“We can sit at the table,” Sarah said, sliding onto the mud-colored bench cushion. “Can I get you anything? Water? Tea?”
Reid pressed his hand to the small of Eve’s back and ushered her in the seat opposite Sarah then sat beside her.
“We’re fine,” Eve said. “Thank you for speaking with us. I’m sure it can’t be easy.”
Sarah wrapped her arms around her chest and moved her fingertips along her biceps, as if chasing away a chill. “It doesn’tseem real. Dana was so young. So full of life. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
“You told the authorities you saw a man leave Dana’s trailer the night before she was found,” Reid said. “Did you know who he was?”
She shook her head. “No. I’d never seen him before, but he has to be the same guy who’d been bothering her.”
“What do you mean by bothering?” Eve asked.
“A guy asked Dana out a few months ago. She said no, she’d just gotten out of a long relationship and wasn’t interested in dating, but he didn’t take her rejection well.”
Reid tightened his jaw, hating that this predator had been on the loose for so long. “Did he get aggressive? Ever hurt her?”
Sarah scraped the tip of her fingernail against a groove on the laminate table. “Things escalated. At first, she laughed it off, but he kept showing up, kept asking. Over the last few weeks, he got angrier. He’d show up unexpectedly and try and intimidate her.”
“Did she ever speak with the police?” Reid asked.
“No,” Sarah said, shaking her head. “We’re never in one place too long, and she hoped eventually he’d stop. And it’s not like he overtly threatened her or laid hands on her. She didn’t think it was something anyone would take seriously.”
“Harassment and stalking are serious crimes,” Eve said, her voice clipped and tight. “It’s emotional and mental abuse. I hate that your friend didn’t feel as though anyone would help her.”
Tears filled Sarah’s eyes. “Me, too.”
“Did you ever meet this guy?” Reid asked. “Did she ever tell you his name?”
Again, she shook her head. “He always seemed to appear when no one else was around. When she was alone with the horses or coming home from a competition. She’d mention him in passing but didn’t want to linger over the topic. Almostas though discussing him gave him more attention than he deserved.”
Eve tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowed. “You said he’d appear when she’d get home. Did she have a home base or was she mainly on the road while traveling from rodeo to rodeo?”
“Always on the road, but that might just be because he didn’t start pestering her until a couple months ago. We’ve been traveling ever since. We both live in Nashville, and there’s been no time in between competitions for visits back there.”
Disappointment pressed down on Reid’s lungs, but he latched onto a piece of information. “Do you remember where you were when he first asked out Dana?”
Sarah scratched the spot on the table with more intention. “Denver. I remember because he said something crude about taking her higher in the mile-high city.”
Eve cringed. “Classy.”
Sarah sighed. “That’s what we said. We laughed over what an idiot he sounded like—made some smart-ass comments about how if he was going to follow the rodeo around, he should get a job as a rodeo clown. I guess the joke’s on us, though. He got what he wanted in the end.”
Eve reached over the table and rested her hand on top of Sarah’s. “Are you sure it was the same man?”
“Yes,” she said, staring Eve straight in the eye. “Dana mentioned his long, bushy beard and this creepy look in his eyes. She said he always had on a dirty cowboy hat and worn jean jacket. The man who walked out of her trailer was an exact match. I should have known then something was off. Should have charged inside and asked what happened. But I was in a hurry, running late for the last barrel race of the night. Maybe if I’d stayed…” Sobs stole her voice and she hung her head, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands.
“You couldn’t have saved her,” Reid said, not knowing if that was true but understanding this woman had done nothing wrong. There was no reason for her to carry around guilt for the rest of her life over the actions of a bad man. “And you’re helping now. Helping to get justice for your friend and doing what you can to make sure this doesn’t happen to another woman.”
Sarah stared blankly back at him as if she didn’t quite believe him. “I hope you’re right.”
So did he, because if the man she’d described got away with murder once, he’d stop at nothing to do it again. And this time, his sights were set on the one woman who meant more to him than any woman ever had.
Eve.
Chapter 12
Eve stepped out of the trailer and sucked in a large breath of cool, fresh air. Her gaze latched onto the yellow tape across the path, whipping in the wind. A shiver raced down her spine and she hurried to turn away from the reminder of death.
