Angus shook his head in bafflement. “Then everything we’ve told Alex is true.”
“Alex?” Reede exclaimed. “Didn’t you say she was just here?”
“Dad was talking to her when I came in.”
“Where is she now?”
“She was sitting right there,” Angus said, pointing at the empty spot on the sofa. “I didn’t see anything after Junior came sailing toward me and knocked me down. Felt like a goddamn bull falling on me,” he said, jovially socking his son beneath the chin. Junior grinned with boyish pleasure.
“Would you two cut it out and tell me where Alex went?”
“Calm down, Reede. She’s gotta be around here somewhere.”
“I didn’t see her when I came in,” he argued stubbornly as he rushed into the hall.
“It couldn’t have been but a couple of minutes in between,” Junior said. “Why are you so anxious about—”
“Don’t you get it?” Reede asked over his shoulder. “If none of us killed Celina, whoever did is still out there, and he’s just as pissed off at Alex as we’ve been.”
“Jesus, I didn’t think—”
“You’re right, Reede.”
“Come on.”
The three men rushed through the front door. As they were clambering down the steps, Stacey Wallace wheeled into the drive and stepped out of her car.
“Junior, Angus, Reede, I’m glad I caught you. It’s about Alex.”
Reede drove the Jeep like a bat out of hell. At the crossroads of the highway and the Mintons’ private road, he caught up with the deputies who had delivered him the Jeep and flagged down the patrol car.
“Have you seen my Blazer?” he shouted to them. “Alex Gaither was driving it.”
“Yeah, Reede, we did. She was headed back toward your place.”
“Much obliged.” To his passengers he shouted, “Hang on,” and executed a hairpin turn.
“What’s going on?” Stacey asked. The Jeep’s top was off, so she was clinging to the roll bar for dear life. In her staid world, nothing this death-defying had ever happened.
Trying to detain the Mintons and Reede had been impossible. They had almost mowed her down in their haste to scramble into the Jeep. She’d been summarily told that if she must speak with them right then, she had to go along. She had climbed into the backseat with Junior, while Angus sat in the front seat, next to Reede.
“Alex could be in danger,” Junior shouted into Stacey’s ear to make himself heard. The cold north wind sucked the words out of his mouth.
“Danger?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I went to her motel,” Stacey shouted. “The desk clerk told me she might be at the ranch.”
“What’s so important?” Reede asked over his shoulder.
“I didn’t get everything off my chest last night. She didn’t hold the pistol or pull the trigger, but she caused Daddy’s suicide.”
Junior placed his arm around her, drew her close, and k
issed her temple. “Stacey, let it drop. Alex isn’t the reason Joe killed himself.”
“It’s not just that,” Stacey said, distraught. “Her investigation has raised questions about… well, we got married so soon after Celina was killed. People thought… you know how suspicious and narrow-minded they can be. They’re talking about it again.” She gazed up at him imploringly. “Junior, why did you marry me?”