“So Bill had been visiting someone out here during the week before his accident,” I said to Cass after we returned to the truck. “I wonder who.”
“No one we’ve spoken to has admitted to having spent time with the guy,” Cass pointed out. “There are a few folks who weren’t home when we tried yesterday, and then there are the farms on the north side of the old highway. I suppose Bill could have been heading back to town from one of the northernmost farms, but that seems a long way for Robert to have run through the woods before being shot, assuming he was killed by the same person who killed Bill if, in fact, Bill was murdered.”
“I agree,” I said. “It seems more likely that the men visited one of the farms on the south side of the highway. Of course, we’re assuming that both men not only visited the same person but were killed by the same person and that the person they visited is the person who killed them.”
“It would be odd if that wasn’t the case, but I suppose it is possible.” He furrowed his brow. “Bill had an auto accident. In the beginning, I assumed the accident was caused by driver error, but then after Robert’s body was discovered, I started to believe he’d been run off the road. Based on the location of both Bill’s vehicle after the crash and the location of Robert’s remains, it appears as if the men had been visiting one of the nearby farms before their deaths. If it does turn out that Bill’s accident wasn’t an accident and someone did run him off the road, I assume it’s most likely that the men were killed by the same person.” Cass paused and took a breath. It seemed as if he was working things out as he spoke. I recognized the repetition of facts as a common thread when Cass had an idea he hadn’t quite settled on yet. “If both men had been at a nearby farm before their deaths,” he continued, “it stands to reason that it was the landowner they were visiting who killed them. But what if it wasn’t?” He paused and looked me in the eye. “What if someone followed them from town, and then this person who’d followed them killed them after they left the property of whomever they’d been visiting?”
“Jennifer,” I said. “She had dinner with both men on the first Thursday. She was seen arguing with Bill over what may have been divorce paperwork after they left the restaurant. All three people who met for dinner had their own vehicle. I can see how Bill might have driven out here to the country for some reason, only to be followed by Jennifer, who was so angry with him that she run him off the road.”
“And Robert?”
“They were seen arguing earlier this week. If Jennifer killed Bill in order to legally end their marriage, maybe Robert figured out what she’d done, and she killed him as well.” I paused. “This scenario occurred to me before, but for some reason, the idea filtered to the bottom of the list. Still, I think we should take a closer look at Jennifer.”
“I agree. Let’s head up to the resort and see if she’s available for a conversation.”
As it turned out, Jennifer had taken advantage of having two down days to head to Denver to visit a friend, although she was scheduled to be at the shoot early Monday morning. Cass and I talked about it, and he decided to follow me up to the resort the following day. In the meantime, we decided to grab some takeout and head back to the house, where we planned to snuggle and watch the clouds fade from the sky.
Chapter 14
Monday
Cass received a call from the coroner early Monday morning confirming his assumption that Robert had died due to a gunshot to the back. He also confirmed that Robert had most likely died on Thursday evening and that he’d most likely bled out slowly, so would have been able to continue to flee for several minutes after being shot. Basically, the coroner confirmed what we’d already assumed, but confirmation was important at this point in the game.
Robert’s car still hadn’t been found. We figured it was either in one of the barns in the area or stashed in the woods somewhere. There were several property owners on the south side of the highway who Cass still needed to talk to, but he hoped to track them down today while I was at the movie site. When Cass and I arrived at the shoot, we found Jennifer waiting for her call time.
“I don’t know who killed Robert any more than I know who killed Bill,” she said right off the bat after Cass introduced himself and told her why he was there. “Yes, the three of us had dinner together on the Thursday evening before the filming was to begin, but it was just a dinner. A few of us arrived in Colorado early, so we went ahead and checked into the hotel before the rest of the gang who would arrive Monday. Robert had made plans to have dinner with Bill, and I’d been looking for an opportunity to talk to Bill about signing our divorce papers, so I invited myself along.”
“So, how did the dinner go?” Cass asked, even though he already had the answer based on comments from spectators.
“It was fine. At first. After a while, Bill started to get on my nerves, which admittedly created tension. I’d been trying to get him to sign those darn divorce papers for years, but he kept coming up with one excuse or another. It wasn’t like either of us was looking to remarry, and there weren’t any kids involved, so making things legal wasn’t urgent, but I was ready to move on, and my being in town seemed like the opportunity I’d been looking for. After we left the restaurant, I cornered him in the parking area and tried to make him sign them. It was pathetic that he’d been hanging onto the memory of what we’d once had for so long, and he even tried to talk me out of it once again, but I was insistent, so he finally gave in. After he signed them, I returned to my hotel room. I have no idea where Bill went after that. And while I will admit that things became tense between Harrison and me after Bill died, I didn’t kill him.”
“Do you have any idea who might have killed Harrison?” Cass asked.
“No clue,” she answered.
“Had Harrison mentioned having a problem with someone in the area, or had you noticed any tension between Harrison and someone here for the shoot?”
Jennifer paused. “Harrison was a popular guy amongst his peers, and he seemed to get along with everyone involved in this movie, but I will admit that there was something going on.” She rolled her lips as she appeared to be tugging at a memory. “I was chatting with Harrison last week. I guess it might have been Thursday. Anyway, he got a call while we were chatting. He looked at the caller ID, frowned, and then declined the call. A short time later, he got another call. This time, he said he needed to take it, and he walked away. The two of us were on standby to find out if we were going to need to redo a scene we’d done earlier in the day, so he wasn’t able to go far. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I did notice him pacing back and forth while he talked. He looked agitated.”
“And he never said who the call was from?” Cass asked.
“No. But if you pull his phone records, look for an incoming call around three o’clock on Thursday of last week. If I had to guess, both the call he took and the call he declined might end up being important.”
Cass nodded. “Thank you. I’ll do that.” He handed her a card. “If you think of anything else, let me know.”
“I will,” she said. “And I hope you find out who did this.”
Cass wanted to talk with both the producer and director about Harrison Roberts but needed to leave after that since he also needed to follow up on a few other leads. He suggested that since I was going to be at the shoot all day anyway, I should talk to other film crew and cast members in the hope that someone knew something about Robert’s movements and intentions on the day he was shot. He asked me to call him right away if I found anything relevant. Otherwise, he promised that we’d get together that evening. Paisley and Aunt Gracie would both be back after spending the weekend away, so I suggested that Cass have dinner with us. I needed to be home this evening, but I really wanted to have a chance to debrief with Cass as well.