Page 42 of Setup In Montana

“Except by the time you went to her room that night, she didn’t have it anymore because she’d slipped it into my backpack,” Clancy said. “But I’m sure Esther told you that.”

“Oh, yes,” Sarah said with a chuckle. “If you’re asking if she threw you under the bus, yep, and without any hesitation.

“So you knew when I called you that I had the jewelry,” Clancy said, shooting a look at her.

“The road,” Sarah said, pointing at the highway as the car swerved toward the ditch. “You really can’t talk and drive, can you? I knew you had the jewelry, but did you?”

Without looking at her, Clancy shook her head. “I didn’t find it until I was picked up after my car broke down, by John Crawford, Dub’s father. Otherwise, I would have gotten rid of it before we reached the ranch. I didn’t want a bunch of stolen jewelry. You might remember I had enough to worry about.”

“You still think I killed her, don’t you,” Sarah said, sounding sad about that.

Clancy thought about the voices she’d heard in Esther’s room that night. “It was you I heard in her room, wasn’t it?”

“Probably. But once I knew she no longer had the pendant, that she’d given it to you, we really didn’t have any more to say to each other.”

Clancy shuddered at how casual the woman was about murdering the elderly woman. “You watched me from her apartment window that night after you’d killed her. I was terrified when I realized the killer had seen me.”

“Sorry, but it wasn’t me,” Sarah said. “I left Esther’s apartment. She was very much alive then. I saw Jane coming toward me down the hallway, said hello to her and then went on my break. I was feeling guilty for not even trying to get the money Esther owed you.”

“I saw you in the window,” Clancy argued.

“You saw someone in the window. Like you told me on the phone, you couldn’t make out the face or even the size of the person. I’m telling you it couldn’t have been me, because I didn’t see you.”

“Why should I believe you?” Clancy demanded. “You’re holding a gun on me.”

“The gun was actually for anyone who tried to stop us as we were leaving back there,” Sarah said. “But since you’ve convinced yourself that I’m a killer, I doubt you’ll do what I need you to do without the gun.”

“If you’re telling the truth, then let me drive us to the sheriff and we can both tell him what we know.”

“Neither of us can do that since the sheriff hasn’t caught the killer yet,” Sarah said.

“How do you know that?” Clancy demanded.

“I have a friend who works at the hospital. The killer apparently has O negative blood type. The sheriff thought that person was Diana, but Diana has O positive.”

Clancy recalled what Max had told her on the phone. She hated to admit that Sarah might be right. “Max hasn’t found the killer yet?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Until he does, you’re in danger. Like you said, the killer saw you.”

“You do realize how ironic it is for you to say I’m in danger when you’re holding a gun on me, and you’ve admitted that you were in Esther’s room that night.”

“You might not be the only person the killer saw that night,” Sarah said. “Start slowing down. We’re going to turn up here to the right.”

Clancy hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going. She realized that she hadn’t seen even a ranch turnoff for some miles. Sarah’s words finally registered. What if she was telling the truth? Had she gone to Esther’s room to get the pendant? After learning that Esther had gotten rid of it, would Sarah have really just walked out of the apartment? Now she’d shown up at the guesthouse this morning with a gun, determined to get the key.

Clancy turned onto a narrow dirt road that looked more like a jeep trail. Where was Sarah taking her? She looked ahead, but all she saw were trees and rolling foothills. That and fresh tracks on the road. Someone else had driven up here recently. But before that, the road hadn’t had much use, from what she could see of the tall weeds between the ruts. Whatever was at the end of the road, it was in a very isolated spot where no one would hear a scream—or a gunshot.

“Weren’t you worried about getting the pendant from me?” she asked, her voice tight. But Sarah didn’t seem to notice.

“Not really. I figured you didn’t even know it was in your backpack. All I had to do was get it from you. But you took off before I could.”

“You texted me about the murder as soon as I got to work at the convenience store. When you told me Esther had died before midnight, what did you expect me to do? You knew I’d seen someone in her window after midnight because it was you. You wanted me to run.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah shake her head and sigh. “I was worried that you were in trouble because I saw the rock in the door earlier that night. I knew you’d come back to try to get your money. Once I heard Esther had been murdered, I feared you would look guilty. I foolishly thought that after the text I sent, you’d come to me for help since we’re friends.”

“Right,” Clancy said bitterly. “Friends. If you hadn’t mentioned Esther’s time of death, I probably wouldn’t have left the way I did. That’s when I realized Esther’s killer had seen me the night before. So of course I ran.”

“But I didn’t know that,” Sarah said more forcefully. “The last thing I wanted you to do was take off with the pendant. I was afraid that when you found the jewelry in your backpack, you’d throw it away. I’m glad you didn’t.”