Page 6 of Setup In Montana

“You can try her trailer out back. The pink one, but I doubt she’s there.”

“Why is that?” the sheriff asked.

The clerk shrugged. “Her car’s gone. The boss called me in because she said Clancy was sick. But I saw her loading her stuff in her car and then she took off in a hurry.”

That definitely didn’t sound good, Max thought, as he went back out in the rain. He walked around the building and came upon a couple of older-model trailers. He knocked at the door of the pink one, but like the clerk had said, there was no car outside. He knocked again, then tried the knob. The door swung open. Stepping in from the rain, he took a quick look around the small, confined space. What the clerk had said was true.

No Clancy and none of her belongings that he could see. Worry gnawed at him. He couldn’t believe Clancy had anything to do with Esther’s murder. But her leaving the way she had made him wonder if he could be wrong.

Back at the convenience store, he asked to speak to the boss. The phone call to the female owner provided him with two more troubling facts. Clancy had shown up for work late and almost immediately called in sick. When her boss had arrived to relieve her, Clancy had rushed to her trailer, thrown her stuff into her car and left—just as the clerk had told him.

“I saw her drive away not fifteen minutes after she told me she was too sick to work,” the woman told him. “I got Roger to come back in and work a double shift. I can’t believe she’d quit without even giving notice.”

“Which way did she go?” Max asked.

“South. Toward Billings. She seemed in a real hurry to get out of here.”

Chapter Three

Back at Shady Rest, the sheriff continued his investigation, even as he worried that his main suspect appeared to be on the lam. As concerned as he was for Clancy, he kept telling himself there was an explanation for her leaving the way she had. Unfortunately, he knew firsthand that anyone could kill if pushed too far. Esther was the kind of person who pushed people’s buttons. She was everything the residents had said about her and more.

He found Vernon in his office. “You said a woman named Sarah Brooks was working last night?” he asked the manager. “She worked with Clancy?”

“The two I believe are friends.”

Max’s first thought hearing that was that Sarah might know where Clancy had gone and why. “I need to speak with her. Can you get her to come in?”

“She’s already here, working,” the manager said.

Max couldn’t hide his surprise. “She worked the night shift and she’s already working again now?”

“We’re short-staffed. She often works extra hours. We have a couple of part-time people who fill in, but getting help is a real problem here.” It was a real problem in a lot of places, Max knew. His wife, Goldie, had trouble with waitstaff at her diner in Dry Gulch. Clancy used to help out there before she moved to Grass Range.

The manager walked Max to a room set aside for questioning, and called Sarah Brooks, who was working in another part of the building. A few moments after Vernon left, Sarah appeared. According to Vernon, she was in her late twenties, was from the area and been employed since Shady Rest opened.

The woman who came through the door had large brown eyes, chin-length blonde hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks.

“Have a chair,” the sheriff said as he took a seat across from her. Max noticed how nervous she was, much like Vernon had been. Murder did that to people when it hit too close to home, he reminded himself. It didn’t mean they were necessarily hiding anything.

Vernon had said Sarah and Clancy were friends. He hoped so. With Clancy missing, Sarah might have to answer questions he had. But he didn’t want to go there right away. “What can you tell me about your shift last night?” he asked.

She shrugged. “It was like any other shift. I had no idea anything had happened until Vernon called and told me.”

“He told you that Esther had been murdered?” Max asked.

She nodded. “When I came in all the residents were talking about it.”

“But you didn’t hear or see anything last night while on duty that now makes you suspicious of who might have done this?”

“It gets pretty quiet around here after lockdown. Most everyone is asleep or at least in their apartment for the night. There are a few who have trouble sleeping, but they have something to take when that happens.”

“Medication? Who gives that?” he asked.

“We’re a minimum-care facility. A retired local doctor comes when needed,” she said.

“You must be shaken by all this,” he commented, watching her closely. When she said nothing, he added, “I understand you’re a friend of Clancy Roberts.” He saw her gaze flick away. “Did you know that she’s apparently left town?” Surprise registered in those brown eyes. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” Sarah shook her head. “I would imagine you contacted her after you got the call about the murder.”

The woman’s eyes widened in alarm. It made sense that if they had become friends, Sarah would have let her know. “She didn’t have anything to do with Esther’s death.”