Skein of the Crime (15 page)

“This is such a pretty view. It drained every last bit of stress out of me,” Kelly said with a laugh. “I’ll have to come up here every time I go traipsing off to commercial sites in Brighton.”

“Come up anytime, Kelly. I told Curt I’d be glad to have the party here, but he wants to have it at his ranch. Makes sense, too, since Marty is his nephew.”

“What party?” Kelly stared blankly at Jayleen.

“Oops, I let the cat outta the bag.” Jayleen slapped her leg. “Oh, well, Curt said he’d be calling all you folks today. So expect a message on your phone. He’s planning to throw an engagement party for Marty and Megan in a couple weeks or so. He’s gonna invite all the Colorado kin and Marty and Megan’s friends. It’s gonna be a steak cookout. So, you and Steve come hungry.” Jayleen laughed then sipped her coffee.

“Hey, that’s a great idea. We haven’t had a barbeque since early August. I’ll be sure to leave Carl at home.”

Jayleen hooted. “Lord, lord, you’d better. I don’t want him anywhere near that grill.”

“I remember how mad you got years ago when he stole one of Curt’s huge steaks you were grilling.” Kelly cackled.

“Don’t remind me. I was so mad I was about to wring off that puny excuse for a tail of his.”

Kelly rocked for a minute. “I was kind of surprised at Marty and Megan’s announcement, weren’t you?”

“Not really,” Jayleen said, leaning back in her rocker. “That’s what young couples do when they’re in love. After a while, they tie the knot.” She sipped her coffee. “And Megan and Marty seem to be a perfect match.”

Kelly pondered that for a long moment. “Lisa and Greg are a perfect match for each other, but they never talk about getting married. And they’ve been together five years.”

Jayleen shrugged. “People are different. Some just aren’t the marrying kind. Some people don’t like to be tied down. Some are scared off by their parents’ bad marriages. Some of us have a bad track record at marriage, so we shy away.”

Since Jayleen had opened the door on this topic, Kelly decided to follow up. Curt and Jayleen had been “seeing” each other for nearly a year now. They showed up together as a couple at get-togethers. They co-hosted barbeques at their respective ranches. They gave every indication of being a couple, except they both lived separately.

“Speaking of relationships, you and Curt seem to be getting along smoothly. Everybody was taking bets on when you two would get together.” Kelly gave Jayleen a devilish smile.

Jayleen grinned. “Yeah, we could tell. You folks are as subtle as a pack of hounds who’ve picked up a scent.”

Kelly laughed. “Everybody was really happy to see you together. You make a great couple.”

“Well, let’s just say we enjoy each other’s company. We get along about as well as most couples. Nothing between men and women runs smoothly. There’s always some choppy water. Trust me.” Jayleen chuckled low in her throat.

That open conversational door beckoned invitingly. Kelly felt like she and Steve were definitely trying to row through some choppy water. And it wasn’t easy.

“Is that why you two still live separately?”

“That and other reasons. I’m of the mind that it’s good to have your own place. Everybody needs their own space. And some of us have gotten used to a lot of space over the years.” Jayleen tipped back her mug.

“Well, whatever you two are doing, it seems to be working,” Kelly said, looking out over the pastures. “You and Curt certainly look happy. Whether you’re with each other or not.”

Jayleen glanced over at Kelly. “I sense this rough patch Steve is going through right now is taking a toll on you, too.”

“Ohhhh, yeah,” Kelly said, still staring at the snowy peaks. “Talk about choppy water. Boy.”

“Curt’s told me what’s going on. I know it’s hard, Kelly, but Steve’s just going to have to weather this stormy period and find his footing again. You two will get through it. We know you will.”

Kelly gave her a rueful smile. “If the choppy water doesn’t swamp our boat, first. But right now, all I see are waves rising higher.”

“You two will ride it out. This rough period is bound to turn around sometime next year.”

“I sure hope so,” Kelly said, staring at her ceramic mug.

Jayleen didn’t say anything else, and both of them rocked quietly for a few minutes. The setting sun was turning the snowy peaks reddish gold. Kelly stared at the burnished color, letting anxious thoughts loose.

Finally Jayleen spoke. “How’s Barbara doing? I haven’t seen her since before that funeral. She’s not been in the shop when I’ve stopped by.”

“She’s back to teaching her fiber classes. I’ve seen her in the classroom when I’ve dropped in to knit. She seems to be doing okay. Burt says she’s still worrying about Tommy.”

“Is he still grieving over his girlfriend?”

“Yeah, big time. But what had us all concerned was Tommy wanted to stay in Fort Connor and try to find out who gave Holly those pills. They were some form of opiate narcotics, apparently. And Holly had never used those before. So, I promised Tommy I’d start asking around to see if any students remembered seeing Holly at the parties.”

Jayleen shook her head. “Believe me, Kelly, you don’t want to get into that mess.”

Kelly gave her a twisted smile. “Exactly what Jennifer told me. That’s why I asked a friend of Tommy’s to check out the parties for me.”

“I can tell you right now what you’ll find out,” Jayleen said, looking at Kelly sagely. “They’re more pills at those parties than dogs have fleas.”

Kelly had to laugh. “Well, that’s kind of what she’s found. And every time she learns something, it’s all twisted around these different relationships. Or, it’s not reliable because the person was drinking so much they couldn’t remember correctly.”

“Hate to say I told you so.”

“I know. I was just hoping I could find something to tell Tommy that would give him some peace of mind.”

“Well, I didn’t know Tommy, but he sounds like a fine young man from what I’ve heard. He’s simply going to have to accept the fact that his girlfriend was on a self-destructive path that leads only one way. Some people can turn themselves around in time and stay turned, like I did. Some can’t.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s so sad, though.”

“It is, but it happens every day. Look around you at the counseling centers we’ve got going in town. That’s why I had the retreat last summer here at the ranch. Trying to catch some young girls before they got on that dangerous path. But there’re not enough of us to go around to reach everyone who needs help. Just look over at the Mission and the homeless shelter for some lost souls who’ve fallen through the cracks. Some of them have been on that path so long, they don’t know any other way. I swear, some of them will sleep outside in the bushes along the river so they can nurse that bottle of whiskey rather than go into a clean bed at the Mission.”

Jayleen’s comment sparked an idea in Kelly. She toyed with it for a minute before throwing it out in the open. “Speaking of that, Jayleen, do you think you could do me a favor, for Tommy’s sake? Could you ask your friends at the Mission who work with the street people to see if any of them were sleeping along the river trail that night? Maybe one of them saw something.”

Jayleen furrowed her eyebrows for a minute. “Sure, Kelly, I’d be glad to. And I’ll ask the counselors at AA if they’ve heard anything. They work with a lot of the guys who’re trying to turn themselves around. What exactly do you want them to find out?”

“Just ask them to check if any of those guys saw a young girl wandering around the trail that night. If it’s true what police say, then Holly may have walked on that trail for a while before she finally collapsed. At least, I’m guessing that’s what happened.”

“Do the cops think she walked from Old Town to where they found her? That’s quite a ways.”

“I thought the same thing, Jayleen. And Patty, the girl who was asking around campus for me, heard from someone that they saw Holly get into a dark car after the party that night. So, who knows what happened? Maybe the driver gave Holly the pills and let her out along the trail when he found she’d taken too many.”

Jayleen wagged her head again. “I think you’re right, Kelly. That driver is probably the one who gave her the pills. He could be a college student or maybe not.”

“I told Burt what Patty had found out, and he passed it along to his old partner, Dan.”

“All right, Kelly. I’ll ask my friends tomorrow night when I go to the meeting. Let’s see what they learn. Remember, though, these guys are pretty closemouthed. They don’t want to get into any trouble. So even if they saw something, they might not admit it.”

“I hear you, Jayleen. But at least I’ll be able to tell Tommy something. Anything to help.”

 

 

 

Kelly took the turn into the Lambspun driveway faster than usual. Her afternoon visit with Jayleen had lengthened when Jayleen invited her to share her famous chili. That was a dinner invitation Kelly couldn’t refuse. However, when she returned to her car to drive home, Kelly was horrified to find two messages from Steve on the cell phone she’d left on the car seat.

Steve had come home unexpectedly so they could go out to dinner. He said he’d “wanted to surprise” her. Steve’s first message sounded aggravated. His second message, downright angry. Kelly had driven as fast as Fort Connor’s ever-vigilant police patrols allowed in an anxious effort to get home.

Unfortunately it was already past nine o’clock when she left Jayleen’s canyon ranch, and canyon roads were treacherous at night so she couldn’t risk hurrying too fast. Guilt prodded her every mile.

Kelly pulled her car to a sharp stop, grabbed her bag, and scrambled out. Racing to the front door, she burst inside, wondering what she’d find. Would Steve still be angry?

“Hey, I raced as fast as I could, but that canyon road is dark as pitch at night,” she announced in an artificially cheerful voice. “You want to go out for pizza?”

Steve lay sprawled on the sofa, a bottle of his favorite ale in hand, watching television. Baseball players were on the field. Kelly recognized the Colorado Rockies uniform.

“Naw, I heated up a pizza from the freezer. I’m good,” he said, briefly glancing up from the screen.

“We could still go out for a drink if you want,” Kelly suggested, hoping to make up for her blunder of missing Steve’s calls. She was feeling majorly guilty right now. Why did she leave her phone in her car?
Why?

“Naw, that’s okay,” Steve declined, not even looking up this time. “I’m getting kind of sleepy anyway. I’m gonna turn in after this inning.”

Kelly dropped her bag on a chair, kicked off her heels, and sank into an upholstered chair across the coffee table from Steve. Mentally, she was still kicking herself for screwing up. Steve had driven all the way back to Fort Connor early to go out with her, and she wasn’t there. Not only wasn’t she there, he couldn’t even reach her because she’d left her cell phone in the car. She rarely did that.

Dumb move, Kelly. Dumb, dumb,
her guilty conscience scolded.

“You going to your office in the morning or back to Denver?” she asked quietly. Steve, who was obviously engrossed in the game, was barely paying attention to her. Of course, the three empty ale bottles on the coffee table were probably the real cause of his inattention.

“I’ll be working here in town. Fred forgot he had a business meeting scheduled tomorrow. Since he couldn’t come into the office, he told me I didn’t have to come in, either. He even paid me for the lost time, which was damn nice of him.” He tipped the bottle. “When I couldn’t reach you, I went over to my office. There was a mountain of mail waiting for me.”

An invisible cloak of guilt settled over Kelly’s shoulders. She could feel it. “I’m really sorry I didn’t get your calls, Steve. If I’d known you might be calling, I wouldn’t have left my phone in the car. But you said you wouldn’t be coming back till Saturday night.”

“Forget about it, Kelly. I’m pretty beat anyway. I’m practically falling asleep right now.” He drained the bottle.

Kelly could almost see his eyelids drooping, so she decided she’d better throw out tomorrow’s itinerary before Steve fell asleep. “Hey. Lisa, Jen, and I are going shopping with Megan tomorrow. She’s starting to look at wedding dresses. We’ll be back by late afternoon and thought we’d go over and watch the guys play ball at Moore Field. It’s the Fall Classic. Will you be able to join us after you’ve finished at your office?”

The Fall Classic was one of Steve’s favorite Colorado tournaments. Maybe that would capture his interest.

“I’ll try. What time will you guys be there?” He set his empty bottle on the table beside the others.

Encouraged by this moderate response, Kelly continued. “The games start at six, so we plan to grab a cooler with some beer and get some chips and salsa and guacamole. They’ve got brats and hot dogs at the field.”

“I’ll . . . try,” Steve mumbled, eyelids closing.

Kelly watched Steve’s breathing slow down, nice and even. Soon, he was sound asleep. She sat for a couple of minutes, watching Steve sleep and watching the game before she got up and went to her bedroom to change into her sweats.

She might as well get a bottle of Fat Tire ale, watch the rest of the game, and keep sleeping Steve company. Meanwhile, that cloak of guilt weighed heavier and heavier on Kelly’s shoulders. It didn’t feel good at all.

“Wow
, look at that,” Kelly said as she and her friends stood beside the bridal shop window display.

“It’s gorgeous,” Lisa said, observing the ornate wedding gown behind the glass.

“I don’t know, guys,” Megan demurred, her expression skeptical. “That’s a whole lot of beadwork. It must cost a fortune.”

“Well, we won’t find out unless we go inside,” Jennifer suggested, gesturing toward the shop door.