Page 54 of Deputies Under Fire
It was indeed. “Mellie had been involved with Frank, and she’s dead,” Rory explained. “But I can’t find any indications that Frank and Mellie had resumed their teenage romance.”
“It doesn’t have to have been a real relationship for Helen to believe it was,” Aileen pointed out. “Frank was spending a lot of time going to Mellie to complain about the foster kids. Helen might have seen that as Frank’s attempts to spend time with Mellie and maybe win her back.”
Yes, that was possible. Then, Helen might have killed Mellie in a jealous rage. But how did the other two murders play into this? The only thing Rory could think of was that Helen had maybe decided to keep going and try to pin the murders on Ike. Then again, all three murders could have been designed for that right from the start, and jealousy might not have anything to do with this.
“I know this shooting happened a long time ago,” Rory said to Aileen, “but I want to use it and the other circumstantialevidence that we have to get a search warrant for Helen’s house.”
Aileen made a sound of agreement. “I can help with that if you want.”
“I do. Thanks.” Rory wasn’t going to turn down an offer like that. Aileen still had a lot of support in town, and even though the former sheriff would never bend the law, she would be able to cut through the red tape much faster than he could.
“All right. I’ll get right on that,” Aileen assured him. “Are you going to talk to Frank and ask him about the shooting?”
“I am. Thanks again, Aileen.” Rory ended the call and immediately pressed Frank’s number. It took four rings before the man finally answered.
“It’s late, Deputy McClennan,” Frank snapped. He’d obviously seen Rory’s name on the screen.
Rory didn’t bother with an apology, and he got right to the point. “Think back to that shooting in the barn when you were a teenager. Do you believe Helen could have been the one to fire that shot?”
Frank was silent for so long that Rory wasn’t sure the man was going to answer, but he finally said, “Yes.”
“Any reason you didn’t tell the cops that?” Rory asked.
“It would have only made matters worse. And the shot wouldn’t have hit Mellie or me since it was fired into the hayloft. We weren’t in any kind of real danger.”
“Maybe, but someone shot at you,” Rory reminded him. “I’d think you would want to say who did that.”
“I didn’t have any proof,” Frank insisted. “It would have been my word against Helen’s. Her family had power and money. Mine didn’t. I would have likely ended up losing my job, and my name would have been mud in Renegade Canyon.”
Rory wished that wasn’t true. But it was.
“If you truly thought Helen had fired the shot, why did you continue to see her over the years?” Rory asked.
Frank sighed. “Helen was there for me after my wife died. I was an emotional mess, and if I hadn’t had Helen, I wouldn’t have gotten through it. I owe her. She also helped me get my ranch. She used her family’s influence to get me the best deal possible on the place and even lent me part of the down payment.”
Rory thought of what Aileen had said about Helen not being able to let go of Frank, but it seemed to Rory that the same could be said of Frank. He didn’t press the man on his feelings for Helen. Instead, he went in a different direction.
“Will you voluntarily agree to a search of your house?” Rory asked. “I could get a warrant,” he added.
Frank muttered some profanity. “Do the search. I consent to it,” he said, surprising Rory. “Just not tonight because I’m about to head to bed. But you can send someone out first thing in the morning.”
“Thank you,” Rory said, but he was talking to the air because Frank had already ended the call.
“That was easier than expected,” Eden muttered. She stayed quiet a moment. “You’re mentally comparing Helen and Frank to you and me.”
He nodded. Then shook his head. “I don’t think you’d shoot at me if I was with another woman.”
She surprised him by smiling. “Well, I might have when we’d been teenagers. Especially if you’d been with Tracy Muldoon.”
He smiled, too, because Tracy had been the head cheerleader, and she’d made no secret that she wanted to replace Eden as his girlfriend. Tracy had done that via the mean-girl route of making Eden’s life miserable in high school.
Her expression turned serious, and the levity of the moment was gone. “No, even then I wouldn’t have shot at you.”
She hadn’t needed to spell that out. “We were both cops in the making even back then.”
“Yes,” she muttered, and she didn’t take her gaze off him.
The energy and the heat between them went up a notch, and that’s why Rory didn’t kiss her. Didn’t touch her. If he did, there’d be no turning back.
