Page 45 of Setup In Montana

“Are you about done?” Luther demanded.

Hurriedly, she dried her hands on a towel with HAPPY DAY embroidered on it, then opened the door. As she did, she wished she knew how long Sarah had been gone, how long it would take her to get to the bank and back, and what would happen when and if she did come back.

Earlier she’d thought that once Sarah had the money—if there was some—she’d be gone and it would be the last the three of them saw of her.

But now she wasn’t so sure. This cabin meant something to Sarah. She’d at least come back to say goodbye to it.

She opened the door to find Luther and Abel standing in the middle of the cabin. They looked impatient and not in the least bit happy to be babysitting her. This cabin meant nothing to them, but Sarah must mean something to them. Or maybe they always did her dirty work for her.

“What happens if she doesn’t come back?” Clancy asked as she sat back down in the comfy chair. The two men glanced at each other for a moment. Were they wondering that themselves? Or had Sarah already told Luther what to do in that case?

“She said she’d be here. She’ll be here,” Luther said as if not concerned. But the look he gave Abel said differently. He wasn’t so sure. These two were invested in whatever Sarah found in that safety deposit box. She had told Clancy that according to Mildred’s will, she got the pendant and whatever was in the safety deposit box. Her cousins got the land and house where they had lived with their mother until she’d gone into the retirement home.

It suddenly struck Clancy that maybe none of them believed Mildred had a fortune hidden in a bank safety deposit box.

Earlier, Clancy had hoped that when Sarah got to the bank and opened the box, she would find it empty. She would have loved the irony of it, but now it just felt too painful. Earlier she hadn’t known Sarah had dreams she’d never shared. Probably they were too precious, too fragile, too easily dashed. Clancy understood that a person could jinx herself if she dared admit her hopes and dreams. Had that been what she’d done with Dub? Was that why he’d left without any word?

If only Sarah hadn’t felt so desperate that she’d killed to get her hands on the key. She might have been able to make all her dreams come true. No matter what Sarah found in the bank box, there was no going back.

As Clancy looked around the cabin, tears burned her eyes. She knew what it was like to yearn for something to call her own. That kind of yearning could make a person do desperate things.

Chapter Twenty

Before Dub could call the sheriff, his phone rang. He grabbed it, hoping it would be Clancy.

“Is Clancy with you?” the sheriff asked.

“No.” He ground his teeth. “By the time I got back to the guesthouse, she was gone. There’s one set of tracks in and out. Whoever it was, they must have taken her with them. I don’t think she went willingly.”

“Why would you say that? Was there sign of a struggle?”

“None that I can see, but all of her things are here, including her purse.”

“She hasn’t tried to call you?” the sheriff asked.

“I don’t know. Tanner had turned off my phone and blocked Clancy’s calls.” He realized that Max must have called his father to get his number. “The only thing missing other than her and her phone is a pendant and a key that had been inside it.”

“The pendant and safety deposit box key are gone from the bag of jewelry Esther Mason put in her backpack?”

“She told you about that?”

“Dub, I have reason to believe that Sarah Brooks, the woman Clancy worked with at Shady Rest, might have her. If she has the key, she is probably headed for the bank to see what her aunt left her.”

“Sarah, her friend? She’s the killer?”

“It certainly looks that way. She and her family have been looking for that pendant. Do you have any idea where Sarah might have taken her?”

Dub wished he did. “I have no idea.”

“I’m going to try to catch Sarah at the bank as soon as I can find out where,” the sheriff said. “I doubt she would take Clancy with her. I suspect she’s left her somewhere, possibly with her cousins, the Wilson brothers.”

“I’ll go by the rest home and the convenience store and see what I can find out about where Sarah might have taken Clancy.” Dub doubted both would turn up anything, but he had to do something.

His hope was that if Sarah had planned to kill Clancy, she would have done it at the guesthouse. By taking her with her, Sarah seemed to have other plans for her.

All Dub had to do was find Clancy before Sarah could carry out those plans.

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