Ever Present Danger (30 page)

Bobby Knolls wrote something on the legal pad in front of him and then leaned forward on his elbows. “Okay, let’s go back to Pete Barton. Did you know he was gamblin’?”

“I heard it from my dad. I never asked Pete about it. Like I said, I really wasn’t interested in him anymore.”

“Did you know he had a reputation for sleepin’ around?”

“My dad mentioned it.”

“Did that make you mad?”

Ivy blew the hair off her forehead. “I thought it was pathetic. But like I said, I had zero interest in Pete.”

“So you wouldn’t have had any reason to want to get even with him?”

Ivy stared blankly at Bobby. “Even for what?”

“Say…for rejectin’ you when you came back?”

“I told you, I wasn’t interested in him.”

Bobby’s eyes narrowed. “Come on, Ivy. A big hunk like Barton? You’re tellin’ me you weren’t attracted to him?”

“I wasn’t.”

“Or maybe it was Pete who wasn’t interested. You haven’t exactly aged gracefully now, have you? Your cocaine habit put a few extra years on you. And took twenty-five or thirty pounds off that schoolgirl figure you used to have.”

Ivy’s face felt hot. “It wouldn’t have mattered whether Pete was interested in me or not. I wasn’t interested in him.”

“You’re expectin’ me to believe you went off to college after bein’ lovers, had no contact for ten years, then reconnected with zero interest in each other? No chemistry? Not even a little curiosity?”

“That’s the truth.”

“Then I have to ask myself what turned you off.”

Ivy’s pulse raced. “We both changed a lot. And since you read my rap sheet, you know I was arrested for solicitation and possession of a controlled substance, and the charges were dropped. Some of the stuff I did to pay for my drug habit didn’t exactly leave me feeling good about myself—or make me want to get hooked up with a man.”

“But you hooked up with Bill Ziwicki. You must see somethin’ in him. You’ve been datin’ him, right?”

“He’s a sweet guy who treats me with respect. But I’m not that interested in him either.”

“So your relationship isn’t romantic?”

Ivy glared at the lieutenant. “It’s not going that direction. We’re friends.”

“Judgin’ by the way you and Bill danced together at the reunion, some of your classmates thought you were an item.”

“Well, we’re not. I only danced with him once.”

“So you didn’t conspire with Bill to get rid of Pete Barton so the two of you’d be free to pursue a relationship?”

Ivy’s jaw dropped. “What? I was free to pursue any relationship
I pleased, Lieutenant. I didn’t have to conspire with anybody to do anything.”

“Is that a no?”

“An emphatic no.”

“Sorry if the implication insulted you, Miss Griffith. But we gotta get to the bottom of what happened. Some of the questions may be tough, but they’ve gotta be asked.”

Ivy sat through another round of being asked the same questions phrased differently. Did Bobby Knolls think she was too dumb to get what he was doing?

Finally, Bobby got up and walked over to the wall and leaned on it, hands in his pockets. “There’s still somethin’ botherin’ me. Whoever did the triple homicide meant it to be personal. He was a good shot and made it look pretty much like an execution. Since these three guys hadn’t really hung out together since high school, I’m inclined to think someone had it in for them for somethin’ that happened back in high school. Now, since you were thick with those guys, I have to believe you would’ve picked up some bad vibes along the way.”

Bill’s words echoed in Ivy’s mind.
Are you really willin’ to take the rap for Joe’s death when Mr. Hadley already settled the score?
“The guys didn’t tell me everything. Maybe they didn’t even know someone had it in for them.”

“Someone like Icky Ziwicki, who got tired of being picked on?”

No, someone like Mr. Hadley, who’s smarter than you are!
“Bill wouldn’t hurt a flea. You’re wasting your time if you think he had anything to do with the shooting. Besides, the only time he left the Aspen Room was to go to the men’s room.”

“We haven’t been able to prove that.”

“You can’t prove otherwise either because it’s the truth.”

Bobby came over and sat across the table from her and leaned forward on his elbows. “Well, here’s why I’m not buyin’ it. You admitted that
you
asked Pete to take Reg and Denny to their room. And we can’t find anything to confirm that Ziwicki was in the Aspen Room from the time you saw him at the bar at 1:20 until 1:45 when he asked you to dance. And then less than thirty
minutes later, you and Ziwicki just happened to go lookin’ for Pete and wandered onto the murder scene. A reasonable person could conclude that you conspired with Bill Ziwicki to kill Pete Barton.”

Ivy’s eyes burned and she blinked away the tears. “This is so unfair. I would never do such a thing—and neither would Bill. You’re looking at the wrong people!”

“Then suppose you tell me who I should be lookin’ at. Because right now, you and Ziwicki are lookin’ good for this.”

SHERIFF FLINT CARTER pushed open the door of the Tanner County Courthouse and felt a nip in the air and noticed the sun had already dropped behind the peaks in the western sky. He spotted Elam Griffith down on the sidewalk, pacing in front of a park bench.

Flint jogged down the steps and took Elam by the arm. “Okay. What’s so important you had to call my cell and pull me out of a meeting?”

Elam put his face directly in front of Flint’s. “You told Carolyn and me you had a few questions you wanted to run by Ivy. You never said anything about an interrogation! Ivy said Bobby Knolls grilled her for two hours—and not once did anybody suggest she might want to call a lawyer.”

“Didn’t think she needed one.”

“Don’t give me that!” Elam threw up his hands. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“We’re working to solve a triple homicide is what’s going on. And you might want to change your tone, friend. I don’t appreciate you getting up in my face.”

Elam’s arms hung at his side, his hands turned to fists. “Friends don’t trick friends. There’s no way I would’ve allowed her to be interrogated without an attorney present.”

“The questioning got more intense than we planned,” Flint
said. “She’s a grown woman. If she would’ve asked for a lawyer, we’d have let her call one. She didn’t ask.”

“Is Ivy a suspect?”

“No. Her alibi’s airtight. We’re pulling out all the stops looking for a motive. I mean, the victims hardly saw each other in a decade. If someone had a beef with all three, then it had to be related back to something that happened when they were hanging around together—probably in high school.”

“Or the shooter wasn’t after all three of them,” Elam said, “but didn’t want to leave any witnesses.”

“Right. So you can see why Ivy’s important to us. She might have the key to unlocking the motive to this whole thing and not even realize it.”

Elam tugged at his mustache. “She’s just going to close off if you keep throwing questions at her.”

“Well, she didn’t. She answered every question. You’d have been proud.”

“So are you done with her?” Elam said.

“For now. We’ve got teams taking a close look at different aspects of the case. We may need to question her further on down the line.”

Elam’s eyes narrowed and he seemed to be studying the mountains. “Okay. But I don’t want you talking to her anymore without her attorney present.”

“So you’re hiring someone?”

“Seems like the smart thing to do.”

“Why, since she’s got nothing to hide?”

“Come on, Flint. Ivy’s background doesn’t look good, and I don’t want this girl’s character misread because she had a drug problem. Besides, she’s fragile. She’s lost three friends right on top of Lu’s death. I’d feel better if she had a legal professional looking out for her best interests.”

“Suit yourself. I need to get back to my meeting.”

Ivy slipped on her ski jacket and went out and sat on the front steps, her hands in her pockets, her eyes focused on one
stubborn patch of snow under the tallest blue spruce that graced the property.

She heard the door open, and then Kelsey Jones came out and sat on the step beside her.

“You mind if I sit with you a minute before I walk down the hill?” Kelsey said.

“No, not at all. Thanks for spending time with Montana this afternoon.” Ivy smiled. “Better look out. He has a crush on you. Actually, it’s a toss-up between you and his teacher, Mrs. Shepard.”

“He’s a joy to be around. I hope Brandon and I have a son like him someday.”

Ivy hugged her knees. “Thanks. But the credit should go to Lu. She spent a lot more time with him than I did.”

“Because you were working.”

“Yeah, the past three years. Before that I was high much of the time. If it hadn’t been for Lu, it’s hard to say where Montana would be. Probably in foster care.”
Or dead
.

“I know you must miss her very much.”

Ivy sighed. “I think about her all the time. She’s the one I always went to when I needed advice. Sometimes it’s hard to believe she’s really gone. I keep expecting her to walk through the door.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

There was a long stretch of silence, and then Kelsey said, “On a lighter note, how’s it going with Bill?”

“It’s really not. He’s nice and everything, but I don’t see the relationship going anywhere. We just think too differently.”

“Well, I guess it’s good you recognize that now.”

Ivy nodded.

“I guess I should scoot down the hill. Buzz should be bringing my weary adventurer home pretty soon.”

“Buzz Easton?”

Kelsey nodded. “He’s the one I told you about who has the white-water rafting business. Do you know him?”

“Not well. He and his wife come in the café on Saturday mornings. But I saw him with a woman who wasn’t his wife at the Blue Moon Tavern last night. It was probably nothing.”

“Listen, I’m off tomorrow. Would you like to come over in the morning? I made that chocolate cream cheese Bundt cake I told you about and would love an excuse to pig out.” Kelsey chuckled. “And I’d like to get to know you better. I hardly have anyone my age to talk to.”

“Okay. What time?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How about nine, or is that too early?”

“No, it’s fine. See you then.”

Ivy watched Kelsey walk down the hill toward the camp, wondering what Kelsey would really think of her if she knew the things she had done.

Brandon Jones pushed open the front door, pulled off his shoes, and dropped his backpack on the couch.

“How was it?” Kelsey said. “I didn’t think you’d be this late.”

“Awesome. I’ve never been on white water that rough. What a ride! But I’ll tell you one thing: I’m starting to feel my age. I need to get into shape before camp starts.”

Kelsey pinched his middle. “Nothing there.”

“Yeah, well, my stamina isn’t what it was. I need to start running in the mornings now that I don’t have to contend with snow.”

“You could’ve used the workout room.”

Brandon kissed her on the cheek. “I know. There’s just something exhilarating about running in the outdoors.”

“So why are you so late? Surely you weren’t on the water after dark?”

“Oh, the guys wanted to sit around awhile and relive the day, so we went to some little place called Rogue’s and had great T-bone steaks. Have you eaten dinner?”

“Yeah, I had leftover chili. Actually, I missed cooking for you.” She put her arms around his neck. “In fact, I missed you all day.”

Brandon’s lips met hers. “Yeah, same here. So how were your checker games with Montana?”

“Fun. He’s good. I didn’t have to let him win even once.
And Ivy’s coming over in the morning.”

“You’re a good sport,” Brandon said. “I wish your day had been as exciting as mine.”

Kelsey’s eyes danced, her finger tracing his ear. “Well, it’s not over yet. We could go sit in the Jacuzzi and light some candles, put on some soft music…”

Brandon thought about the photograph Buzz had passed around the dinner table. When the guys started laughing at the look of surprise on Brandon’s face, he knew they were all in on it. It was all he could do not to punch Buzz in the mouth. Instead he laughed to cover his embarrassment and couldn’t find the courage to stand up for what he really thought.

“Truthfully, honey, I’m kind of beat up,” Brandon said. “I don’t think I would live up to your expectations tonight.”
And I don’t want porn in my mind when I’m with you
.

Kelsey brushed the hair out of his eyes. “You do look a little washed out—no pun intended. Why don’t you go take a hot shower and I’ll make you some hot herbal tea. That’ll relax those tired muscles.”

Brandon went in the bedroom and undressed, then stepped into the shower and let the water wash over him, bothered that he hadn’t told the guys he wasn’t into porn. What’s the worst that could’ve happened: They would’ve razzed him for being a Christian? Tried to convince him he was missing out? Tried to make him feel like a prude—or less than a man? He knew better. Why hadn’t he just told them where he stood?

Brandon grabbed the shampoo and lathered his scalp, almost as if to cleanse his mind. He would be on guard for Buzz’s crude antics in the future. With just a few weeks left to shoot the rapids before he was immersed in summer camp, why should he let Buzz’s worldly ways get in the way of good, clean fun?

Carolyn Griffith sat next to Elam on the couch, her arm linked in his, and watched the embers in the fireplace. “Who do you think we should hire to represent Ivy?”

“I’m thinking Brett Hewitt. He’s not intimidated by the DA.”

“You can’t believe it’ll go that far! Ivy didn’t kill those boys and has no idea who did.”