“Looks like life’s been good to you, Carl,” Connor muttered.
The words did not cool him.
Victor Schmidt’s face stayed with him.So did Marlene’s voice through the speaker, small and broken, asking him to put her husband’s killer away.Selena had been right to step in.The promise had come too fast.Still, Connor did not regret making it.
Not yet.
He parked close to the call box, got out, and crossed to the gate.Heat came up from the paved apron in a shimmer.Even the cicadas sounded worn out.Connor pressed the security button and looked straight into the camera.
“This is Sheriff Chase.Open up.”
No answer came through the speaker.
Connor held up his badge.
A second later, the gate clicked.The bars began to part with a slow mechanical hum.
“Much obliged,” he said, though nobody had spoken.
Back in the cruiser, Connor drove through and watched the gate close in the mirror.In the distance, past the wall and the rolling land, Eagleton, a town near Elmsview, slipped from view.The town looked small from here.A church steeple.A few rooftops.The pale line of Main Street under the sun.Then the property swallowed it whole.
The driveway curved around a pond with a stone fountain in the middle, though no water moved from it.A line of expensive vehicles sat beneath a porte cochere.Connor parked in front of the house, killed the engine, and took a moment before stepping out.
No point arriving with his temper already showing.
The front door opened before he reached the steps.
Maxine Higgins came out in a sleeveless white dress, high sandals, oversized sunglasses, and enough jewelry to signal rescue to low-flying aircraft.She was in her forties, but dressed like she had declared war on the number and intended to win through fabric and nerve.Her hair had been set in careful waves.Her lipstick looked fresh.Connor noticed the martini glass in her hand first, then the way she hid it slightly behind her hip when she saw him looking.
“Sheriff Chase,” she called, drawing the words out in the faint English accent she had collected during two years abroad and kept longer than most people kept marriages.“What a delicious surprise.”
“Morning, Maxine.”
“Is it still morning?Goodness.”She descended two steps and leaned toward him, touching air near one cheek, then the other.“There.Proper greeting.We mustn’t go feral just because we live in Kentucky.”
Martini clung to her breath.Gin, vermouth, and an olive that had given up.
“I need to speak with Carl.”
“I hope you’re finally here to take that rascal of my husband away.”Maxine tilted her head toward the cruiser.“I’m all dressed up for lunch, and he’s refusing to take me anywhere, darling.Can you imagine?”
“I can try.”
Her gaze slid to his car.“There’s space in there for little old me.Would you mind dropping me at Helmdale’s?I have a hankering for their sea bass.They do a wicked mojito if you care to join me?”
Connor removed his hat and wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist.“I’m not in the mood for fun and games, Maxine.Where is he?”
A smile appeared, lazy and amused.“Out back at the pool.Where else would His Majesty be on a day like this?”
Connor moved past her toward the door.
Maxine turned and followed him inside.“Do walk through.He does love visitors.Especially ones with badges and grudges.”
The entry hall rose two stories, all polished wood, pale stone, and framed prints of places Connor suspected neither Higgins had visited together.A chandelier hung above them like a frozen explosion.The house was cool enough to raise goose-flesh along Connor’s arms.
Carl had always liked people to know he had money.Apparently, subtlety had not survived the latest contracts.
Connor crossed the hall, passed a sitting room nobody seemed to sit in, and found a corridor that opened through wide glass doors at the rear.Bright sun hit him as he stepped outside.
