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  “Fine. Sheriff Espinoza. Give me a minute to talk to Sugar.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you, Charli. Just let us go.” Sugar was dropping tears across the floor. My heart nearly broke.

  Dean interrupted, “Sheriff, if I could give Charli my keys, I need her to make sure the house is locked up. I left it open for a contractor who was coming out today to finish up on our remodeling.”

  Sugar looked at him like he’d done lost his mind. I wasn’t sure I disagreed. Who could think about remodeling when they were faced with jail?

  Mateo nodded and reached into Dean’s pocket for his keys. I moved closer to get the keys from him, and Mateo lowered his voice to keep Liza from hearing him. “However, there won’t be any contractors at the house today. We’re going to be serving a search warrant this afternoon, and no one is getting in that house. Including you. But you can make sure it’s locked up when we leave.”

  Tiny chose that moment to go after Dean…again. Mateo pushed Dean behind him as he tried to contain Tiny before things got completely out of hand. It was during that moment that Dean leaned over and whispered. “Sugar just told Mateo she lost her gun. That’s not true. I saw it in our safe this morning, and Mateo is looking for a 9mm handgun. He’s looking for Sugar’s gun. You have to get to the house and get rid of it.”

  Holy crap. I looked toward Mateo and Tiny. They were nose to nose, and Mateo was saying something to keep Tiny from losing it. I’m not sure what he was saying, but I wished he was saying it to me. I was seriously close to dropping down on the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs, and rocking myself into oblivion.

  Sugar didn’t say anything. She just pleaded with her eyes for me to do something to make this all go away. Was she asking me to cover up a murder of an innocent woman like Dean was? Or was she wanting something else entirely? I couldn’t tell.

  Granted, Maddie wasn’t the nicest person in the world, but her brother loved her, and I’m sure the rest of her family loved her. Surely, she had redeeming qualities, and even if she didn’t, there was no way she deserved this. Could I cover it up if Sugar killed her?

  Was that how she ended up in the water tank? Had Dean covered up Sugar’s crime?

  I nodded. Not sure what I was agreeing to, but by then Mateo had gotten Tiny calmed down enough for him to walk out of the diner with Dean and Sugar. He stopped next to me and searched my face.

  I tried to hide the horror that was coating my insides with darkness, but he knew me. Probably better than I knew myself, and he could tell something was wrong. “Are you alright?”

  I nodded, unable to talk. It was as if I was choking on my own guilt.

  “Remember Charli. I don’t want to see you at their house until after the search warrant.”

  I could tell Mateo wanted to ask me what was wrong, but now wasn’t the time. It was never the time for us. Something was always getting in the way, and right now it was something very, very big. I prayed he wouldn’t push it. I was grappling with something so huge, I couldn’t quite fathom it.

  Scarlet came to my rescue. She moved up next to me. The front of her seafoam green floral dress was stained with jelly from the food fight. Rarely did Scarlet look like less than a million bucks, so I had to give her credit for carrying it off with style. “No worries, Sheriff. We won’t go to the house until you let us know we need to lock it up.”

  Mateo glanced at me one last time and led Dean out of the restaurant with Deputy Ferguson and Sugar following. Liza took up the rear, and I grabbed a handful of oatmeal without even thinking.

  Scarlet stilled my hand. “You’ll get Sugar too.”

  She was right, of course, but she still held my hand down just in case I lost control.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

  “What’s wrong with me?” There I went. Repeating questions again and unable to form a complete sentence of my own. “Nothing.”

  “I’ve already talked to Cade.”

  “Great.” Except Cade couldn’t help me. He could help Dean and Sugar down at the police station and in the courtroom, but he couldn’t help me with what Dean had asked. No one could help me, because I couldn’t possibly get anyone else involved in this disaster. “I’ve gotta go.”

  “Where are you going?” Scarlet asked.

  Where was I going? I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t made up my mind. “I’ve got to take care of something.”

  I walked away from Scarlet without looking back. Tiny was picking up slapjacks and putting them in a plastic bin that the busboys used to pick up dishes. He looked up at me, but I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Not with the task that Dean had given to me. The guilt was overwhelming.

  I wiped my hand off with a napkin, pulled a twenty out of my pocket and gave it to Daisy, who said, “Reba Sue and Betty went to get cleaned up, and then they’re heading to Dallas. Liza was going to meet them there.”

  “Liza isn’t a part of the Mystery Moms,” I said. “Liza is in this for the story.”

  Daisy shrugged. “I think it’s a little bit of both. But we can use that to our advantage.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “Who else do you think will give Dean and Sugar the airtime to gain public trust?”

  “Liza won’t do that.”

  “Liza will do it because of the publicity this case is getting.”

  Daisy had a point, Liza would love to sit down and interview the couple accused of murder. A murder author Nathan Daniels had predicted. He’d just gotten the story a bit wrong. Maddie’s body hadn’t ended up in the town’s water tower like Pattie in Nathan’s novel, but she had been found in the hotel’s water tank. Dean also wasn’t technically a widow since he and Maddie had divorced over three years ago. And one person hadn’t been arrested for Mattie’s murder, but rather two people were being booked in for the crime.

  I needed to decide if I was going to be an accessory after the fact, or not.

  Chapter 8

  The last time I’d been to Dean and Sugar’s house, it’d been a rental property, and the interior walls had been painted black. But that wasn’t the most eye-catching quality the house had at the time. The black walls had actually been the canvas for beautiful works of art. The pièce de résistance was on the ceiling of the master bedroom—a painting of my best friend wearing a bustier and looking like a warrior goddess from another time. Dean and Sugar had decided to change the décor when they moved into the house, and Scarlet hadn’t minded seeing her warrior goddess likeness painted over with two layers of Kilz paint and then a more conservative light gray finish coat. The transformation was dramatic. Dean and Sugar did, however, give Scarlet a professional photograph of the image that had been painted directly on their ceiling as a keepsake. The photograph currently hung in her office at Beaus and Beauties Salon.

  Today, I snuck in the back door of Sugar and Dean’s house while a deputy sat in his car writing a report in the driveway. I was shaking so badly, it took me three times to get the key in the hole. Once I was inside, I couldn’t move. I was frozen to the spot. Leaning against the kitchen door, I tried to control my breathing, but it wouldn’t cooperate. I was hyperventilating, and I knew it. I sunk to the floor and put my head between my knees.

  I couldn’t do it. As much as I loved Sugar and Dean, I couldn’t steal potential evidence of a crime. I called Cade, the only person I trusted in this situation. He was my attorney. Everything I said was privileged information.

  He answered on the first ring. “Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to go to Dean and Sugar’s place.”

  My head popped up from between my legs, and I looked around for cameras. “How did you—”

  When Cade replied, his tone was calm and controlled, even if his words came out from between clamped teeth. “Get out of there now.”

  I heard voices at the front door. “I’m not sure that I can.”

&nbs
p; “Why not?”

  “Someone’s at the front door.”

  “That’s the mailman and the officer.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I just got done talking to Dean, and he told me what he did.”

  “You already talked to Dean?”

  “I met him at the station when he and Mateo arrived. When he told me that he gave you his keys and sent you in search of Sugar’s gun, I left. Right in the middle of talking to him because I knew I’d have to stop you.”

  “How did you know?”

  “You try to fix everything.”

  “I do not.”

  “Says the woman who burned books and posters and got herself arrested all to keep the media from knowing about my campaign a few days early.”

  I didn’t like his tone. “I thought it was the right thing to do.”

  “You always think it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I’m starting to take offense.”

  “Get out of the house, Princess. Mateo is on his way with a search warrant, crime scene techs, and a bunch of detectives.”

  I hopped to my feet. “I’m going.”

  “Leave the back door unlocked.”

  “Why?”

  Cade sighed, and I pictured him running his hand through his hair. “Because Dean gave his keys to you, and Sugar didn’t have any. So, if you don’t leave it open, Mateo will have to call you, or force entry. I’d rather he does neither.”

  “Me too. What about the gun?”

  “I’m not worried about the gun. I’m worried about you.”

  “You’re not worried about Sugar, and Dean?”

  “Of course, I am, but there’s more evidence linking them to this crime than there are cattle on my ranch.”

  Cade had a lot of cattle. “It’s that bad?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What other evidence does Mateo have?”

  “Would you just get out of the house? The officer is back in his car.” Cade cussed again.

  “Don’t cuss at me Cade Calloway.”

  “I’m not cussing at you. I’m cussing because Mateo just turned the corner.”

  “I’m going.” I hung up my phone and stuffed it in my pocket as I ran out the back door. I didn’t slow down until I made it to the next block where I’d parked my daddy’s truck.

  My phone buzzed, and Mateo showed up on my caller ID. My finger hovered over the button for three rings. On the fourth ring I took a deep breath and answered the phone.

  “That wasn’t your daddy’s truck I saw parked a street over from Dean and Sugar’s place was it?”

  If it wasn’t hard enough to breathe from running through the yards with an adrenaline dump, now Mateo had to up the ante. I was stuck in a situation where I could lie, and say it wasn’t my daddy’s truck. Or I could say I was sitting a block away waiting for him to be finished. Which wasn’t a lie, at the current moment. I chose the second answer and tried to slow my breathing. “I’m sitting here waiting for you to finish your search warrant.”

  “The search warrant is going to take several hours, Charli.”

  “Oh.”

  “I didn’t see anyone sitting in the truck when I drove by.”

  I cringed. “I’m not sure how you missed me. “

  The silence on the other end made me wonder if Mateo was questioning his own sanity. Sanity for dating me, or if it was insanity to continue.

  He changed the subject. “Are you working at the store today?”

  “Daddy opened, and I’m supposed to close.”

  Mateo looked disappointed. “How about I bring dinner by tomorrow night?”

  His question threw me off guard. I really thought his silence had meant he was going to break up with me. If I was in his shoes, I would. “Can you bring barbecue?” I asked.

  “I’ll be there around six with barbecue.” He hung up without another word. I should’ve known he wasn’t the type of man to break up over the phone. If Mateo was going to break up with me, he’d do it in person.

  Fuzz buckets.

  I drove back to Hazel Rock happy with my decision not to take Sugar’s gun, yet angry that I hadn’t done as Dean had asked. Another part of me was also angry that he’d asked me to do it in the first place. But I supposed if I was in love, I would sacrifice anyone to save my lover.

  I didn’t want to think about what that meant in regard to my relationship with Mateo. Was I willing to sacrifice everyone in my life for him? Would he ask me to?

  I parked in front of the Barn, and Scarlet came running across the street. “Where have you been?”

  “I went for a drive.” Again, not a total lie.

  You’re lying to me, Charli Rae.” She followed me through the courtyard and into the alley to my apartment. Princess came around from the back of the Barn, her boyfriend nowhere in sight.

  “I have to say, I hope you ditch that man for good,” I told her.

  Princess snorted and hopped up the steps one at a time. Her kangaroo hops brought a smile to my face for the first time in several hours.

  I unlocked the door and Princess scooted inside with Scarlet behind me.

  Scarlet waited long enough for the door to close and then laid into me. “Please tell me you did not go to Dean and Sugar’s house.”

  Why was everyone trying to get me to confess? Hadn’t they heard of the Fifth Amendment? Unfortunately, Scarlet was not going to back down, so I told her the truth. “I did, but I changed my mind once I got there.”

  The last thing I was going to lay on her shoulders was that I actually had made it into the house before I changed my mind. It was my crime, not hers.

  Scarlet crossed to my kitchen and poured two glasses of sweet tea. “Here, you look like you could use this.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Did you know you have syrup in your hair?”

  I reached up and felt the remnants of that morning’s food fight. It wasn’t just one spot that had hardened. The entire left side of my head was stiff. “I forgot.”

  “I can only imagine what made you forget.” She waited for me to tell her.

  I turned toward the fridge and pulled out lettuce, tomato, and roast turkey. “You want a lettuce wrap? If you’re like me, you didn’t get much for breakfast.”

  “Sure, it will give us a chance to talk.”

  “About what?”

  “The case.”

  “We don’t have a case.”

  “Charli. You’re not the only one invested in clearing Sugar and Dean. But I have to tell you, it doesn’t look good.”

  “I know that. The two of them are in jail.” I handed her a lettuce wrap, and we moved to the table to eat.

  “The day manager for the Inn came in and got her nails done today.”

  I took a bite and was amazed that I could taste anything. “She didn’t get sick?”

  Scarlet shook her head. “She was skeptical of the filtration system, so she only drank bottled water. While Joellen was doing her nails, she found out that Detective Youngblood took a copy of the surveillance tape from the hotel.”

  I was beginning to hate all the cameras in our town. It seemed you couldn’t breathe without being filmed. “What did it show?”

  “Dean went up to the room with Maddie.”

  My lunch lost its appeal. I set it on the table. Why were all my meals being ruined with bad news? “It shows him going into the room?” I asked.

  “No, it shows him going up the elevator with her and never coming down.”

  “He had to come down. Even if he spent the night, at some point he has to leave the hotel.”

  “According to the manager, you can go out the back door and never be seen on camera.”

  “Well, that’s a crappy surveillance system,” I said.

 
Princess came over and begged for my lunch. I unwrapped my turkey and gave her the lettuce and tomato. She seemed happy.

  “It gets worse.”

  I was tired of things getting worse. Dean was the last one to see Maddie, and surveillance video showed he hadn’t been honest about not going into the hotel with her. A lie like that could get a man hung by a jury. Especially, when we were talking about his ex-wife. “It can’t be much worse for Dean, considering he was the last one to see Maddie alive.”

  “Except he wasn’t.”

  “You just said—”

  “Sugar entered the hotel and went up the elevator thirty-five minutes after Dean and Maddie went upstairs.”

  I nearly dropped my sweet tea. “What?”

  Scarlet nodded. “I know. She was up there for ten minutes, and when she got off the elevator to leave, her hair was a mess. She looked like she’d been involved in a struggle according to the manager.” Scarlet paused and said, “And she was crying.”

  “She never said a word.”

  “Which looks even worse for her.”

  “We need to tell Cade.”

  “He knows. He was there when they pulled the tape.”

  “Oh.”

  “The manager thinks Sugar killed her and Dean disposed of the body.”

  “They wouldn’t do that.”

  “Are you sure? We’re talking about a woman who spoke poorly of Sugar every time she had the opportunity, and Maddie was making a play for Dean at the bar that night. She could have lost control after finding them together.”

  “You don’t believe that,” I said, because despite everything I still could not picture Sugar killing anyone or Dean covering up for her by disposing of Maddie’s body. Granted he’d asked me to hide Sugar’s gun, but so far all we knew was that Maddie’s body had been found in the cistern. She may not have been shot.

  “Have you heard how Maddie died?” I asked.

  Scarlet shook her head as she finished her lettuce wrap and answered, “No. The autopsy is being done today. The cause of death should be release to the media for the evening news. There’s one more thing.”

  I rubbed my face not sure I wanted to hear one more thing. “What?”