Page 64 of For Always
The sheriff nodded.
“You responded with a threat to Ms. Palmer’s life,” Alvarez said to Gabriella.
It was a statement and not a question which told Tyler that Alvarez had spent the rest of yesterday talking to people who had been at the restaurant. Which meant, he’d been thinking of circling back to him and Gabriella all along. Tyler tried not to be angry at that fact, accepting that it made sense in the course of an investigation, considering all the facts. But damn if he had to like it.
Gabriella slid her hand away from Tyler’s and sat up straighter in her chair.
“Yes, I did,” she replied. “She was nasty and disrespectful. I was angry and when she tried to assault Tyler, I let her have it. With words, that is.”
“What did you say to her exactly?” the sheriff asked her.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Clyde told Gabriella.
She shook her head. “I’ll answer it. I told her that if she ever talked to me like that again I was going to bust her head with the next bottle of wine.”
“And you assaulted her?” Alvarez pressed.
Clyde shook his head. “Donotanswer that, Gabriella.”
Tyler touched her shoulder and she looked over to him. She did not respond to the sheriff.
Alvarez frowned. “Where were you Wednesday night between the hours of midnight and three in the morning?”
“She was with me,” Tyler interjected. “We were in bed together.”
He ignored Alex’s frown and prayed that Gabriella would not contradict his statement.
“Is that true?” Alvarez asked her.
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Tyler and I were together in bed on Wednesday night.”
Alvarez nodded. He also looked skeptical.
“Who else was here in the house Wednesday night?” the sheriff asked and looked around the room.
“I was,” Jagger told him.
Alvarez gave a half smile. “Jagger West. Your fiancé is still sitting in my jail cell waiting for her lawyer to get there. Tell me what you’ve been doing here in Hobbs Creek, since she’s been busy vandalizing private property?”
Jagger didn’t flinch. But Tyler hadn’t suspected he would.
“I had dinner alone on Wednesday night. Frozen pizza and beer. I watched some really bad reality TV shows and crashed on my bed I guess somewhere around nine. I didn’t see Tyler or Gabriella but I did hear them come in,” Jagger said.
That could have been true, Tyler thought, because after leaving the restaurant, even though Gabriella had been silent, Tyler had known she needed to eat. So he’d stopped at a fast food place to get them something quick, that neither of them ended up eating.
“And who are you?” Alvarez asked Alex.
“Alexander Bennett and this is my fiancé, Monica Lakefield. Gabriella is my sister. Monica and I arrived in Hobbs Creek yesterday to visit her,” Alex said in a tone that almost dared Alvarez to ask him another question.
“I think we’re finished here, Sheriff,” Clyde said. “You’ve gotten all the alibis you need.”
“It would have been better if these two weren’t alibiing each other,” the sheriff stated. “The fact is that Hannah Palmer was killed in your equestrian center between the hours of midnight and three a.m. That means we’re going to question everybody who works here, who has access to this ranch or any reason to be on this ranch. And we’re going to do that until we find ourselves a suspect.”
“You can do your job as you see fit,” Clyde told the sheriff. “But my clients have fulfilled their duty. Anything else you need to know concerning their whereabouts during that timeframe, you just give my office a call.”
“We’re not making no damn phone calls! Tyler West killed my daughter and I want him locked up right this minute!” Ted Palmer said as he rushed into the dining room.
“Dammit Ted, I told you to stay in the car!” the sheriff yelled.
