Oh? Had he heard the rumors that Pete stole four-wheelers, too? “Why? Because you live in a camper commune?”
“Something like that,” he grumbled. “I’m trying to change my circumstances, but it’s hard because Wylie won’t take it too good.”
“He’s very attached to Pete,” Hadley said.
I had gathered that. Wylie seemed to want to protect Pete from pain. It was an easy thing to understand. When you were close to someone, you generally didn’t want them to undergo any agony. Wylie’s instinct was something that I could relate to.
“So that’s it?” I asked. “You’re keeping your romance a secret because Dooley will be ticked about it?”
Hadley nodded sadly. “Pete’s working hard. He has a good job. Once he’s moved, we plan on telling my folks. But not until then.”
Pete threaded his fingers through Hadley’s. “We hope it’ll be soon, though.”
“Please, Clem,” Hadley begged, “don’t tell my dad. He won’t understand. We want to be together. That’s all. You can keep this a secret, can’t you?”
Several thoughts flitted in my head. Both of these folks were connected to Crystal, and Pete had done a one-eighty from when I’d seen him this morning.
That bothered me.
“What about when I saw you earlier, drinking, Pete? What was that about?”
He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “Wylie was upset, and I had to act that way. I’m mad as all get out about what happened to Crystal—it wasn’t fair. I haven’t told him about Hadley.”
Hadley grimaced. “We’re not sure how he’ll take it. He might be ruined by the fact that Pete wants to move out.”
“So are you saying he has jealousy issues?”
“Not really. He’s just protective since he’s my cousin and all. I’m sure you understand how family can be with that sort of thing.”
“Yeah.” Not that I expected Malene to be that way, but you never knew what people were like until pushed to it. “I won’t say anything to Dooley. I’m going to respect y’all’s privacy.”
Hadley exhaled a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I appreciate it, Clem.”
“Sure thing. No problem. Now, the reason why I came here was to get my doorknob.”
Hadley pulled the knob from between the slats that I’d tucked it into. “This one?”
I held out my hand as she gently laid it on top. “That’s the one.”
So I left the barn, intending to keep Hadley and Pete’s secret, but I couldn’t help being disturbed by it at the same time.
Hadley had almost hired Crystal Darsey to do her renovation. Why? Was it to find out what Crystal was really like and make sure that she wasn’t interested in Pete, or was it because she genuinely wanted to give Crystal a chance?
And Pete—he said that he was done with Crystal, but what if that wasn’t the truth. What if he was only making up that stuff about Wylie being obsessed with those two getting together, just so that Pete would look good.
As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain that they were being honest.
But on the other hand, what motive did either one have for killing Crystal? That didn’t make sense, either. What made the most sense was that the person who killed her was either a ticked-off lover, or the wife of one of her lovers—which brought me back to Leola Vass.
She was a person of interest and someone I needed to talk to.
But first, it was time to head over to the police station to see if they had any leads on who had killed Crystal.
It didn’t take long for me and Lady to drive back into town. The sun was beginning to set, and a chill filled the air. Folks were starting to decorate for the apple festival, hanging banners and wrapping fake bunches of apples around the lampposts. The festivities would be this weekend, and that’s when Leola Vass would ride in the back of Dooley Hutto’s truck.
Lucky dog.
I carried Lady inside the station and was met by Tuney Sluggs himself. He cocked his head and crossed his arms.
