attorney approached him and stood there until he noticed her.
“I wish he wasn’t so blatant,” Schalk whispered to Joe under her breath. “He’s grandstanding. Tainting the jury pool . . .”
“Do you have a minute?” Joe asked.
He led her away from the press conference, but noted she didn’t want to go so far that she couldn’t interject again if McLanahan’s statements got out of hand.
“We need to make this short,” she said. “I’m not sure I should be talking to you. Don’t you have an interest in this case?”
“She’s my mother-in-law,” Joe said.
“I know. So understand that anything I tell you is purely for public consumption. It’s the same thing I’ll tell the press. Nothing more, Joe. No inside information, so don’t put me on the spot. This is a delicate situation.”
“I realize that,” he said, glancing over her shoulder. He could see the side of Missy’s head through the window of the GMC. Missy stared straight ahead now that the cameras had swiveled to McLanahan. She seemed to have shed her pathetic persona as easily as Joe removed a jacket.
“Where was the rifle found?” Joe asked.
“Under the seat of her car. She drives the Hummer, right? That’s her personal vehicle.”
Joe nodded. The Hummer was constantly blocking his driveway so he either couldn’t get in or out. Usually with the motor running.
She said, “The tracks we found out on the ranch where we think the murder took place appear to match up with the tires on the Hummer. Our team couldn’t explain why we couldn’t find a spent cartridge on the ground until we found the gun and realized the casing hadn’t been ejected but was still in the gun. Plus, her fingerprints were all over the rifle itself.”
“So the tipster even knew where the crime took place.”
“I’m not going there,” she said.
Joe took that in. “McLanahan didn’t mention an accomplice.”
“That I can’t tell you,” Schalk said. “Not yet.”
“So you’ve got the tipster secured,” Joe said, fishing. “And you’ve got his statement.”
“Okay, okay. But this whole thing seems so . . . pat.”
“It is what it is, Joe. I have nothing against your mother-in-law, and neither does the sheriff.”
“Except she’s quite a big prize,” Joe said. “And she isn’t exactly the most popular woman in the country, that’s for sure. Believe me, I know about
Schalk nodded, “I’ve heard some things, and you have my word I’ll do what I can to keep this from turning into a circus. But she does have a tendency to rub people the wrong way. So I never had any personal dealings with her.”
“Lucky you,” Joe said. Then: “So the theory is she shot The Earl and hung his body from that wind turbine?”
Schalk eyed him closely, paused, then said, “That’s our working theory right now.”
Joe took off his hat and raked his fingers through his hair. “Have you seen a turbine up close? How high it is? And hang his body up in public? What was that supposed to accomplish?”
“Maybe to throw us off the trail,” she said. “Alden was a very controversial figure as well. He had plenty of enemies, and you know that wind farm of his hasn’t been popular with some of his neighbors.”
Joe was aware of some of the complaints, particularly those from ranchers Bob and Dode Lee. They hated Rope the Wind, and especially the new transmission lines planned to be built across their ranch, which Alden had arranged by getting a swath of their land condemned by eminent domain.
“Are you gonna talk to the Lees?” Joe asked.
“Joe, please.”
He said, “So the first part of the theory is a crime of passion was committed, probably without premeditation, since she didn’t get rid of the rifle or even wipe it down. But the second part is a conspiracy designed to throw everyone off the track.”
She nodded her head, but Joe saw a glimmer of doubt in her eyes when he put it like that.
“Okay,” he said. “I won’t ask anything more about the internal investigation because you can’t tell me. But I’ve got to wonder about motive. I know Missy, believe me. I know what she’s like. And it took her a lifetime of trading up to finally hit the jackpot.” He gestured toward the mansion-in-progress on the river bluff. “Why would she risk that, and all of this? This is what she always wanted.”
Dulcie Schalk’s eyebrows arched and she started to answer, then apparently thought better of it.
“So you’ve got a motive, then?” Joe said, surprised.
“Not that I can speak about yet,” she said. “But I’m comfortable enough with what we know so far to press charges.”
“Wow,” Joe said. “
“I think we better go back to the press conference,” Schalk said. She turned away, then stopped, and looked back at Joe.
