Cold Wind - C. J. Box [111]
She said, “Unless she wanted to steer us away from her.”
Joe thought about it. “She is pretty crafty, all right. But I don’t know if she’s capable of that kind of premeditation.” As he said it, he thought about how Missy, over the years, had lined up the next rich husband well before the soon-to-be-discarded one had a hint of dissatisfaction. And how she’d mastered the fine art of hidden but definitive language in her prenuptial agreement with Bud Sr., which had gained her his third-generation ranch.
Joe sat back in his seat. The rose-colored clouds had lost their light and now looked like heavy clumps of dark steel wool set against a graying sky.
“Well,” Schalk said, “this is all very interesting.”
“This stuff I just told you,” Joe said, “it’s new information, right?”
“Most of it,” she said.
“So it may be worth looking into?”
“Except for one thing,” she said.
“Bud Longbrake,” Joe said.
“And as far as that aspect of the case goes, it’s still solid,” she said. “You can throw all these conspiracies at me and watch the implications of what Alden did fly all over the country, but the fact still remains that we’ve got a man who claims your mother-in-law tried to hire him to kill her husband and he’s willing to testify to that fact. We’ve got phone records to prove that they were talking, even though Missy claims she hadn’t seen Bud or heard from him since she filed a restraining order against him. And, Joe, we have the motive. I’ve got people who will testify to the fact that Earl Alden was seeking a divorce.”
Joe winced. “But still . . .”
“Facts are stubborn things, Joe,” she said. “And I can promise you a jury will be able to understand Missy wanting to kill her husband much easier than a wild-eyed conspiracy involving wind energy, tax credits, the mob, and so on.”
He said, “You’re probably right about that. But is it worth it? Would you do your best to convict a woman who may be innocent because it’s easier than expanding the investigation?”
Her voice had a sharp edge to it when she said, “Don’t you ever question my integrity again. If I didn’t believe she did it, we wouldn’t have brought the charges against her.”
“I apologize,” Joe said, flushing. “I went over the line.”
“Yes, you did.”
No words were spoken for a full minute. Then Joe said, “But you’ve got to be thinking of what Marcus Hand will do with this.”
“I’m thinking about that, Joe,” she said. “No doubt he will use it to muddy up the case and confuse the jury.”
“He’ll find a juror or two—maybe more—to buy his theory,” Joe said. “We both know that. So given what he’ll do with this information, you might want to consider delaying the trial until you can make sure you can counter it.”
She said, “So, when did you get your law degree? When was it you were elected by the voters in Twelve Sleep County to enforce the law?”
Joe said, “I’ve seen Marcus Hand in action. I’ve seen him win with less than this.”
“Besides,” she said, her voice lightening in tone, “who says he needs to know all this ahead of time?”
Joe looked suspiciously at his cell phone before raising it back up. “Dulcie, you didn’t just say that.”
She was silent.
“Dulcie, now I’m questioning your integrity.”
“I was just speculating,” she said, a hint of desperation in her voice.
“He knows,” Joe said. “Marybeth is talking to him.”
“Joe, you’re a son-of-a-bitch.”
He was speechless.
“And the same goes for your wife,” she said.
Joe took a deep breath. He said, “Dulcie, this isn’t you. This is somebody who wants to beat Marcus Hand so badly they’ve lost their judgment. Dulcie, I need to talk to Bud.”
Silence.
“You still don’t know where he is, do you?”
She said, “See you in court, Joe.”
“Dulcie, please—”
She hung up on him.
“You may not know where he is,” he said to the dead phone, “but I think I do.”
As he pulled back on the highway, he tried to call Marybeth, but his call went straight to voice mail. No doubt, she