Page 119 of Shadow Sabotage
I nodded. “Robin said Judge Barrington thought of himself as a benefactor to Katelyn. Katelyn had no illusions of a future with him—apparently didn’t want one. She was discreet, willing to play by their rules. His wife already knew about the affair. So, what’s the motive for him to kill her?”
“They could have had a fight,” Sheriff McGrath pointed out. “Katelyn may have changed her mind about what she wanted from him when she got here.”
“Maybe,” I conceded. “But I spoke with Judge Barrington about the investigation. I’ve replayed that conversation ever since we found out about the affair, and my gut still says he genuinely wanted the case to be solved. I think he delayed the warrants because he knew we were wrong—that there’s no way Katelyn was having an affair with you because she was with him.”
“Alright.” Sheriff McGrath sighed. “Tell me why you’re thinking Darla.”
“Robin said something that’s been bothering me. She said Darla had given her blessing—as long as Katelyn remembered her place. That’s a mild threat. And Darla is as cold as ice. I could see that as clear as day when I met her.”
“That’s pretty weak. I agree with you that Darla Barrington is a sharp, cutthroat woman. But that doesn’t make her guilty of murder.”
“Think about it,” I said. “We know Darla had a boyfriend. What if Trey wasn’t in the judge’s pocket—what if he was inhers?”
Sheriff McGrath put his palm over his face. “Serena told me Darla was a cougar. Said her boyfriend was half her age. That fits. But again, what’s the motive? She has a boyfriend of her own and already knew about Katelyn.”
Claire inhaled sharply. “Other than whatever Katelyn might have done that crossed a line? I can think of two.”
Sheriff McGrath looked at her. “How do you figure?”
“Darla’s whole goal is to bring tourists to Wildwood. What happened as soon as the news broke?”
Sheriff McGrath squeezed his eyes shut. “The motel booked up.”
“Exactly,” Claire said, her jaw set. “It’s not an ideal way to bring people in, but it sure gave the town exposure. Second, Trey is her lover. What is the one thing Trey wants most?”
“To work at DCI,” Sheriff McGrath said. He looked sick. “And his lack of homicide investigation experience was the one thing standing in his way.”
“It’s a win-win for both of them,” I agreed.
“We need proof. And that’s going to be tricky, seeing as how we can’t go to Judge Barrington for a warrant.” He shook his head. “This is a mess.”
“I’ll go to the district court judge,” I decided. “We’ll get a search warrant for their home and guest house. They’ll have cleaned it, but I bet we’ll get proof Katelyn was there. We’ll get the DA to offer Sergeant Collins a deal. He’ll talk—eventually. We’ve got Robin’s testimony, and we’ll get Serena’s, too.”
“Serena?” Sheriff McGrath’s head jerked back. “Why does she have to get involved in this?”
I leveled a look at him. “Because I’m pretty sure Darla Barrington is the reason Serena thought you were having anaffair with Katelyn. She was whispering in Serena’s ear while Sergeant Collins dropped hints about you and Claire. It was all part of the plan. Darla was setting you—or Serena—up to take the fall. And we walked right into it.”
“Son of a bitch.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Claire
The forty-eight hoursafter the search were a blur. There was no time to catch up on the sleep we desperately needed. Vance and I pretty much worked around the clock, building our case against Darla Barrington.
Our hard work paid off.
Serena confirmed what we’d suspected. She’d driven by the coffee shop that evening after dinner out with her friends and had seen Sheriff McGrath and Katelyn together on a night when he’d said he had to work late. The next day, she told Darla and Leslie, looking for reassurance that she had nothing to worry about. A few months later, Darla started actively feeding Serena’s concern about Katelyn. She needed a viable suspect for when Katelyn’s body was discovered.
When Sheriff McGrath assigned the investigation to me, Darla and Trey started planting seeds about a second affair, making Serena question everything about the husband she loved. She wanted to trust and protect him but was overwhelmedwith fear and betrayal. She never even realized she was being manipulated.
The moment Trey was offered a deal in exchange for testimony, he dropped all loyalty to Darla and filled in all the missing pieces.
Darla had killed Katelyn. Not because of anything Katelyn had done, but because Judge Barrington had fallen in love with her. For the first time since they’d opened up their marriage, he started talking about the future, dropping hints that he wanted one—with Katelyn.
One night, Darla overheard him telling Katelyn he was going to file for divorce. After all, he’d never wanted an open marriage to begin with. That had been all Darla’s idea. Now that he’d found love, he wanted to make Katelyn his wife.
That was a threat Darla couldn’t endure.
