Ruth rose. “Come on, Alice. Let’s go.”
The three of us piled into the Land Cruiser and headed to the covered bridge. We parked and got out. The night air sent a chill straight through me. I zipped up my jacket and pushed against the wind.
I turned on a flashlight that I’d gotten from the glove box of the Cruiser, and we headed out.
We reached the bridge a couple of minutes later, and I washed the beam over the trees.
“It’s in here somewhere,” I said. “Ruth, Alice. Do you see it?”
“No,” Ruth said.
“I do.” Alice pointed upward. “It’s right up there.”
I followed the line of her finger until my gaze hooked on something glinting. Sure enough, lodged onto a branch, was a man’s silver watch.
“Devlin’s,” I murmured. “The police would have no reason to look up at the murder site.”
“So they missed it. I’m proud of myself for solving this mystery,” Alice said triumphantly. “I knew I could do it.”
“Oh, please,” Ruth said. “We’ve still got to get it down.”
I jumped, trying to grab the watch, but I couldn’t reach it. I even tried bending the branches to get a hold, but it was no use.
I sank back on my heels. “I guess I’ll have to call Kency. Get her out here. How annoying. I wanted to take the evidence in to her.”
“She’d probably appreciate finding it where it was left,” Ruth said.
“Yeah, yeah, fingerprints and all that,” I said dismissively. “They’re the ones who missed it in the first place.”
I slid my phone from my pocket to dial Kency’s number when a voice rang out in the dark.
“You’re not calling anyone. Put the phone down.”
My shoulders pinched.
Great. Just freaking great.
I’d come out all this way only to be confronted by the killer. Without turning around I said, “Wasn’t it enough that you broke into my house, Devlin? Did you really have to come out here tonight?”
“Let me see y’all’s faces.”
Alice shrank. She looked like she wanted to dive under the biggest rock she could find. Ruth, on the other hand, raised her hands in surrender and shuffled around.
“You were a good kid, Devlin,” she said sadly. “How’d you end up growing up to be a murderer?”
Deciding I was outnumbered, I turned around to face Devlin Monk. He trained a nine-millimeter steadily at my chest. He didn’t bother aiming at Ruth and Alice. I guess he figured they were harmless.
Ha.He hadn’t seen them in action. I was pretty sure Ruth could scratch his eyes out while Alice bit his ankles before he ever even knew what hit him.
“There was money involved,” he said in answer to Ruth’s question.
“Your uncle would’ve given you money,” Alice said.
“Not with Cora around,” he said bitterly. Devlin wiped his bangs from his face. “He only had eyes for her. Because of that, she had to go.”
“Ironic that she broke up with him,” I said snidely.
Devlin frowned deeply. “She should’ve told me that before I strangled her.”
