“I was pissed, and truth be told, I was a little drunk. We were supposed to meet at the overlook and then go see Bart at his house. He thought Heather was coming to renegotiate, but we planned to drug him with a horse tranquilizer in his office and get photos of him with Heather, in the nude of course.”
“Of course,” I murmured.
“When she showed up, I was sitting on the hood of my car, staring out at the overlook, holding that stupid syringe full of ketamine as I tried to talk myself out of doing it. She sat down beside me and told me that after all the planning we had done, she’d changed her mind, and she was leaving after all, which was all kinds of ironic, since she’d kept needlin’ me about not chickenin’ out. She started callin’ me Peep.”
She shook her head and sniffed. “I was pissed. She’d treated me like a yo-yo for years. Hot and cold, but I always came runnin’ back. So I shouted at her, telling her what a selfish bitch she’d been. I said I was done. She was furious and slapped me. We had a little shoving match, and the next thing I knew, she’d been stabbed in the belly and the plunger had been pushed down.”
“So you’re saying you accidently injected her?”
She nodded. “I panicked. It was a dose intended for a man a lot bigger than her. Plus, I’d stolen the drug—I’d be kicked out of vet school if they found out. So I’ll admit that I stayed out there with her for a bit while I tried to figure out what to do. I decided I’d take her to the sheriff’s office in Ewing and dump her off at the front steps.”
“So what happened?”
“I took her car, figuring I’d hide it somewhere and find a way to get back to mine. I shoved her in the backseat and was halfway between Drum and Ewing when I saw flashing red lights behind me. I was being pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy. I was terrified, but then he told me to get out of the car and move to the back. I was praying he wouldn’t see Heather. So much so that I let him feel me up and do other things I’m not proud of. He seemed pretty satisfied with himself. He insisted on walkin’ me back to my door, like he was a fuckin’ gentleman. I tried to stop him, but he saw Heather.”
Marco had to figure out a way to get that predator off the streets.
Abby continued, “He recognized her right away, not that I was surprised. It’s a small town, and Heather was the kind of person people noticed. I told him that she’d overdosed and I was on my way to Ewing to get help. He checked her pulse and told me she’d never make it to the hospital in time. He knew she’d been paid off by the Drummonds, and he said he wouldn’t turn me in if I gave him half the money. I didn’t know what to say, but I did know she still had the check. I was scared enough that I agreed.
I followed him out to a section of Bingham land. He told me that Todd Bingham’s daddy had buried tons of bodies out here. What was one more? Then he took the keys and left, tellin’ me he was gonna get a shovel. I nearly left on foot while he was gone. Heather was dead by the time we parked there, and I was scared and upset. He was a sheriff’s deputy. Could I really disobey and leave? When he came back, he had two shovels. He made me help him, but the ground was hard, and we only got the hole about three feet deep. He tossed her into the grave like a bag of potatoes, then made me cover her body with dirt. Told me it was a good reminder not to use drugs. Then he made me drive her car to his house and park it in his garage, and he took me back to my car. He told me to cash the check, and when I came back with his share of the money, we’d deal with the car together.”
“And you deposited the money in Tulsa?”
“I had her debit card and I knew her PIN. So I used her debit card to buy several money orders while I was there. If anyone was looking into her disappearance, they’d see a footprint in Tulsa.”
“Why didn’t you turn him in?” But as soon as the words left my mouth, I knew it was a ridiculous question.
“He was a sheriff’s deputy. Who would believe me over him?” She huffed. “It’s one of life’s awful coincidences that he ended up marrying Mitzi.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. Although Mitzi still claimed to have met Paul after Heather “left,” she’d been involved with Heather’s attempt to set up Wyatt, and I suspected Paul might have played a role too. Maybe he’d pulled the car over that night because he’d recognized it as Heather’s, because he’d wanted or expected something from her. Still, I didn’t feel any need to share that with Abby. I didn’t want to destroy their friendship. I knew manipulative men, and they’d both been in the clutches of one.
I just nodded. “Would you be willing to testify against him now?”
Her face paled. “I could lose my vet license.”
“An innocent man might go to jail, Abby. And Paul Conrad will just keep screwing people over. Literally.” How many women had he accosted over the years?
“I can’t!” she exclaimed in a panic.
“I know you’re scared, but Marco will help you. And Detective White. She handled my case after Carson Purdy tried to kill me. She’s not corrupt. I’m sure she’ll be fair.”
Her body was shaking and her face and neck were splotchy. “I don’t want to go
