Official Duty. Doreen Roberts
words were flat, as if she were making a conscious effort to erase all emotion from her voice. “My husband’s dead. He was killed in a plane crash three months ago.”
He choked, grabbed his beer and took a huge gulp. “I’m sorry. Thank God you weren’t with him.”
She sawed at her steak, her face a cold, hard mask. “Yes,” she said deliberately. “Thank God.”
Something about the way she said it put a chill right through his bones. “That must have been real tough,” he said awkwardly.
Carefully, she lifted a small, neat square of meat to her mouth, chewed it and swallowed. “I’m sorry I missed Sally. I would have enjoyed talking to her.”
His mouth twisted. So she didn’t want to talk about it. Well, okay. It was none of his business anyway.
He shouldn’t feel so damn pleased about it. It wasn’t right to feel glad a man had died. Maybe he wouldn’t if he didn’t have a gut feeling that her marriage hadn’t exactly been made in paradise. Then again, if he were really honest with himself, the news that she was no longer married wasn’t going to upset him too much, no matter how happy or miserable she’d been.
Still feeling guilty about his lack of sympathy for the dead man, he accepted her switch in the conversation. For the next half hour or so he caught her up to date on various people she’d known when she’d lived in Gold Peak.
She was sipping at a steaming cup of coffee when she brought up the subject of the Corbetts’ deaths again. “I assume you’ve searched the house,” she said, placing her mug carefully on the table.
“Yep. Judging by the way the place was messed up, Jim put up a pretty good fight. He didn’t go down easy.” He swallowed hard. “We think Mabel was killed in the hallway. Looks like she was trying to make a run for it when he caught up with her.”
She shuddered, her face pale. “Didn’t you find anything that might help find out who killed them?”
“So far we’ve got nothing to go on. Without a motive it’s hard to know where to start.” He thought about getting another beer, then decided against it. “The worst part is knowing that maniac is still running around out there. I need to stop him before he gets his hands bloody again.”
She seemed to think about it for a long moment or two, then said quietly, “You’re right. He has to pay for what he did. I’m not sure how much help I can be but I’ll take a look at the house if you think it will help.”
It wasn’t until he relaxed his muscles that he realized just how tense he’d been. “Thanks, Ginny. I sure appreciate your cooperation.”
Her face was bleak when she nodded. “I guess I can stop by to see the Corbetts’ lawyer, then I’ll go with you to the house.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at eight-forty-five.”
“I have a car. I’ll find it.”
“I have to be there, too. I might as well pick you up.”
Her indifferent shrug stung his pride. “If you like.”
She reached for her purse and he said quickly, “I’ll take care of it.”
She gave him a tight smile. “Thanks. You were right. The steaks are still good here.”
“My pleasure, ma’am.” He pushed his chair back. “Can I give you a ride back to the Sagebrush?”
She stood with him, avoiding his gaze. “Thanks, but I have my car. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He watched her leave, cursing the ache under his ribs. He knew better than to let his emotions get the better of him. She was even more out of his reach now than she’d been twelve years ago, when he’d watched her march away from him and out of his life.
She’d taken his heart with her that day and she’d cared so little about him it had taken her exactly ten months to forget him and find someone else to fall in love with. Ten months, while he’d waited and hoped. What a damn fool he’d been.
He picked up his hat and jammed it on his head. Well, there would be polar bears roaming the desert before he let anyone make an ass out of him again. He turned his back on the table and headed for the door.
GINNY CLIMBED into her car and gunned the engine. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to the motel and fall into bed. She couldn’t do that just yet. She couldn’t go to sleep in this town without having visited the graves of the people who meant the world to her. She couldn’t rest easy until she’d said her goodbyes. She deeply regretted having missed the funeral. This was all she had left. This last final farewell over their graves.
Cully had told her the Corbetts were buried in the cemetery on the hill. It was a beautiful spot, shaded by cottonwood trees, with a clear view of the mountain range in the west, where the sun had already dipped below the peaks.
In the shaded light of dusk the haphazard rows of gravestones rose and fell like undulating waves of a silent ocean. Her sneakers made hardly a sound on the pathway as she hurried past bouquets of roses and lilies of the valley, their sweet fragrance blending with the pungent smell of the pines.
She found the graves, freshly dug and with a gleaming white headstone with both their names carved on it. The coarse grass felt prickly beneath her knees but she knelt for a long time, allowing the bittersweet memories to take her back to a happier, carefree time, when she was loved and protected and safe from the world.
The darkness settled around her and the rustling of night creatures whispered among the trees, disturbing her thoughts. A cool breeze wafted a lock of her hair across her forehead and sighing, she climbed wearily to her feet. “Goodbye, Jim,” she whispered. “Goodbye, Mabel. Thank you for the love you gave me and for the ten years of happiness I’ll never forget.” A sob choked her words and she struggled for a moment, striving to control her grief.
In the silence she thought she heard Jim’s voice, whispering urgently in her ear. The words weren’t clear to her but the message was.
“Cully will find out who did this to you,” she said, her voice loud in the darkness. “I promise you both that Cully will hunt him down and see that he pays. No matter what it takes. Then you’ll both be able to rest in peace.”
The whispering stopped, bringing her the first small measure of peace she’d felt since hearing Cully’s voice utter the inconceivable. With an ache in her heart she headed back to where she’d left the car.
The night had drawn in now, with only a tiny sliver of moon in the starlit sky to light the way. Below her she could see the lights of the little town, glowing like the embers of a dying fire. She shivered in the desert breeze that had suddenly grown cool.
She had neared the end of the path when without warning the shadow of a man crossed in front of her. For a startling second he was illuminated between her and the flickering lights below. Then, almost at once, he vanished.
Feeling cold and shaken, she assured herself her eyes were playing tricks with her. A deserted graveyard at night was no place to hang around on her own. No wonder she was seeing things.
She started walking…faster…and then she heard them. Distinct footsteps, echoing from behind her, keeping in time with her own.
Heart pounding in her throat she spun around, her gaze probing the shadows for a sign of movement. The footsteps had stopped, too. All she could see were the branches of the cottonwoods swaying gently in the night wind.
She started off again, running now. There they were again…the footsteps…running with her, closer than before. A man’s voice, low and guttural, laughing softly, the sound barely audible above the pounding of feet.
The terror gripped her like hands of steel, closing around her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Only a few more yards to go. Could she make it? Her legs were already trembling and weak. She had to make it, for she knew as sure as she