Instead, he had harbored the secret, baiting her with innuendos, until a time when springing the trap would do the most damage and give him the most satisfaction. The God Marilee believed in would regard William’s malicious intent a far greater sin than her loving Scott.
The agents were waiting for her answer. “William left about an hour ago.” She’d waited in her bedroom until she’d heard him leave the house and his car drive away. “I assumed he was going to the store. If he’s not there, then I can’t help you. What did you want with him?”
“Actually, we were looking for customers of his. Your husband for one, Mrs. Hamer.” Turning to Dora, Wise said, “Can you tell us where he is?”
“I have no idea.”
“He and Dutch were here earlier,” Marilee said. “With William. I overheard them talking about snowmobiles. William recently purchased some at auction.”
The muffled conversation in the hallway had reached through her bedroom door. She’d been too disconsolate over Scott to pay attention to the raised voices, and she cared little what the three of them had to talk about, but that word had registered with her. “Now that I think on it, Wes and Dutch were dressed for skiing.”
The look that Begley exchanged with Wise made her uneasy.
“Please, gentlemen, what’s this about?”
“Cleary Peak,” Begley said.
“And Mr. Tierney?”
“Did they mention him or the peak in their conversation with your brother?” Agent Wise asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Are you familiar with the peak, Ms. Ritt?”
“Very. I grew up on it, just below the summit actually, on the western side.”
“Western side? How do you get there from town? Does Mountain Laurel Road wind around?”
“No. There’s another road that snakes up the western face. But it’s not much of a road any longer. Sections of it were washed away in a mudslide several years ago. The road is so rarely used that it hasn’t been repaved.”
“But snowmobiles could get up it?”
“I don’t know anything about snowmobiles, but I suppose it’s possible.” She divided a look between the two agents. “You think Wes and Dutch have gone up there after Mr. Tierney?”
Although Begley didn’t answer specifically, he said, “We’re waiting on a helicopter from Charlotte. Hopefully we’ll get up there before anyone who has a mind to take the law into his own hands.”
He looked at Dora. “Would you be willing to call Mr. Hamer and advise him not to take any foolhardy action?”
“I’d be willing, but I’ve already tried to reach him on his cell and couldn’t get through. I was frantic to tell him about Scott, but—”
“What about Scott?” Begley’s piercing stare was so daunting, Dora actually recoiled from it. “Mrs. Hamer,” he said, “did the questions we asked Scott yesterday about Millicent upset him to this degree?”
“No.”
Her response was weak and had no substance, and Begley seized on that immediately. “Frankly, we felt that Scott, indeed all of you, were withholding information that could be valuable to our investigation.”
Wise said, “Perhaps he knows more about Millicent’s disappearance than—”
“His emotional instability has nothing to do with Millicent,” Marilee said, interrupting. The men directed their attention to her. “I can’t let you waste time on something that’s irrelevant.” She hesitated, then said, “Scott is upset because his father and my brother have been giving him injections of steroids. He wants to stop taking them and knows he’ll get a fight from Wes if he does. Further . . .”
She stopped, took a breath, clasped her hands together. “Furthermore, Scott and I were caught in bed together this morning.” Reading the shock in their expressions, she added, “Everything you infer from that is correct. Scott and I are lovers.
“He left a disturbing note in his room this morning.” Marilee didn’t ask Dora’s permission before passing the note to Begley, who read it, then handed it over to Wise. Begley’s expression wasn’t encouraging.
Wise was the first to regain his voice, and even then he cleared his throat
delicately before speaking. “Do you think it’s your, uh, relationship with him to which he’s referring in the note?”