Logan scooted his chair over to make room for Drake who was a big man, tall with wide shoulders. When he entered a room, he made an immediate impression. “Good timing. We arrived less than an hour ago.”
Grimacing, Drake reached for a cookie from the platter. “About that…you were seen driving through town. That’s how I knew you were here.”
Logan muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “fucking small towns” but Ava stayed quiet. There was no use letting something that was inevitable bother them. They’d known this was going to happen and their presence was going to bring up a bunch of crap and gossip about the past. That’s just how it was.
“I’m glad you’re here, though,” Drake said with a grin. “I’ve never been the lead on a murder and I don’t want to let the citizens of Corville down. Lyle was well-liked in this community and everyone wants to see justice done.”
Carol placed a glass of iced tea in front of Drake. “We certainly do. He was shot down in cold blood. Whoever did this needs to be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
Logan drained the last of his glass. “I’m here to help. So tell me, what do we know so far?”
“Not a whole hell of a lot. No witnesses because it was so goddamn early in the morning. I had a couple of deputies scour the area for evidence but they didn’t find anything. No one heard anything either. Another runner came up on his body and she called the cops. That’s pretty much it. It’s not much to go on.”
“Have you pulled Lyle’s finances?” Ava asked, her mystery writer hat firmly on. “Have you talked to Aaron?”
“Ava,” Carol chided, sounding slightly outraged. “Are you suggesting that the cops comb through Mary and Lyle’s private money affairs?”
Of course.
“It’s stand–”
“Standard procedure,” Carol finished for her. “I’m beginning to hate that phrase so I think I’ll go inside. This conversation is upsetting.”
“You definitely will hate it before this is over,” Logan said. “When a murder happens in the family all bets are off. Secrets are going to come out whether they like it or not. Nothing is sacred and I, better than most, should know that.”
Leaning down, Carol dropped a kiss on Ava’s forehead. “I think I’ll find a good book and read. One with a happy ending.”
Ava took a sip of her tea as her mother went into the house. “So you don’t have any suspects?”
Drake rubbed his chin, his gaze not quite meeting hers. “I wouldn’t say that we have no suspects.”
Ava and Logan exchanged a glance. The hairs on her arm were standing straight at attention. The former deputy now sheriff couldn’t look her in the eye. That wasn’t like Drake James.
“You got someone in mind?” Logan finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had built up between them. “It’s okay if it’s just a hunch. I’m going to need to know.”
Exhaling noisily, Drake winced and nodded. “Fine, it’s Mary. There have been rumors around town about marital problems.”
That was crazy talk. Mary? A murderer? She wouldn’t want to mess up her manicure or her hair. Sure, she had a temper and could be mean but she wasn’t a killer.
“And you think my sister decided to solve those problems by shooting her husband?”
“She owns a gun,” Drake replied. “It matches the caliber of bullet the medical examiner pulled from the body.”
That wasn’t good. In fact, that was very bad. But he hadn’t said it was a ballistics match. Just the same caliber. It would, however, probably be enough to get a warrant for Mary’s gun.
“It’s Montana, everyone owns a gun or several.”
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Logan said, cutting off the debate. “We do this investigation by the book. We dot every I and cross every T. That means talking to your sister, but it also means casting a wide net for suspects. At this point, we don’t know anything for sure.”
“Then we better go talk to my sister.”
Considering the state of the relationship between Ava and Mary, and Mary and Logan, this could get ugly really fast.
Chapter Five
Carol stayed with the twins while Logan and Ava went to see Mary. He wasn’t looking forward to this. He and Mary had never liked each other and he didn’t see an end to that anytime in the future. Like oil and water, they didn’t mix and staying away from each other had been working perfectly.
“Try to be nice,” Ava said as they knocked on Mary’s front door. The house was lovely, a typical ranch style but a far cry from the luxury the Bryson family had enjoyed at one point. The practical minivan in the driveway didn’t scream country club or ladies who lunch either. A large chunk of the Bryson fortune had gone to Wade’s defense fund and what was left had been hollowed out by the lost business. Aaron and Lyle had been slowly building a new one.
“I’m always nice.”
It was mostly true. Logan had met all kinds when he was sheriff and he’d learned not to take too much personally. Some people just loved to be unhappy and Mary Hayworth Bryson was one of them.
The door opened and Logan immediately tensed, seeing Ava’s father Bruce on the other side of the threshold. Another of the Hayworth clan that wasn’t thrilled when Ava had married Logan. He didn’t bother to hide it either.
This should be interesting.
“About time you got here,” Bruce growled at his daughter, ignoring Logan which was fine. The less Bruce and he interacted the better. “Your sister is distraught with grief.”
Not bothering with pleasantries, Bruce turned on his heel and led the way into the cozy family room at the back of the house. A large overstuffed brown couch dominated the room along with a television that hung over the fireplace. Mary sat on the end of the sofa, sniffling into a sodden tissue, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.
Ava immediately sat down next to her sister and placed an arm around the widow, whispering words of encouragement that Logan couldn’t hear. Mary nodded as if she agreed but then burst into a fresh spate of tears, her shoulders shaking with her sobs.
Bruce’s bushy brows were pulled together into a frown. “There’s a pot of coffee in the kitchen. Lindsay made it.”
Lindsay was Aaron’s wife. Did that mean that Aaron was here as well? Logan wasn’t quite ready to face his remaining half-brother that wasn’t dead or in prison.
Deciding to ignore his father-in-law, Logan sat down on the other side of Mary. They needed to talk and putting it off for later wasn’t going to help either of them.
“Mary, do you know why I’m here? Can you answer a few questions?”
She blew her nose and then nodded, dabbing at her wet cheeks. “Ava told me that you’re going to help Sheriff Drake with the investigation.”
“I’m going to do everything in my power to bring whoever did this to justice. You have my word on that.”
Logan could have sworn he heard a snort from Bruce but he didn’t bother to turn around, although his wife was giving her father a nasty look.
Ah…familial love and devotion.
“I need you to get the man that did this. He has to pay.”
Interesting choice of words.
“What makes you think it’s a man? Has there been someone giving Lyle a hard time? Did he have any enemies or piss off someone recently? Think about it, because even a small detail could be more important than you think.”
Mary shook her head. “Everyone loved Lyle. He had lots of friends and no enemies.”
“He was a good husband,” Bruce’s joined in. “The kind that takes care of his wife.”
As opposed to me? A playboy with a bad reputation?
“Lyle was a good man.” Logan wasn’t going to argue the point because he agreed with it. His old friend had been a good person, which made this tragedy all the more a mystery. “He didn’t deserve this, but I doubt this is a random act. I’m looking for the reason it happened. What about business? How was that going?”
“Better,” Mary replied, a small smile crossing her face if only for a moment. “He was also doing real estate agent work and that was really picking up. He just sold a big house and earned a large commission.”
“That’s great. I want you to know that I’m going to be looking into the Bryson business and finances. It’s standard procedure.”
Just like that any friendly moment that Logan and Mary were having was gone. Scowling, her pale cheeks turned red with anger and her body stiffened, pushing Ava away.
“You’re going to dig around in our lives? I don’t think I can allow that. It’s none of your business. I don’t give a fuck about standard procedure.”
“Mary, that’s not how a lady speaks,” her father admonished. Bruce was a stickler for propriety even when it didn’t make any sense. Mary was grieving and angry and it was fine with Logan if she wanted to cuss him out.
“It’s okay,” Logan said. He was going to make her a hell of lot more angry by the time this conversation was done. “I’m also going to question you, your neighbors, your friends, and business associates so if there’s something I need to know it’s better that it comes directly from you. Is there anything you want to tell me?”
This was Mary’s chance to tell him about their marital issues but from the mutinous expression on her face, she wasn’t going to budge.
“I can’t think of one thing I want to say to you.”
Oh, I doubt that’s true. I bet you have a bunch of stuff you’d like to say.
Logan lobbed the hand grenade and ducked for cover.
“Word around town is that you and Lyle were having troubles and thinking about splitting up.”
* * * *
The din of raised voices hurt Logan’s ears. He was the father of twins, but they had nothing on Bruce and Mary when these two had their backs up. Ava was trying to calm them down, but Logan was content for them to continue to rant. If anything, they were talking and saying things they might not when they weren’t so pissed off. So far Mary had admitted that she and Lyle had talked about divorce and that Lyle had even spent a few weeks sleeping at his brother’s house. But they had decided to give their marriage another go.
Finally, he couldn’t take the arguing anymore. Bruce kept telling Mary to be quiet and Ava kept trying to tell her father that he shouldn’t interfere.
“Mary, I don’t have any reason not to believe you.” Logan raised his hands in mock surrender. “If you say that you and Lyle were reconciling then that’s what happened.”
Until someone or several someones tell me differently.
His declaration seemed to take the wind out of her sails, which was exactly what he’d hoped would happen.
“Well…good. It’s the truth. I loved Lyle and he loved me.”
“Of course, you did,” Ava said in a soothing tone as if speaking to one of the twins when they were sick or upset. “Logan just has to ask these questions. It’s hard, but the sooner we get this over with the better.”
Bruce said something under his breath about it all being about Logan’s career but luckily Ava didn’t take the bait. Neither did Logan, of course. He’d learned early on how to navigate around his father-in-law.
Mary sniffed and patted her nose with the tissue. “I know that the town was talking about us, but every marriage goes through bad patches. That’s all this was. Lyle and I were frustrated about…some things…and we had to work through it.”
She was holding back, but at this point Logan wasn’t going to force her to come clean. He’d only do that if he absolutely had to. Contrary to popular opinion in this room, he wasn’t looking forward to interrogating her about their life, marriage, and the intimate details.
“Statistically the cops have to look at you,” Logan reminded her. “They’d be derelict in their duty if they didn’t. The best thing that can happen is to be investigated and then cleared. There won’t be any cloud of suspicious that will follow you around. You don’t want that.”
Mary’s fingers nervously shredded the sodden tissue. “You’re going to head the investigation, right? Then you can help me.”
Do you need help?
The words were on the tip of Logan’s tongue, but he didn’t utter them. It would only start a new argument.
“My goal is to find out who killed Lyle. I don’t come into this case with any preconceived notions or suspicions. I’m open to any route that this takes me on.”
Ava raised a brow at his politician-speak. “You have to do your part too, Mary. You need to cooperate with the police so they can clear you.”
That went over like a turd in the punchbowl.
Bruce threw up his arms and began to pace the length of the living room. “Do they honestly think my little girl shot her husband? They have to be crazy. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Nip this in the bud. Bruce wasn’t a credible witness for Mary.
“Then we need to prove that,” Logan stated firmly. “The police are trained not to take your word for it. They want evidence and that’s what I’m here for. We need to find a way to exonerate Mary once and for all. For example, can anyone vouch for your whereabouts at the time of the murder?”
Mary shook her head. “I was in bed asleep. The sun was barely up.”
Logan was about to follow up his question when he heard the clearing of a throat behind him.
Aaron and his wife Lindsay.
Lindsay hurried into the kitchen, but Aaron stood there silently before beckoning to Logan.
“We need to talk.”
This day just kept getting better and better.
Chapter Six
Ava had never seen her sister so upset. Mary’s mood swung wildly back and forth between anger at the police and life in general to sadness that Lyle was gone. In between there were bouts of disbelief that she was now a widow and alone.
“It’s just so unfair,” Mary wailed into a new tissue as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. “My life wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”
It certainly hadn’t been Mary’s plan, but life just laughed when mere human beings plotted out their futures.
Ava wasn’t sure what to say to her sister. It wasn’t fair and the whole situation was awful, but it didn’t have to mean that her life was over.
“You’ll make new plans,” Ava said in her most calming voice. “You’re young and have so much of life ahead of you. I’m sure that Lyle would want you to live a full life and enjoy yourself.”
Mary’s head jerked up, her brows pinched together. “How would you know what Lyle wanted? You’ve never come to visit us.”
Would we have been welcome?
Ava doubted that Mary and Lyle would have rolled out the welcome mat for Logan. They still blamed him for their change in circumstances.
“Are you saying Lyle would want you to be miserable for the rest of your life?”
Appealing to logic probably wasn’t the way to go here but what the heck.
“Of course not, but he’d want me to mourn. I’d want him to mourn if it was me that was shot.”
“I’m not suggesting that you don’t mourn. I’m simply saying that at some point in the future you may find yourself making new plans.”
“Or I could be in prison,” Mary replied, bitterness dripping from her tone. “The police have it out for me. Sheriff Drake kept asking questions about our marriage. He thinks I did it and I bet Logan does, too.”
“Logan doesn’t think that. He’s looking for the actual killer and he won’t be swayed by emotion. You’re lucky he’s on this case. He’s had a great deal of experience with murder cases and his record is impeccable.”
Mary’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t trust him. I need you to help me.”
As flattered as Ava was to hear her sister finally ask for help, she wasn’t thrilled with how Mary spoke about Logan.
“My husband is completely trustworthy. You can count on him to keep an open mind and find the person who did this awful thing.”
But Mary wa
s already shaking her head. “I only trust family.”
“Logan is family,” Ava pointed out. “He’s your brother-in-law.”
“Real family,” Mary insisted. “Blood family. Will you do it? Will you look into this? Make sure the cops aren’t taking shortcuts? You know about this stuff and I don’t.”
It wasn’t as if Ava was planning to never discuss the case with Logan or not stick her nose into it anyway. If it gave Mary a little peace of mind…
“I’ll keep my eyes open, but I can’t promise anything.”
“That’s all I ask.” Mary noisily blew her nose. “With you to keep an eye on the investigation, I know that it will be fair.”
Ava doubted she had that kind of power when it came to the Corville sheriff’s office, but Logan would see to it that the process was as fair and impartial as possible.
“It would be helpful if you could tell me more about Lyle’s day to day life. His friends and business associates. That would give us a place to start.”
Ava and Logan could work together again. It had been pretty fun the first time.
* * * *
It had been years since Logan had seen or spoken to Aaron. He was well aware that the other man blamed him for the downfall of their family empire and also ripping off the mask of respectability the Bryson family wore. For the rest of his life Aaron would be known as the brother of a serial killer and that was Logan’s fault.
Logan, however, wasn’t one to shrink away from his accomplishments. He’d put the vigilante killer behind bars, and the fact that it was his half-brother Wade was simply a nasty part of the job. He was sad that Wade had turned out to be so evil and dark, but he needed to be put away for the safety of society. End of story. Aaron could be pissed off all he wanted but Logan couldn’t change that.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
Aaron and Logan had stepped outside of the house, Logan leaning against the front porch railing and Aaron sitting in a rocking chair. The tension between them was high and Logan wouldn’t have been surprised if Aaron stood up and punched him in the face.
Justice Divided (Cowboy Justice Association Book 10) Page 3