“Was he hitting her?”
Joe shook his head. “There were never any arrests for domestic violence and no evidence of it happening. A few police reports suggested Sheila may have been the instigator.”
“Sounds like it was a toxic marriage.”
“Indeed. As the marriage neared its end, she started working at the bank. There was some scuttlebutt about her having an affair with her manager, and that’s what led to her divorce from Rusty. Chances are, she had her sights on Mr. Manager as husband number three, but he took his wife and left town before that happened.”
Brooke leaned back in her chair. “I remember hearing about that. I had just opened the coffee shop around that time.” She paused as memories of various conversations came back to her. “Wasn’t one of the reasons the bank manager left because Rusty threatened him?”
“Bingo,” Joe said. “He threatened not only the manager but the man’s wife too. He was essentially stalking both of them. Even showing up at a restaurant where they were having dinner.”
She shook her head. “Wow. That sounds very familiar.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“She dated a lot,” Brooke said, trying not to sound too accusatory. Since her death, there had been plenty of rumors about how many people she went out with. “There’s a game warden—”
“Henry Ayers. He was seeing her earlier in the year. They went to an event at the Elks Lodge for Valentine’s Day and saw each other off and on for a few weeks after.”
“So why isn’t Adam bothering him like he is Tyler?”
Joe shrugged. “Hard telling. But Henry is definitely someone to consider. Back to Sheila. The weekend of her death, she was last seen leaving the bank on Friday evening around six. Security footage showed Tyler at the ATM around the same time. The ATM was at the front of the building, and they could just catch a glimpse of Tyler’s truck in the camera. He’d parked along the curb.”
“Did Sheila go out the door by the ATM? I thought staff used the back door and parked in the lot?”
“That’s right. She went out the side door nearest the employee lot, not the door near the ATM.”
“Do you have footage of her leaving?”
“No, I couldn’t get it.”
“How’d you get this?”
“Better for you not to know.”
She understood Joe had contacts, and maybe not all of them were ones that should be public. “Do you have any other video footage? Showing either Sheila or Tyler?”
“There’re a few things. You know that traffic light on Grand Avenue and Seventh? The one with the camera? There’s footage of both of them going through there. About seven minutes apart. Tyler first, then Sheila.”
“Which proves he didn’t nab her at the bank.”
“Right. He says he played darts that night. I checked at the Watering Hole, but they didn’t have league that night.”
Brooke nodded. “They don’t have darts on Friday nights there now. They play at the Watering Hole on Thursdays. He plays at Bronco Willie’s on Fridays.”
He smiled. “I was going to mention I found that out since we talked last. I asked around. Who knew darts were so popular that they play at different bars on different nights?”
“Anything to pass the time around here.”
“I guess. Anyway, Sheila wasn’t at either of those bars that night. We don’t know where she was. After the stoplight camera, there’s nothing. No one admits to seeing her. Not until...” He tilted his head.
“Not until I found her Sunday morning in a pair of bear caches.” Brooke swallowed hard as the memories of finding Sheila’s body washed over her. “But she wasn’t killed on the mountain. Just left there, right?”
“Yes, the theory is she was killed somewhere else and dumped. The bear saw an opportunity and took it.”
Brooke made a face and shook her head. “Poor Sheila.”
They moved on to Monique. Joe described an early childhood in a small town in Alabama before moving to Irma in the middle of sixth grade to be closer to family.
