dorothea’s pointed look.
“The reason I broke up with Ariel was because I had feelings for Lizzy. Unfortunately, Ariel knew and she made sure there was no way we could be together.”
Will cursed. “Sounds like a motive for murder.”
“Doesn’t it though,” Shade admitted and raked a hand through his hair. “I know it doesn’t look good. The night of the graduation party when Ariel took off, I went after her. I was worried that she would kill herself. I tried to stop her from driving.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t,” Garrett said.
“I grabbed her keys and she scratched my face and took them back. I backed off and left. That’s the last I saw of her. I don’t have an alibi since I went for a long drive after the incident. I can’t prove where I was.”
Dorothea looked worried. “Maybe Sid can—”
“No!” Will and Garrett cried almost in unison.
“Don’t involve Sid,” Shade agreed. “I’m innocent so there isn’t going to be a problem.” He ignored the are-you-really-that-naive looks his brothers gave him.
“You’ve kept this to yourself all these years?” Dorothea said, putting a hand on his arm.
“I always knew Ariel would turn up. Not quite like this though,” Shade admitted. “I just assumed she disappeared to hurt me. Now with her murdered...”
“Was she really that horrible?” Dorothea asked.
“She’s the kind of woman who tried to make everyone miserable. She would from the grave if she could. We all got trapped in her web, I think, because our class was so small. We were also young and foolish and, truthfully, a little afraid of her.”
He saw that his family now looked afraid, as well. “Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything so I’m sure Lizzy will realize that and it will be fine.” He waited for them to agree with him but could see it might be a very long wait. So he didn’t add that after seeing Lizzy today, he’d been reminded of their kiss and wondered if the chemistry was still there.
“By the way,” he told them. “Some of us are getting together to finalize plans for the class reunion.”
“You’re going ahead with it?” Garrett asked, sounding surprised.
“Why? You don’t think we should?”
“I guess there’s no reason not to,” Garrett said.
“It could be good for everyone to get together and share their memories of Ariel,” Dorothea said.
Shade chuckled. “That is probably what is going to happen. But I’m not sure how cathartic that will be.” He glanced at the time. “I’m not sure how many of the class are coming over today to discuss last-minute plans.”
Dorothea said not to worry, she’d take care of coffee and tea. His brothers excused themselves to get back to ranch chores somewhat pointedly.
A half hour later Shade opened the door for what appeared to be the last classmate, the one that was always late. As he did, he looked out at the horizon and the dark clouds gathering there. The end of October could be downright pleasant or turn bitter and snowy. Today was nice, but there was a hint of some weather in the air. A promise of what was to come. He could smell it on the breeze.
Ashley Houston let out a sigh as she stepped into the foyer. “This valley just keeps growing. The traffic is terrible. It just keeps getting worse.” She held out a manila envelope. “Some printed photos and the rest on a thumb drive.”
“Great,” he said, taking the envelope and adding it to the others stacked by the front door. “Everyone brought some and Kayla picked up a box from Ariel’s mom. I’m going to take them all up the mountain to the guest ranch this afternoon and go through them for the slideshow.”
Ashley dusted off her hands before slipping out of her coat to hang it by the door. They’d all decided to meet here today rather than at the restaurant where they normally met because of the news about Ariel. Gossip would be running wild and none of them felt like being quizzed right now.
“I hope you haven’t started without me,” Ashley said coyly.
“No get-together could start without you, Ashley,” he said with mock sincerity.
She beamed. “Oh, Shade.” Her expression turned serious. “You’re certainly taking all of this so much better than I expected you would be. Ariel told me graduation night that the two of you were getting married.” She patted her stomach and winked. “Our little secret.”
He stared after her too shocked to speak as she seemed to get teary-eyed either over Ariel’s death or a baby’s as she pushed on past him into the living room. Ariel had told Ashley that she was pregnant with his child and they were getting married? So what was the point of the very public breakup? To make him look like he was bailing on her and the baby? If there even was a baby that Ariel knew wasn’t his.
He felt stunned at the lie. But was it possible Ariel really was pregnant with someone else’s child?
All his suspicions came flooding back. They hadn’t been together for months before the breakup. But he’d suspected she’d been seeing someone else even before then.
* * *
WAY TO RUIN my big surprise, Ashley. You always did have a big mouth. You just had to tell Shade, didn’t you? Why did you wait all these years though? Afraid I would come back, find out and make your life miserable?
Maybe you did know me.
Unfortunately, Shade won’t believe the bab
y was his—not the way our relationship was going in the months before graduation. He’ll know he wasn’t the daddy. Worse, he’ll tell Lizzy and once she gets my medical records...
Ah, just another mystery for her to solve. Whose baby was I carrying? Another suspect to add to her list? Why not.
One more thing to wonder about at the reunion since Ashley won’t be able to keep that trap of hers closed. If she hasn’t already told the others, she will and then it will move like wildfire through the group. The father of my baby certainly won’t ruin the mystery. He has too much to lose.
The best part is that Shade will know I was cheating on him for a lot longer than even he suspected. I loved the expression on his face when Ashley told him. He really was shocked. Surprise! He thought he was the only one who was lusting after someone else? Fool. I wanted him to know that there was someone else and would have eventually told him—if my killer hadn’t changed my plans.
But the thing about karma is that it always comes back to bite you in the butt. At least it did me. I can only hope it’s got its sights set on everyone who betrayed me—including Shade and Lizzy.
* * *
KNOWING IT WOULD be a while before she received anything definitive from the crime lab or DCI, Lizzy jumped into the investigation. News of Ariel’s death would make national news after her father’s fall from grace. Nothing like a high-profile case to get national attention. As sheriff, she would be getting pressure on all sides to solve this crime.
From social media, she knew where she could find the reunion committee this morning.
As she drove toward the valley that held Sterling Ranch, she mulled over the fact that she had no idea who had killed Ariel. After ten years underwater in a pond fed by a warm spring, Ariel’s skeleton wouldn’t be offering up much in evidence either. If the killer left any clues behind, he or she could be fairly certain that they had been destroyed by the water over that span of time.
Lizzy thought it ironic that the killer had used ropes to tie Ariel to the steering wheel. Otherwise, she would have believed, just as Shade had, that Ariel had accidentally driven into the pond drunk and mad. It was a reasonable assumption; everyone had heard Ariel leave the graduation party that night, tearing off angry after having been drinking.
People might even have believed suicide—had she not been bound to the steering wheel. Although Lizzy couldn’t imagine Ariel killing herself. It would have been more likely for Ariel to kill someone else.
Really, why had the killer made it so obvious? All he or she would have had to do was knock Ariel out, push her car into the pond, wait for her to drown and walk away. No one would have been the wiser.
Because the killer wanted everyone to know?
The thought sent a chill up her spine. That she probably knew this killer was creepy enough. She’d been close enough to Ariel that she had a pretty good idea of whom she’d hung around with. The logical assumption would be that the killer was one of the classmates Ariel had bullied. But Lizzy wasn’t ruling out anyone at this point.
Right now some of the suspects were together, probably talking about Ariel and her death at the reunion meeting. Ahead, she saw the turnoff to the Sterling Ranch and slowed.
The Sterlings had two ranches: Sterling’s Montana Guest Ranch, high in the mountains, an isolated secluded summer guest resort; and the main ranch where they raised cattle down in the valley. While the reunion was planned at the resort in the mountains, the meeting was being held at the home ranch in the valley—not far from where Ariel’s car was found.
Lizzy wasn’t disappointed as she pulled in and saw vehicles belonging to those she now considered as some of her prime suspects. At the front door, she tapped her knuckles on the wood but didn’t wait for an answer before walking in. After all, this was Montana. No one locked doors. Or at least they hadn’t always. With the valley growing, the small town’s once low crime rate was increasing.
She walked in through the foyer to the edge of the living room and stopped to take in the classmates already gathered without them being aware of her presence.
Ashley Houston and Stephanie Curtis Tanner, blond, blue-eyed and dressed all the way up, were seated on the couch together. Tyler Brent had taken a chair some distance away and so had Kayla Harrison. Short and stout, Kayla had dyed black chin-length straight hair and still wore all black as if she hadn’t given up her Goth days in high school. Tyler, in his usual khakis, button-down shirt and loafers, looked bored. Both had been tormented by Ariel in her own special way, while Ashley and Stephanie had been her BFFs, along with Jennifer Fox.
Lizzy was a little surprised that Jennifer wasn’t here. Maybe the trio was no longer as close as it had been in high school. They’d been Ariel’s best friends before Lizzy had come along.
There was a tray of coffee and tea along with a plate of sugar cookies on the coffee table in the middle of everyone. Standing next to the large brick fireplace was Shade. He was wearing what he had been earlier when he’d stopped by her office, a plaid Western shirt, jeans and boots.
She remembered the way the shirt had stretched across his broad shoulders. She could almost still smell the fresh outdoorsy scent of him. He seemed to be watching the others with interest. No one had apparently heard her come in so she held back at the edge of the room to observe.
“How were the cookies?” Ashley was saying with a laugh as she motioned to the small crumb-filled plate in Kayla’s lap. Kayla quickly dropped the cookie she’d been eating on her plate.
“Did I hear everyone brought photographs?” Stephanie asked Shade. “Do you want help going through them?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to edit them later up at the guest ranch for the slideshow.”
Ashley turned to Kayla. “You got Ariel’s?”
Kayla looked startled to have everyone’s attention on her, clearly still uncomfortable even after ten years out of high school to find herself in the spotlight. “You asked me to call her mother and I did. I went up there yesterday before...before they found her.” Her voice broke. “It was really sad. Her mother told me and Jennifer that she hoped Ariel would hear about our class reunion.”
“Jennifer was there?” Stephanie asked sounding surprised.
“She and Ariel’s mom were going through some of Ariel’s things,” Kayla said. “Catherine said she hoped that her daughter could come home for the reunion.”
“She kind of did,” Ashley said. “Just in time.”
“She always did love making an entrance and being the center of attention,” Stephanie said under her breath.
“Can you believe it?” Tyler said, dropping his voice as if in respect for the dead. “I heard that it wasn’t an accident. Someone killed Ariel. Tied her to her steering wheel and probably watched her drown.” He pretended to shudder. “Can you imagine?”
Lizzy swore silently. Of course all aspects of the case had gotten leaked. She bet she could thank Brad for that.
“Who do you think did it?” Ashley whispered and looked across at the two young women huddled in front of the cookies.
They all glanced around the room at each other. Kayla seemed to realize that most of them were looking at her. Her eyes wide, like a deer caught in headlights, she cried, “Why are you all looking at me? How would I know who killed her? You were her friends.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Tyler said. “I just did my best to stay off her radar.”
Ashley glanced at Shade with an expression Lizzy recognized. She felt her stomach roil. The look was conspiratorial, as if they alone shared some secret.
Shade didn’t return the glance. “Sorry, all I know is that I had nothing to do with it.” Out of the corner of his eye, he must have seen Lizzy. Or sensed her.
He shifted his gaze to where she was standing at the edge of the room in her sheriff’s department uniform—cowboy boots, tan shirt and pants, Western hat and star.
Most of the men in the sheriff’s department wore jeans instead of standard issue cotton trousers. But today, Lizzy had wanted to be dressed in her full uniform for her first day on the job.
He smiled as if glad to see her. She felt the heat of his look and shifted her gaze away from those blue eyes of his. She’d often wondered if he remembered their kiss the night of the graduation party. From the look he’d just given her, he did.
While Shade had seen her, the rest were still oblivious, giving her the opportunity to continue studying them unnoticed.
“Too bad you didn’t do it, Shade,” Ashley said. “You had good reason from what Ariel told us. Of course, so did a lot of other people in our class.”
“Yourself included,” Stephanie said.
Ashley looked over at Stephanie as if shocked she’d say that. “Why are you looking at me?” Her hand went to her hair. It was long again after Ariel had insisted she get it cut because long hair made her look haggard.
“Feeling a little paranoid?” Tyler asked and laughed.
“She fat-shamed you enough, Steph, that I’d think you wouldn’t be that sad to hear she’s gone,” Ashley snapped. “Not to mention the hard time she gave you, Kayla, for your...habits.”
Kayla’s face burned with heat. She picked up her cookie from the plate and took a bite, eyes downcast.
“It wasn’t just us,” Tyler said, jumping into the fray. “Ariel gave everyone a hard time, including Christopher, Josh and especially Brad. Can you imagine what he’s going to write about her in his newspaper?” He glanced over at Kayla and Shade. “There isn’t a person in this room who’s missed her these past ten years,” he said and waited for someone to argue the point. No one did.
“So should we talk about the reunion?” Stephanie said with a sigh. “Or should we just cancel it?”
“Maybe we should consider either canceling it or at least postponing it,” Kayla said, without looking up.