Page 40 of Lawman’s Witness

She thought of those hands of his, his long fingers, the nails clipped short. There was something reassuring about them, but also sensual. She shivered at the thought of those hands on her body, and felt an ache of longing to find out.

“What now?” she asked, dragging her thoughts back to why she was in Billings and not on the farm where she belonged.

“I have to take what I have to the chief.”

She heard the worry in his voice. “He won’t fire you, will he?”

“Maybe he’ll surprise me and open an investigation against Jack Marshall.”

After the detective left, Christine couldn’t look at her husband. She’d lied for him. It was the first time he’d put her in this position. She told herself it would be the last. No matter what her mother had put up with, Christine wasn’t going to do this. It was humiliating. She couldn’t let him drag her name and reputation through the mud. She had let him “have his cake and eat it, too,” as her mother called it, but something had happened this time that changed everything.

“Christine, I—”

Her cell rang, and she hurriedly reached for her phone, snatching it up and leaving the room to take the call. It was a fellow board member on the charitable foundation they both had seats on. Misty wanted to talk, and Christine let her, half listening to the woman go on about one of the other board members, while also listening for Jack to leave for work. She kept thinking of the look on his face when the detective had arrived.

By the time she got off the call, Jack had left just as she’d hoped. She felt relieved and yet afraid that he’d want to confess all of his sins and clear his conscience. She’d never wanted to hear about any of the women he’d had affairs with, let alone whatever he’d done recently that had a homicide detective at their door first thing in the morning.

She needed time to think, but right now she had to get ready for her nail appointment and after that, she had a lunch date. She couldn’t cancel. She needed to pretend that everything was fine—just as Jack had been doing when she’d known he was in trouble.

Later, she would decide what to do about her husband.

Jack had never been much of a drinker, but right now he would have loved to go to a bar and drink himself half blind. His head ached from lack of sleep and fear, and he was a little hung over from last night. Nothing had gone as planned, and for a man who usually planned each move painstakingly, he found himself off-kilter and running scared.

After leaving the house to avoid Christine, the first thing he’d done once he was in his vehicle was call the chief of police. The moment Milt answered, he told him how Detective Tate had come to his house first thing this morning to accuse him of murdering yet another person. “He has it out for me, that’s all I can think.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Milt promised, but he didn’t sound as upset as Jack had thought he should have been. “Was this the body that was discovered up on the rims?”

“How should I know?” Jack demanded. “I had no idea what the man was talking about.”

“Okay, okay. Let me handle it.”

Their conversation had ended abruptly, leaving him uneasy.

After he’d disconnected, all he could think about was Christine. She hadn’t been able to look at him after the detective left, but she’d covered for him. Even if she knew that he’d lied about coming home around ten thirty last night, she wouldn’t believe that he’d kill some man up on the rims. He couldn’t imagine that she’d even believe that her husband was being blackmailed.

He realized that he was more worried about what Christine believed than the chief of police. Milt would go along with whatever he said, always had, nothing would be different this time, right?

Except this time there was a body. He rubbed a hand over his face as he pulled into his parking spot at the dealership. He’d really messed up. Last night he’d lost his temper. The moment he met Robert Baker he knew this bum would bleed him dry. The thought had made him furious. He’d been glad that he’d thought to bring a knife for protection. He told himself that he hadn’t planned to kill him, but wondered if it was true. Lately, he’d been so damned angry.

Now he was about to get out of the car when he saw Whitney’s good friend Liz heading toward him across the parking lot.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Liz had never been more nervous in her life. She’d been waiting in the parking lot for Jack Marshall. She’d been beginning to think he’d taken the day off after killing her ex-husband.

She was almost surprised when he showed up. Clearly killing must not bother him as much as what she was about to do. She’d called work and had no trouble getting the day off once they knew about Robert being murdered the night before.

But there was no way she was planning to hang around the house. She had too much on her mind. A part of her wanted to get the pistol Robert had bought her when they’d separated and go pay Jack Marshall a visit he would never forget.

The thought of prison for killing the son of a B wasn’t worth it, she soon realized. No, the real pay she wanted for the deaths of Whitney and Robert was that smug Jack Marshall behind bars. Unfortunately, it looked like he would keep slipping the knot on the noose.

Now as she crossed the parking lot, moving quickly toward his vehicle, she clutched the pistol in her jacket pocket and promised herself she wouldn’t shoot him. Not unless she had to, she amended.

He put down the driver’s-side window as she approached. From his expression, he wasn’t too worried. She was on his turf, and while none of his salesmen seemed to be around, there could be someone watching from the large glass windows at the front of the showroom.

“Let’s go for a test drive,” Liz said as she walked around the front of the car with the dealer plates. She heard him unlock the passenger side. Grabbing the handle, she opened the door and slid into the deep plush seat. “Nice car.”

He looked over at her, and she swore that if he asked her what this was about, she would shoot him. Fortunately, he started the car and pulled out of the lot. “Any place in particular?”