“She got off on it,” McCall guessed.
He grimaced.
“So maybe the hanging was a sexual thing.”
George looked even more uncomfortable. “With two women? There were two places where ropes had been tied to the limb.”
McCall thought about it for a few moments as she sipped her coffee. “Maybe we were wrong about there being another victim. Maybe he’d hung her up there before and the limb had held the first time. This time, it didn’t.”
“I guess. But how do you explain the car in the river?”
She shook her head. “I guess it would depend on whether or not they were alone at that camp. We’ve just assumed Vanderliner was with the other two because she was seen with her stepbrother leaving the scene of the murder and we found her purse.”
McCall rubbed her temples. “Also there were at least three different sets of footprints found at the scene, two women’s-size types of sneakers and tracks that matched the loafer we found stuck under the brake pedal of the car.”
“You’re thinking the victim on the slab could have had more than one pair of sneakers,” George offered.
“Or the other prints could be those of the missing Josephine Vanderliner. It would explain the other noose, and we have three different hair samples from the car, which was only a couple of days old. We know Vanderliner was in the car at some point because of the eyewitness but we don’t know for how long. He could have dumped her and kept her purse.”
“So we don’t know if Vanderliner made it as far as Montana.”
McCall nodded thoughtfully. “I just have a bad feeling she’s here. Either in that river or on the loose. I stopped by the newspaper office early this morning. They’re running photographs of both RJ Evans and Josephine Vanderliner. If either of them got out of that river, then someone has to have seen them. They were going to need a ride since the only tracks we found were for the car in the river.”
“Great,” George said. “One of them abuses women for the fun of it and the other is wanted for murder.” He shook his head. “I hope you put something in the paper to warn residents in case they come across them.”
“Armed and dangerous and possibly traveling together.”
Chapter Seven
RJ felt like hell. His shoulder had quit bleeding. Fortunately the bullet had only furrowed through his flesh and missed the bone, but it hurt like a son of a bitch. He knew he had to get some antibiotics. If it wasn’t already infected.
But right now he was more concerned about the blow to his head. The double vision was driving him crazy. That and the killer headache. Bitches.
Celeste had almost drowned him. Josey had shot him. He’d been damned lucky to get out of that car. He wondered where Celeste was. The last he’d seen her she had been sucked out of the car by the current.
He’d gotten his foot caught under the brake pedal. When he’d finally freed himself, he’d come up downriver in time to see Josey getting away. He’d been bleeding like a stuck pig and was half-blind from the blow on his head, but even crazed as he was, he knew he had to catch her or everything he’d worked for would turn to a pile of crap.
How had things gone so wrong? Maybe Celeste was right. Maybe it had been when he’d lost his temper and strung her up from that tree limb. He hadn’t meant to kill her, just shut her the hell up.
No, where things had really gone haywire was when he decided to string up Josey next to her. Should have known that limb couldn’t hold both of them. Shouldn’t have left the pistol lying on that log by the fire pit, either.
But who knew either of those women could move that fast? He hadn’t been that surprised when Josey had shot him. He’d expected something like that from her, but he’d never seen it coming with Celeste. She’d been like a wild animal when she’d attacked him.
He’d tied the ropes to the bumper of the car and strung up both women. When the damned limb broke, he’d thrown the car in Reverse, thinking he could run them down. But then Josey had shot at him and Celeste had come flying in the driver-side window at him, the rope still around her neck and dragging in the dirt. She’d knocked the breath out of him.
And with her pummeling him he hadn’t realized he was still in Reverse, the car still going backward toward the river. The next thing he knew the car was in the river and he was underwater and Celeste, that stupid whore, was still fighting him.
Shuddering now at the memory of how close he’d come to drowning, he stumbled and almost fell. He’d climbed out of the river and gone after Josey. He knew she’d make a run for it. No surprise, she’d taken the backpack with the money and his gun in it.
He’d climbed the hill back to the single-track dirt road. That was when he’d spotted her. She had shoes, so she had made better time than him. He’d lost both of his in the river, and he was shot and hurt, and with nothing but socks on his bare feet the ground felt rough.
He’d seen her on the highway halfway up the mountainside. Too far away to shoot her even if he’d had the pistol. Maybe with a rifle...
But then a pale yellow Cadillac convertible had roared across the bridge and up the other side, stopping three-quarters of the way up the mountain when the driver saw Josey standing beside the road.
RJ had picked up a rock and thrown it as hard as he could. It hit on the mountain below him and rolled down, starting
