Gabriela studied the man and handed over the memory card. “Did he confess to killing the other man?”
“Nope, just to attacking you because he feared for his life.”
Her mouth fell open. “That makes no sense.”
Williams shrugged. “People say strange things when they can’t come up with something that makes sense.”
“Let’s take a look at your pictures. Will you please help by describing locations and where you stood when taking them?”
There was a rough map of the ranch sketched on a white board and she sat across from it with Jeremy next to her. Williams manned a laptop computer.
A picture of Jeremy on a horse. Neither asked her anything, so she remained quiet.
A picture of Jeremy on the front porch.
A picture of Jeremy on the snowmobile. Williams cleared his throat.
A picture of Jeremy standing next to the festival building. Williams coughed and Gabriela groaned.
Finally, there were pictures of the festival building, the groups gathered to work and the family going on about their business. When a picture of Henry flashing a goofy grin popped up, the men chuckled.
“You can skip to the last twenty or so. That’s when I took pictures the day I found the body.”
Finally, a picture of the tire tracks popped up. It was followed by several of the cabins and surroundings and finally, one of a slightly opened door.
“Go back,” Jeremy said.
They went back and forth through the pictures until he leaned across in front of her to get a better look. He smelled good. “There. Can you blow it up?”
It was a shot of the side of the cabin. Just past the trees were the outlines of two people. It was clear that one was male, but the other was definitely female.
“Well I’ll be damned. He wasn’t alone that day.”
Gabriela leaned forward and squinted. “Who are they?”
The men exchanged looks but stayed quiet.
“Oh for goodness sakes. It’s not like I’d know who you were talking about anyway.”
“No idea,” Williams said. “Wonder if it could be Kevin’s wife. You know payback for the alleged affair.”
Her stomach grumbled and Gabriela turned to Jeremy. “Sorry, I’m starving.”
Williams let out a breath. “I suppose I can call you if I need to ask more questions. How long are you staying in town?”
“Just until after the first couple days of the festival,” Gabriela replied standing up and pulling her purse strap onto her shoulder.
“By the way, did you notice a vehicle while walking to the cabins?” Williams said.
Gabriela groaned and sat back down. “Not that I can remember.”
“Sounds of vehicles? You’ll definitely have to come back for the trial, if there is one,” Williams informed her.
“Of course,” Gabriela said, excited at the excuse to return and see Jeremy.
By the time all the pictures were looked at and dissected, it was late. Her stomach had given up on grumbling and was now collapsing. At this point Gabriela didn’t care if she and Jeremy ate at a gas station or the snack machine, she’d caught sight of.
It must be in the cop DNA that they didn’t seem to notice the hours passing as they went over scenarios and who the woman in the picture was. Whoever it was, she was a big blur with one hand on a hip and another pointing in the camera’s direction.
When her stomach growled loudly, it got Jeremy’s attention. He looked to a lopsided plastic clock on the wall. “We should go get you fed.”
Ya think?
“I’ve downloaded all the pictures, so you can have the card back.” Williams stood and stretched. When he looked at the clock his eyebrows shot up. “Damn, I better get home.”
As they walked out of the room, Gabriela noticed the police station was still not very busy. “Where does one eat around here at this time?”
Jeremy shrugged. “It’s not that late.”
“It’s almost nine.”
“Seems like the town’s closed up for the night,” Gabriela commented as they walked out.
Jeremy looked up and down the street as if a restaurant would miraculously appear. “The Iron Horse is still open.”
The drive was less than a couple minutes, just up the block and around the corner to Higgins Avenue.
It was a modern trendy restaurant with an industrial look, while still maintaining the Montana charm. Wide windows gave street views from the tables and there was a generous outside eating area for the warmer months.
A server, who seemed to know Jeremy, seated them. By the way she kept looking from him to Gabriela and frowning, she wasn’t happy about something. As soon as the server handed them menus, she scurried away without a word.
“You know her?”
“A friend of a friend. I don’t think we ever had a conversation before.”
“Definitely didn’t have one now.”
Before he could reply, a different server, this time a guy, came to take their drink orders. Water for Jeremy and Gabriela ordered ginger ale. It was too late for caffeine.
“I can’t imagine any woman wanting to be part of what happened.”
Instead of replying, he took her hand and pulled it up to his lips. When he pressed a kiss to her knuckles, Gabriela slid down in the chair just a bit. “How about we don’t talk about the investigation and instead get to know each other?”
Where the night would lead was anyone’s guess. If it were up to Gabriela, they’d go straight to bed. A fling would be amazing. Except for the fact, she’d face his parents the next day. That put a big crimp in any notions of naked time.
“I am a Gemini, five feet five inches, not sure what I weigh and I love root beer floats.”
Jeremy laughed. “Okay, I’ll play along. Libra, six three, about one eighty and I also like root beer floats.” He chuckled. “Can I assume you’re single?”
“Yes. My last relationship ended about six months ago. I moved to the city, have a nice apartment, which is where I spend most of my time. The online magazine I work for has a small office space where we meet twice a week for meetings and if I want,
