Hard Rain (7 page)

He didn’t have to ask whom she was referring to. Senator John David “JD” Hamilton, Senator Buckmaster Hamilton’s father.

When he realized she was waiting for an answer, he said, “I’m trying hard not to jump to any conclusions though I see you don’t suffer that same fate.”

“If the rumors were true from back then—”

“And we all know that if you can’t trust a good rumor, then what can you trust,” he said.

“Seriously, he was twice her age—not to mention
married
and about to run for president.” Lynette shook her head. “You know he killed her. But what I’m wondering is how you’re going to prove it. JD’s long dead. So is his wife, Grace, not that she could have done it from her wheelchair—unless, of course, she was faking her inability to walk. There is always that since she definitely had motive.”

Frank groaned. He loved—and hated—the way Lynette’s mind worked. It took so little to get her imagination going. “It appears you’ve already got it solved.”

“With Maggie dead,” his wife continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “who does that leave that might know the truth?”

He took another drink of his beer. His thoughts had already ridden along this same path. “I love watching the wheels turning in your head. It is an amazing thing to see.”

“I suppose Buckmaster could have learned about his father’s affair and killed Maggie? Or...” Lynette’s eyes went wide and luminous. “
Sarah
. Sarah and Buck were living in the same house during at least part of that time. Maybe she killed her to protect JD and his candidacy for president.”

“Wow,” Frank said. “Let me write this all down.”

“Make fun if you will, but you have to admit, there are more suspects than ever when you think about it. Especially given what we know about Sarah.”

That was just it. They knew just enough about Sarah and her return to give him heartburn. “I had better eat well to keep my strength up, then. Is the roast about ready?”

She mugged a face at him as she got to her feet and went to the oven.

He put down his beer to help her with dinner as he thought about what she’d said. She’d made some good points. But until the autopsy was complete and the DNA results were in...

“Assuming that the body is Maggie McTavish’s,” he said as they sat down to eat. Frank dished them both up roast beef and vegetables. “What do you remember about her?”

Lynette shot him an I-knew-it look. “Too beautiful, too wild, too...easy. Not to mention the difference in age between her and JD.” She made a disapproving face. “He was old enough to know better. If it had come out... But that’s why he had to kill her, wasn’t it? He would have lost the election. A wife in a wheelchair, a teenage lover on the side at his age. He would have been lucky to get a single vote.”

“He was forty-two,” Frank had to point out. “That’s not exactly elderly.”

“And Maggie was eighteen.”

“Legal age of consent.”

“Not even the age of JD’s own son.”

“She knew her own mind by that age.” He couldn’t help defending her, even though he knew it would get a rise out of Lynette.

“How do
you
remember her?” she asked suspiciously.

“Uninhibited, free-spirited, brazen and definitely too tragically beautiful. I remember thinking that she’d get her heart broken and come to a bad end.” He could feel Lynette staring at him.

“You were in love with her.”

Frank shook his head. “I was in love with you. Actually, I felt sorry for any man who fell for Maggie. I think they would have definitely gotten to know heartbreak as well, but—” he shrugged “—what do I know?”

“I suppose someone could have resented her free spirit, or maybe it was her beauty, and killed her.”

“That’s one theory,” he agreed.

She stopped eating to look at him. “You know something I don’t.”

He grinned across the table at her. “I hope I know a lot of things you don’t,” he said with a laugh. “If the corpse is Maggie McTavish’s, I have no idea who killed her. Does that make you feel better?” He reached for the knife to cut more roast. “Let’s not talk about murder. It gives me indigestion. Let’s talk about the store and what else is new.”

Lynette had once owned the Beartooth General Store. But after she was almost killed in a fire at the store, she’d sold it, the land and her house she’d once shared with her first husband, Bob Benton. When the new owner had the store rebuilt as it had been, Lynette had gone back to work there part-time. Frank had seen that she missed working and was glad. It gave her an opportunity to get out of the house—as well as hear what was going on in the county.

“Mabel Murphy stopped by. You know she used to clean for Grace and JD Hamilton,” Lynette said now, getting her cat-that-ate-the-canary look. “She told me something interesting.”

Frank put more roast and vegetables onto her plate and, smiling, helped himself. He could tell that his wife had been sitting on this little tidbit all evening. “I suppose there’s no stopping you. Mabel already has the murder solved?”

“Mock, but Mabel swears that she overheard Grace arguing with JD about Maggie not long before the girl disappeared.” Lynette licked her lips and met his gaze. “So Grace
knew
. And what’s more, Grace couldn’t stand her daughter-in-law, Sarah. She blamed her for eloping and stealing her son, Buck, and for encouraging JD to run for president. Mabel overheard her say something about wanting to kill both of the women she claimed had destroyed her life—if one of them didn’t kill her first.”

He did find that interesting but did his best to hide it. “I’m amazed Mabel got any cleaning done with her ear to the door all the time,” Frank said. He made a mental note to himself to find out how Grace had died.

“Say what you will about Mabel, but she is one of the only people still alive who might have information about what was going on in that house. Buckmaster and Sarah lived with his parents for a while—until Grace and Sarah had a huge row and the newly married couple moved out—so how can you trust anything they tell you?”

* * *

S
ARAH
WAS
WAITING
for him at the airport when Buckmaster flew into Bozeman the next morning. He hadn’t been able to take a decent breath since the sheriff’s call. But when the plane touched down, he felt some relief. He was home. Back in Montana.

Out the plane window, he caught sight of the Bridger Mountains, the tops frosted with fresh snow. He took a breath, then another. He’d come too far to let the past destroy him and his family. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to keep that from happening.

Maggie McTavish.

Hadn’t he known that she would take the whole family down?

“You can’t leave now,” his campaign manager had said, pulling him aside and lowering his voice when Buck told him he had to go home. “We have to prep you for this debate. Whatever is going on at home, this isn’t the time.”

“I have no choice.” He hadn’t wanted to get into it with Jerrod. “I’ll be back in time for the debate.” He’d started to step away when his campaign manager had grabbed his arm.

“I can tell something has happened. How bad is it?” Jerrod had demanded.

“Just let me take care of it.”

The younger man had sworn under his breath. “One of the girls?”

“I really don’t have time to get into this right now, but I’m afraid there will have to be some damage control. How much, I don’t know yet. I’ll call you.” He’d pulled free and left, afraid there wasn’t enough damage control in the world to stop the storm that was about to hail down on them.

Now he looked up and saw Sarah waiting for him parked at the curb. Just the sight of her hit him like a two-ton truck. She made him feel weak in his knees. All he could think about was taking her in his arms. But, he reminded himself as he looked past her, this wasn’t the place.

You’re just like your father. Your life is nothing but lies and secrets.

The thought made him grit his teeth. With his carry-on in one hand, he reached for the door handle and quickly jumped in the vehicle.

He’d been a fool to ask her to pick him up. He was too well-known. So was Sarah by extension. Had they embraced, it would have been in the news within the hour—complete with quickly snapped cell phone photos, if not a photographer who might have heard he was flying in.

“Drive!” he ordered.

“Buck, you’re scaring me,” Sarah said.

“I don’t know what I was thinking asking you to come here,” he said as she pulled away from the curb. “I just wanted to see you as quickly as possible.”

Sometimes he wished he’d never gotten into politics. He’d taken away any privacy he had—not to mention the privacy of his family. But politics were in his blood, he thought bitterly as they left the airport.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he looked over at her. “I wanted to take you in my arms. I wanted to kiss you and...” He shook his head. “One day soon we won’t have to hide anymore.”

Sarah didn’t look convinced.

“I swear to you,” he said, reaching over to take her free hand. He caressed her palm with his fingers, tracing her lifeline. “I love you, Sarah. Somehow, we’re going to get through all of this. Right now, though,” he said, letting go so she could tend to driving, “we have to wade through the quagmire of my father’s legacy.”

* * *

A
FTER
WHAT
SEEMED
an interminable amount of time, the sheriff finally got the call from the coroner’s office.

“We have some preliminary results down here,” Charlie Brooks said. “I thought you might want to stop by my office.”

“I’ll be right there.” Minutes later, he pushed open the door to find Charlie behind his desk. Frank pulled out a chair and sat, surprised how weak his legs felt. He could tell by the look on the coroner’s face that they’d found out something that had upset him.

Charlie, a former veterinarian turned coroner, was new at this murder business. He’d thought because he loved mysteries, he would enjoy the work. Often he looked disappointed in mankind—and a little sick to his stomach.

“Were you able to find a cause of death?” Frank asked. He could see the report on Charlie’s desk, his hands resting over it. He worried that because of the mummification of the body they wouldn’t be able to get any definitive answers.

“She suffered a severe brain injury...”

The sheriff sat back. “So she could have fallen off her horse, hit a rock—”

Charlie shook his head. “From the angle of the wound, she was hit with a heavy object in the back of the head, but apparently it wasn’t sufficient to kill her.”

“You can tell that from the mummified body?”

“Her internal organs were intact, including her brain, lungs and womb.”

He stared at the coroner. “What are you trying to tell me?”

Charlie sighed and looked away for a moment. He’d been almost excited to be able to do an autopsy on a mummified body since they were so rare. Now, though, he looked more than sick to his stomach.

“She was five months pregnant,” the coroner said after a moment.

Frank swore under his breath as his mind raced with possible suspects given this information. Who would have known about the pregnancy? Had Maggie told the father of her baby? Rubbing a hand over his face, he sighed. “I was worried it would be something like that. Will it be possible to get a DNA sample from the fetus?”

“We’re hopeful.”

“In that case, we’ll need to get DNA samples from anyone who might have fathered her baby.” Frank was already thinking of how difficult that was going to be given that their chief suspect—JD Hamilton—had been buried not long after Maggie.

“But wait a minute. You said the blow to her head wasn’t enough to kill her.”

Charlie nodded. “We found something under her fingernails.”

Frank frowned. “I can’t believe there would still be skin or fibers.”

The coroner shook his head. “There were splinters.”

It took him a moment to understand what that meant. He felt his pulse leap with horror as his breath caught in his throat. “No,” he said, shaking his head, but the look on Charlie’s face told him it was true. His stomach did a slow, sickening roll.

“I checked the wooden box she was buried in,” the coroner said. “There are gouge marks on the inside of the top of the coffin. Whether by accident or on purpose, Maggie McTavish died from a lack of oxygen. She was buried alive.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

JD
DIDN
’
T
GO
back to the lake. Grace noticed, narrowing her eyes at him, making him feel as if he had something to hide.

The animosity between his son and daughter-in-law and his wife had seemed to escalate as Sarah’s pregnancy became more advanced.

“Now she has him where she wants him,” Grace said bitterly. “And she has you, too, doesn’t she? She’s talked you into running for president.”

“You know it’s been something I’ve considered,” he said in his defense. A part of him wondered if he’d latched on to the idea because it would get him away from the ranch, from the feuding and fighting, from Grace.

He felt guilty and yet he wanted to see if he had a chance of winning the Republican primary. His supporters seemed to think he did. He had his doubts, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to run.

“If I could get out of this wheelchair, I would kill her,” Grace said.

He didn’t even bother to reply, simply walked out of the room. He’d talked himself hoarse trying to get her to make peace with her daughter-in-law. What had happened to the woman he’d married?

“I’d kill that other one, too,” he heard her say as he started to close the door. That other one? His heart lodged in his throat. Maggie? Is that who she was talking about? He turned to look back at her.

Grace smiled and nodded. “Why don’t you go fishing, JD. At least we know what makes you happy, don’t we?”

* * *

W
HEN
SHE
’
D
HEARD
that her father was flying in today, Harper swung by the Beartooth General Store to pick up the homemade cinnamon rolls he loved. She was anxious to see him after everything that had happened and was disappointed when he said Sarah would be picking him up at the airport.

She needed to talk to him about not only the body that had been found on the ranch, but also the events four months ago involving Angelina and her mother. Even if her mother wasn’t a member of this anarchist group, she had to admit it all sounded suspicious to her. She was realizing how little she knew about her mother. Was her father realizing the same thing? Or was he blinded by love?

As she pushed open the door to the grocery, the bell jangled and Lynette Curry or, as everyone called her but her sheriff husband, Nettie looked up. Surprise registered on her face, but nothing like the surprise on the face of the woman Nettie had been visiting with.

As the door closed behind her, Harper said hello to Nettie and Mabel Murphy. The two older women returned the greeting, but it was clear as Harper walked toward them that she’d interrupted something. She guessed it was about the body that had been found on the ranch. It was no surprise that the news had already gotten out.

“What can I get you, Miss Hamilton?” Nettie asked.

Harper could tell that she didn’t know which twin she was. “I’m going to need a half dozen of your wonderful cinnamon rolls,” she said, and Nettie quickly turned and began cutting into the huge pan of rolls. She seemed nervous. So did Mabel. The tension in the air could have been cut along with the cinnamon rolls.

“Is everything all right?” Harper asked, hoping to clear the air.

“I was about to ask
you
that,” Mabel said.

Nettie tried to hush her as she wrapped the cinnamon rolls up and put them on the counter, but Mabel didn’t seem to hear. “How did your family take the news?”

“The news?” Harper asked, pretending she didn’t know.

Mabel leaned forward to whisper even though they were the only people in the store. “About Maggie’s body being found on your ranch.”

“Maggie?” So the sheriff had already ID’d the body? The name didn’t register.

“Maggie
McTavish
. I heard her body was...mummified.” Mabel shuddered. “It must have been ghastly to find—”

“What?” Harper said as she grabbed the counter for support. “The body we found was Brody’s
cousin
?” She’d heard stories about Maggie. In fact, she’d thought that Maggie’s alleged reputation was probably why her mother didn’t like her being around Brody and the McTavish family.

“You hadn’t heard?” Nettie asked, even though it was clear she hadn’t.

“Does Brody know?” Harper asked, sick at heart for him.

“I would imagine he knows by now,” Nettie said.

“If he didn’t know when he saw the body to begin with,” Mabel added, one brow shooting up.

Harper stared at her. “How would he have known?”

“It isn’t like some of us didn’t suspect, under the circumstances, that she’d gotten herself murdered and buried on the ranch,” Mabel said.

“Circumstances?”
Harper was in such shock that none of this was computing.

“Surely you know about your grandfather and Maggie,” Mabel said, even though Nettie was trying to shush her. “True he was married and twice her age, but everyone in these parts—”

“That was only a rumor,” Nettie broke in. “There’s no reason to jump to conclusions. I’m sure my husband will sort it out all in good time.”

Harper felt numb.
Her grandfather JD and Maggie McTavish?
She thought again of Brody. Had he known about this? She recalled how distant he’d gotten after they’d discovered the body and mentally kicked herself.
He’d known.
Or at least he’d suspected it was Maggie. No wonder he’d been so upset. No wonder he’d been so anxious to get away from her.

“I have to go,” she said, and turned toward the door.

“What about your cinnamon rolls?” Nettie called to her, but Harper was on a completely different errand now.

* * *

B
RODY
LOOKED
UP
to see a vehicle roaring up the road. He’d just finished chores and was headed for the house he’d built on the McTavish Ranch some miles from his father’s and uncle’s.

He watched from under the brim of his straw cowboy hat. Whoever was driving that SUV was going way too fast. He braced himself for more bad news as the SUV came to a dust-boiling stop just feet from him.

“What the hell?” he said as he moved to confront the driver. When he saw who it was through the open window, he swore again. “What are
you
doing here?”

“That body we found...is it...”

“My cousin Maggie’s.” He nodded slowly.

“I’m so sorry. I just heard at the Beartooth General Store.”

“So it’s all over the valley by now,” he said with a curse. He really didn’t want to talk to her about this. Seeing her made it all that much more painful.

“I understand now why you just wanted to be alone yesterday. If I had known—”

“I’m fine. Thanks for stopping by. You should get on home now.” He turned away. Behind him he heard her car door open and let out an oath under his breath as he heard her come after him.

“If you think being rude will make me go away, you’re wrong.”

He shook his head and turned back around to face her. “How does a man deal with a woman like you?”

“I know why you’re acting like this. But you don’t have to protect me. I can handle the truth.”

Brody sighed. “What is it that really has a bee in your bonnet?”

“Other than one minute yesterday you were rescuing me—” She held up a hand to stop him before he could correct her. “And kissing me and telling me it was something you’d wanted to do since I was sixteen and the next you were telling me to get lost. A little explanation would have been nice. Then I hear at the store that my grandfather and your cousin Maggie were...”

“Lovers?”

“Is it true?”

He shrugged. “You should ask someone who knows. I wasn’t even born yet.”

“Neither was I. But that doesn’t keep it from affecting us, does it.”

He wanted to tell her there was no “us” and he couldn’t see how there ever could be. His uncle and father had made it clear how they felt already. Wait until all this hit the fan.

She squinted in the sun for a moment. “Your uncle never mentioned—”

“He didn’t like talking about Maggie,” Brody said.

“If you think my grandfather killed her, well, you’re...”

He raised a brow, waiting.

“That is what you think!” she cried.

“Look,” he said, holding up his hands. “This is why I didn’t want to get into it with you. I don’t know who killed Maggie. We may never know. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here. My uncle could stop by. He’s upset enough without seeing you here.”

She stared at him, looking as if she might cry. “So you and I can’t even talk or be seen together? And you’re good with that even though all this happened before we were born?”

He raked a hand through his hair. “It’s complicated. Anyway, you and I are like oil and water. It’s just as well we don’t take things between us any further.”

“I see.” She took a step back. Anger had dried her tears. He was thankful for that. If she had cried, well, he would have been tempted to take her in his arms and he was afraid where that would lead. “Just for the record, I’d been waiting years for you to kiss me.”

“Glad I got that taken care of, then.”

Harper narrowed her gaze at him. “You can just accept all this if you want, but I’m going to find out who killed Maggie and clear my grandfather’s name,” she said defiantly.

“That’s your worst idea yet. What if you find out that he killed her?”

“The one thing I won’t do is let other people tell me who I can see and not see depending on their last name.”

“It’s not that cut-and-dried. Harper, you have no idea what you’re getting into.”

“Well, it won’t have anything to do with you so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

He groaned inwardly as he watched her stomp to her SUV. Damn that woman. As she left in a cloud of dust, he told himself that it had been an idle threat. Once she drove away, she’d realize she didn’t have the first clue as to how to go about finding a killer from thirty-five years ago and give it up. At least, he hoped that would be the case.

What if they were all wrong and JD Hamilton hadn’t killed Maggie? What if her killer was still alive? Brody swore again. If Harper went through with her threat, she could be putting herself in danger.

But more than likely all that would happen was she’d get her heart broken when she learned the truth.

* * *

T
HE
MOMENT
H
ARPER
reached home, she called her mother, but had to leave a message. She’d just hung up when she heard someone behind her. She turned to find her sister Kat, hands on hips, giving her one of her narrow-eyed looks.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kat demanded.

“I beg your pardon?” Harper said. Kat had always been bossy growing up, but if she thought she could still tell her what to do...

“I heard you on the phone telling Sarah that you want to talk to her about Maggie McTavish.”

“Sarah? You mean our
mother
? You’re the only one of us who calls her Sarah.”

Kat ignored that. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it. You have no idea what you’re doing or how dangerous it could be.”

Harper stared at her sister. “You sound like Brody.”

Kat groaned. “He’s involved, too?” She shook her head.

“Everyone, including Brody, believes that our grandfather killed Maggie McTavish. So I really can’t see how it could be dangerous, since JD Hamilton has been dead for years. Unless you’re suggesting Dad would harm me to keep the awful truth a secret?”

“Not
Dad
.”

Harper was taken aback. She’d expected Kat to tell her how ridiculous Brody’s claims were, that their grandfather, as well as their father, was innocent. But the way she’d said “not Dad.”

“
Mother?
Are you saying Mother might harm me to keep me from finding out the truth?” Even as she asked the question, she recalled her mother’s reaction to seeing her with Brody McTavish. Also Ariel Crenshaw’s questions about Sarah Johnson Hamilton. “You think Mother knows something about Maggie’s death?”

Kat shrugged. “Sarah lived in the first ranch house with our grandparents at about the same time as this thing with Maggie would have been going on. That was before Dad and Sarah moved out and he built this house.”

“What is it with you and Mother?” She knew her sister too well. “
You know something?
What? You think Mother killed Maggie McTavish?”

“I didn’t say that. But I think she’s capable of it.”

Harper couldn’t have been more astonished. “
What?
I knew you had a problem with Mother but—”

“I found out some things about Sarah around Christmastime.” It annoyed her that Kat called their mother Sarah, but she listened as her sister related the investigation that Kat’s boyfriend, Max, had initiated. It had been Max, the journalist, who’d discovered that, during her college years, Sarah Johnson had allegedly been involved with a radical group called The Prophecy.

“I thought some other woman confessed?”

Kat looked surprised that Harper knew that.

“I had a visit from Ariel Crenshaw, the sister of the PI Angelina hired to find out about Mother’s past. But she said Mother was cleared.”

Her sister looked away for a moment. “Dad didn’t want you knowing this, but... When Max and I started looking into Sarah’s past, several of the members of The Prophecy tried to kill us.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Where was I when all this was going on?”

“Europe. Finishing your education.”

“It was a rhetorical question. I know where I was geographically. How it is no one thought to tell me?”

“Dad didn’t want to worry you and Cassidy.”

“But the rest of you knew?” she demanded.

“Not everyone.”

“You still believe that Mother was a member of this anarchist group back in the seventies?”

“Not a
member
, a coleader—or possibly the real leader—and the only woman in The Prophecy.”