Chapter Eight
Cullen felt Kali’s words land like an actual punch to his gut. Words that he had to mentally repeat a couple of times just so they’d sink in. Obviously though, Leigh wasn’t having any trouble processing what Kali had said.
“Austin had an affair with Alexa?” Leigh asked.
“Who is that?” Kali demanded. “Who’s listening?”
“Sheriff Leigh Mercer,” she said.
Cullen could have told Leigh it was a mistake to volunteer who she was, and Kali’s gasp proved it. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when Kali hung up on him. On a heavy sigh, Cullen tried to call the woman back, but Kali didn’t answer.
“For legal reasons, I had to identify myself,” Leigh muttered. “And I didn’t want her to say anything incriminating that I couldn’t use because her lawyer wouldn’t allow it into evidence.”
Yeah, Cullen understood that, but he wished he’d been able to ask Kali if she was certain about Austin having an affair with Alexa. Then again, Leigh would almost certainly ask her when she had Kali in for questioning.
Which Leigh would do.
No way could Leigh dismiss a bombshell like that. No way could Kali dodge questioning, either, because this was a murder investigation. An investigation where Kali had just revealed a possible motive for Austin murdering Alexa. Because affairs didn’t often end well. Hell, Alexa wouldn’t have let it end well unless she’d been the one to call it quits.
“Let me make sure Jamie is okay,” Leigh said, peering into the room. “And then we can discuss what I’m going to have to do about this situation with Austin and Alexa.”
What she was going to have to do would likely include warrants. Maybe even an arrest. Yeah, this was like a punch to the gut all right.
Cullen looked in Jamie’s room, too, and saw that his eyes were closed. So whatever meds Amber had given him had already taken effect. The guard, Harry Harbin, was there as well, and he actually appeared to be interested in doing his job. He was standing at the foot of the bed and had his hand on the butt of his gun.
“You need me to wake him up?” Harry asked her.
Leigh shook her head. “No. Not yet. Stay in here with him. I’ll be right outside in the hall for a couple more minutes.”
Harry nodded, and the moment Leigh shut the door, she turned back to Cullen. “Is Austin the type to have an affair?” she whispered. “An affair with your ex,” she tacked on to her question.
“I didn’t think so.” Or rather Cullen didn’twantto think so. “But obviously Kali saw something on Austin’s phone to make her believe it was true. Plus, the PI said that he’d seen Alexa meet with Austin.”
And there it was—the proof in a nutshell.
When he added that Austin had been spotted on the patio and that he’d kept his relationship with Alexa a secret, Cullen knew that Austin had just become Leigh’s prime suspect. But Cullen could see this from one more angle.
“Even if Austin had the affair, it doesn’t mean he murdered Alexa,” Cullen said, thinking out loud. “But if someone found out what he was doing, they might have wanted to kill Alexa at the party to make him look guilty. That, in turn, would sling some mud on me because some would think I’d cover for him.”
Cullen was thankful when Leigh didn’t ask if he would have indeed covered for his friend. He wouldn’t have.
“I’m guessing Austin didn’t tell you about the affair,” Leigh continued a moment later, “because he...what? Would have thought you’d tell Kali?”
“I wouldn’t have,” Cullen insisted. “But this would have put a wedge between Austin and me. Not because he was having sex with my ex but because he was cheating on Kali. I would have tried to talk him into either ending the affair or breaking things off with Kali.”
Leigh groaned softly and leaned back against the wall while she studied him. “You know this gives both Kali and Austin motive for murder. Yes, Kali said she didn’t learn about the affair until she saw Austin’s phone, but she could have found out sooner.”
Cullen tried to imagine Kali bashing in Alexa’s head, and he could see it happening if she was in a rage. But what was hard for him to fathom was that Kali would clean herself up and then come back into the party as if nothing had happened. Plus, there was the problem of Jamie. Cullen hadn’t kept track of Kali’s whereabouts all evening, but he just couldn’t see her sneaking up on his ranch hand and trying to kill him.
Then again, people did all sorts of things to cover themselves.
And Kali might have felt the need to get rid of Jamie if she’d thought he could link her back to Alexa. Maybe Alexa had even claimed to have told Jamie that she was meeting with Kali and that if anything happened to her, Jamie would know. Again, that felt like a huge stretch.
“I need to call Mack,” Cullen said, shifting his thoughts. “I want to have some extra ranch hands stand guard in the parking lot.”
Leigh nodded and studied him as if she was trying to figure out just how much this latest development was eating away at him. It hurt all right, but Cullen didn’t hide it from her. Wasn’t sure he could.
On a sigh, she touched his arm, rubbed lightly. “I’ll go in and get Jamie’s phone so I can get started on the possible trace.”