"Come on. You were hot. Chalk it up to poor judgment."
"Would you just brush it off?" Dean scratched his head, but didn't answer. Weller continued. "The election comes up in August. It's just the primary but that's the whole ball of wax 'cause this is pretty much a one party county. I don't think I'm going to file."
Dean could see Jake Weller was dead serious. He didn't know how to respond. Weller continued, the trace of a smile on his face. "If they don't stick your ass in jail, you should consider filing. You were a pretty damn good detective back East. I know, 'cause I checked you out when we had that business last year."
"You've got to be kidding! I retired from that stuff, remember? Besides, I've got a bed and breakfast to run."
"Cynthia and the old man do more running Bird Song than you and I'll bet you could use the dough." He named his salary, a figure that surprised Dean. "Vote for David Dean, ace detective," Weller said with a grin as he pulled himself from the chair. "Think about it."
Dean thought about it for all of ten seconds after Weller left, but once more on his bicycle, all thoughts of his future were restricted to immediate concerns of removing himself and his wife from the list of prime suspects in Jerome Shipton's attempted murder. He biked away from the highway, up the gravel road to the west. In years long gone it was the rail bed for the line that ran to terminus in Ouray and now a favorite path for bikers. It climbed gently along the escarpment above the river and was devoid of traffic. However, unlike the highway, the snow here had not yet melted and Dean was forced to return to the main road at the first opportunity to cross back over the river.
As he peddled the road to Ouray, he tried to formulate a scenario of Shipton's ice park fall that made sense. It didn't work. He concluded there was a major element he was missing.
The logical suspect was the person who possessed the most reason to see Jerome Shipton dead. That had to be Edith Shipton. Putting aside her obvious mental problems, Dean guessed she still possessed the ability to try and kill her husband. But, by all accounts, she was not near the spot where he fell, a fact confirmed by enough people to make it believable. And, if she had cut the line earlier, it would have either been noticed by Shipton or he would have fallen the entire distance of more than a hundred feet from the edge to his certain death.