Dead Giveaway (Stillwater Trilogy 2)

"It means it's there with everything else, and I'll take it into consideration," Allie responded.

"Will it get some attention?"

"If it warrants attention. But the case isn't even officially open, so don't expect too much."

Joe's expression darkened. "What are you talking about? Clay confessed. If that isn't enough to reopen the case, what is?"

"Last time I talked to Beth Ann, she didn't seem too sure of anything," Allie said.

"I was sure of Clay's confession." Beth Ann looked to Joe, who gave her an encouraging nod. "And I remembered something else."

"What is it?" Hendricks asked anxiously.

"Clay told me he buried the body right there on the farm."

Hendricks rubbed his hands together as if he believed every word, but Allie had to grit her teeth to stop from calling Beth Ann a liar. She couldn't let this case get any more personal than it already was. She had to allow people to prove what they really were.

Reminding herself of that, she managed to reel in her temper. "He did?" she said, trying to sound neutral.

Beth Ann flipped her long blond hair out of her face. "He did. And I said, 'Aren't you afraid the police will find it?'"

"What did he say?" Hendricks asked.

Beth Ann flashed Allie's fellow officer a smile for his eagerness. "He said, 'I'm not worried about that. The cops around here aren't smart enough to catch me.'"

Obviously, Beth Ann and Joe were hoping to provoke Allie into acting against Clay, whether she had justification or not. "That's an interesting and very detailed conversation," she observed. "It's a wonder you didn't remember it when I had you in here a week ago."

"I was upset."

"Who wouldn't be?" Joe chimed in, slinging his arm around her neck. "That bastard threatened to kill her if she told anyone."

"That's right," Hendricks breathed, enthralled by the drama.

"That's why I didn't come forward before," Beth Ann said. "I told you that, didn't I, Allie?"

Allie folded her arms. "That's Officer McCormick."

Beth Ann blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I'm Officer McCormick to you."

She stiffened, but Joe was already talking. "So what are you going to do about it? Are we finally going to see some action against the Montgomerys?"

"I can't do anything until I figure out who really killed your uncle," Allie said. "If anyone did."

The frown between his eyebrows deepened. That, together with his narrow face and pointy eyeteeth, made him appear more wolfish than usual. "You're saying it's not Clay?" he nearly shouted, ignoring her qualification.

"I don't think so," she said, but Allie wasn't sure if the facts supported her opinion or she just didn't want to accept the possibility.

"You're crazy," he told her scornfully. "Who else could it be?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that yet."

"See?" Beth Ann looked smugly up at Joe. "She's hoping to get with him. She wants Clay."

"I've contacted him regarding the investigation. Like I've contacted a lot of other people,"

Allie said, trying to stem the accusations.

"But you're not hoping to sleep with those other people," Beth Ann said.

Anger drove Allie forward, until she stood mere inches from Beth Ann's face. "You've lied to me on several occasions," she said. "Unless you have something truthful to say, get out. Now."

A muscle flexed in Joe's cheek. "I'm going to the mayor."

Mayor Nibley was a friend of Joe's family, and she could cause problems for Allie, and for Allie's father, which wouldn't help their relationship. But Allie refused to let Joe intimidate her.

"You do what you have to," she said. "And I'll do what I have to. Now leave before I arrest you both for disturbing the peace."

"You're the one who's disturbing the peace," Joe said.

"Because I won't pile on when it comes to Clay?"

"Because you won't do your job!"

"You can't prove something that didn't happen," Allie said. She was taking a big gamble, assuming so much. All the circumstantial evidence pointed to Clay. But she couldn't imagine him doing what everyone thought. At least not in cold blood.

Joe gave her a look of utter contempt. "This isn't over."

Allie had more to say but, fortunately, Beth Ann managed to drag Joe outside. The door swung closed behind them, then a long silence fell, during which Hendricks gaped at her.

"I don't think you want to be on Clay's side," he said at last.

"Maybe it's time someone was," Allie responded and stomped into the bathroom where Hendricks couldn't follow her.

Chapter 11

Dale shot up out of his seat the moment Allie walked through the station door the next morning. The veins protruding in his neck told her he was every bit as angry as she'd figured he'd be.

"You wouldn't listen to me. You wouldn't keep your head down and stay out of the line of fire," he shouted.

Allie didn't know what to say. When her mother had nudged her awake and told her she was needed at the station, she'd known it was time to face the backlash from Joe's visit. But her father's reaction was even worse than she'd expected.

"Calm down. You'll give yourself a heart attack." She took a seat across from him, but she knew Dale wouldn't relax until he was good and ready. They were alone, so he could yell all he wanted without fear of being overheard.

"What were you thinking? " he demanded. "Being seen around town with Clay Montgomery. Getting drunk with Clay Montgomery. Sleeping with Clay Montgomery."

She hadn't told her father they'd gone to his cabin. He assumed she'd gone to Clay's farm, and she planned to leave it that way. "Maybe I had a little too much to drink the night we played pool," she said. "But I didn't get drunk with Clay. Not the way you think. And Clay didn't even touch me when we were out last weekend. We fell asleep, okay? Nothing happened."

"But you know everyone around here believes he's guilty of murder. And you're a police officer, for God's sake!"

"No one's been able to prove Clay was responsible," she said. "Besides, like I just told you, nothing happened."

"Well, something happened this morning," he said.

Foreboding settled deep in Allie's bones. "What's that?"

"What you get when you thumb your nose at the people who've been dying to bring Clay Montgomery down."

"I don't know what you're talking about."