Page 68 of Rocky Ride

“I won’t. Thank you. Please hurry.”

I called Dad and told him where me and Virge were going, and he said he’d meet us there.

Virge came back with the food, and I’d already given the prisoners their coffee.

“Mrs. Hoover?” Virge hollered. “The lying suit guy killed his fuckin wife?”

“We don’t know that, Virgie. Lock the door. Dad’s meeting us in Shelby.”

Hoover Residence. Shelby.

Hal Hoover who owned the suit store lived in one of the big houses at the east end of Shelby. Only four properties on his road and they all had about two acres each.

Each custom house was set back a distance from the road and this time of year the driveways would be a bitch to keep clear. Hoover’s drive looked like it had been plowed professionally. Something rich people could afford.

“Look how big these fuckin houses are, Harlan. Must be a lot of money in making suits.”

“Yeah, must be.”

“Live in a mansion and drive a Jag. Huh.”

I parked the Jeep in the driveway close to the house and me and Virge ran to the door anxious to get in out of the fuckin wind.

The victim’s mother let us in. She’d been waiting a while with her daughter’s dead body and was pretty worked up when we got there.

Almost screaming in a high-pitched wail, she told us how she came into the house and couldn’t find Maria and searched high and low for her. She found her daughter upstairs in the bathroom shower lying in a pool of blood. “I don’t like her being naked like that, Deputies. Can’t you cover her up?”

“We should leave her exactly as she is, ma’am, until Doctor Olsen gets here. We can close the bathroom door if that will make you feel better.”

“Yes, please.”

“Did you contact the husband?” asked Virge.

“I called the sheriff’s number first and then I called Hal at the store. He’s arranging for his assistant, Austin, to come watch the store so he can come home. At first Hal didn’t believe what I was telling him.”

“It would be a shock,” I said.

“A bigger shock for me finding her dead.” Mrs. Preston sobbed. “Maria is my only daughter. Who would do such a thing?”

“We’ll find out, ma’am,” said Virgil.

We were downstairs in the living room with the huge stone fireplace almost gone out when Dad caught up to us.

He stepped into the foyer, stamped the snow off his boots and introduced himself, “Sheriff Frost, Mrs. Preston. Sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Sheriff. Your boys have been helping me deal with this tragedy.”

Dad nodded and gave me a look. “Upstairs in the master bathroom,” I said in a low voice.

Dad and Virge went up to look at the scene and I stayed with the mother. “What time did you come for coffee, ma’am?”

“Umm…it was around nine. I don’t live far away. Just at the other end of town.”

“And did you talk to Maria before you drove over here?”

“I called to tell her I was coming but she didn’t answer, so I came over anyway. She’s usually home when Hal is at the store. That’s when she gets things done—when Hal isn’t here bossing her around.”

“Did Maria and Hal have a happy marriage?” I asked that question because Billy always did.

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