Page 19 of Setup In Montana

Her mind raced as she tried to make sense out of what must have happened. They’d both been startled when they’d crossed paths that night in the darkened hallway. Jane had put her finger to her lips before scurrying away. She recalled Esther’s apartment door opening. The killer must have seen Jane standing there.

And Jane must’ve seen the killer.

Clancy had to sit down on the bed as she realized that fact. She put her head in her hands, feeling as if she was going to throw up. This was all her fault. If she’d never agreed to run errands for Esther, would none of this be happening right now?

Fighting to breathe, Clancy didn’t know what to do. She told herself she was safe as long as no one knew where she was, including the sheriff.

As she started to pocket her phone, she saw that her battery was almost dead. When she’d put the contents of her backpack back in after finding the incriminating bag of jewelry, she hadn’t seen her charging cord.

She must have forgotten it back at the trailer behind the convenience store.

* * *

THE RESIDENTS AT Shady Rest were already in an uproar over the latest murder. Their families had been demanding to know what was going on before Myrna’s accusation about the scarf.

Max could feel the pressure for answers growing as he went to find Hazel, hoping Myrna was wrong. He was struggling enough with these two murders. But maybe at least one of them would be solved and quickly.

Hazel Brockman was in the craft room gluing dried leaves to construction paper. She looked up in surprise when the sheriff came in and asked to speak to her alone. Hazel went to the sink, washed off the glue and what appeared to be glitter, before following him down the hall to an empty room to talk.

“I need you to tell me if you recognize this scarf,” Max said as he pulled out his phone to show her a photo he’d taken of as much of the scarf as he could without Jane being in the picture. He was watching Hazel’s face as she looked at the photo. He saw her instant recognition.

“That’s mine,” she cried. “Where did you find it? It’s been missing since Esther Mason moved in. When it wasn’t in that box you brought out, I assumed I had lost it. You found it in her room, didn’t you? I knew it,” Hazel declared. “I knew that old biddy took it and lied straight to my face.”

Max took his phone back, considering the ramifications of Hazel’s words. If Esther had really stolen the scarf that long ago, then the killer must have taken it from Esther’s room. Was this the connection between the two murders?

Given Esther’s kleptomania, he could see where someone might want to kill her. But why kill Jane? She didn’t seem to have any enemies, from what he could tell. Vernon didn’t know of any altercations involving her or any problems Jane had had since moving into Shady Rest.

Unless Jane had known who had killed Esther. He could only hope that the bloody pen he’d found would solve both cases—and prove Clancy hadn’t been involved in either.

Max still couldn’t believe there had been no word on Clancy. With each passing hour he’d become more worried about her. Common sense told him that she might have gotten a ride to Billings and that there was nothing to worry about. But he was sure her friend Sarah was keeping her up on what was happening here in Grass Range. Clancy would know he had the entire state police looking for her. He still couldn’t reach her by phone. Nor had she called Goldie.

As far as he knew, she hadn’t been in contact with anyone—except Sarah. The young woman seemed as worried about her as Max was. He still feared that Clancy had run because she knew something and was afraid. If so, he needed to find her before the killer did. If she wasn’t already dead.

Chapter Eight

Dust motes danced in the sunlight streaming into the open doorway as Clancy stepped into the barn. She was hit with the strong scent of hay and horses, both familiar to her since her father had been a rodeo cowboy.

She spotted Dub standing in the tack room doorway, his back to her. She studied him, watching the muscles of his back, shoulders and arms rippling as he swung a large saddle up to its spot on the shelf. She liked seeing him in his element. In truth, she just liked seeing him. Yesterday, she’d thought she would never see him again.

“Do you need to call someone and let them know where you are?” Dub asked, his back still to her.

She froze, surprised that he knew she was standing there, but also taken aback by how true his words were. She didn’t really have anyone she could call because she had a tendency to burn bridges behind her.

Clancy hated that she didn’t have that many people in her life whom she could call. She’d phoned Sarah, a new friend, but one she knew she would lose touch with the moment she left here. She’d always been rootless, even after growing up in Dry Gulch her entire life. She told herself that she didn’t get close to people because she was like her father, always leaving soon.

The truth was she didn’t get close because she was afraid of being left by herself. She knew it was from her father. The day he left when she was eight was the worst day of her life. She’d always had her cousin Goldie, but now Goldie was married to Max and they were about to have their first child. She’d felt like she was in the way, so she’d leased the small house her mother had left her and gone to Grass Range as if the answer was here.

“You aren’t happy, Clancy,” Goldie had said to her before she left. “Do something about that. It’s your life. Stop blaming your father or even your mother. What is it you’re looking for? Go find it. I want you to be happy.”

Big surprise, she hadn’t found it in Grass Range any more than she had in Dry Gulch. Maybe it wasn’t her location. Maybe it was her.

When she didn’t answer, Dub turned around to face her. “I can help you,” Dub said, jerking her out of her thoughts.

She tried to swallow the lump that had quickly risen in her throat at his words. “I must look like I need help.” She tried to laugh it off as she glanced down at the too-large overalls and barn jacket to the mud boots on her feet. “Is it the way I fill out these clothes?”

But when she looked up and saw his face, she saw his serious expression hadn’t changed. She instantly missed his grin.

He took a step in her direction. “Have you always disliked cowboys?” he asked as if he seriously wanted to know.