Page 52 of Setup In Montana

Sarah had known someone would come looking for her to kill her? Wasn’t that what she’d said back at the guesthouse? That someone would be coming after both of them. Now her boss from the rest home had showed up with a gun and was threatening to burn down the cabin and them with it?

“Why would he want to kill me?” she asked again, truly confused by all this. What was happening? “This makes no sense.”

Luther gave her an impatient look. “If Sarah’s right, he must be the one who’s afraid you can identify him as Esther Mason’s killer.”

“Vernon?”

“She said the killer saw you leave the rest home the night of the murder.”

“It was Sarah,” she argued.

“Sarah didn’t kill anyone.” Luther shook his head as if she should have been smarter than she was. “All I know is that I’m to keep you here and safe.”

Clancy stared at him as he moved from one window to the next, still keeping his eye on her as he did.

Vernon was the killer?

Not Sarah?

It made no sense.

Clancy had her reasons for wanting to throttle Esther. Sarah had hers as well. But Vernon? Why would Vernon want to kill Esther?

If only she’d never agreed to run errands for the mean old woman, she thought ruefully. But here she was. Esther hadn’t even owed her that much money. Even as she thought it, she realized that this had to be much more complicated than she’d originally thought. Why would Vernon care about a plastic bag full of cheap jewelry?

A bullet crashed through the window, sending glass showering across the cabin floor. “I’m giving you one more chance,” Vernon yelled from outside. “A bullet is a better way to die than being burned alive. Your choice. I’m going to count to three.”

They could hear him out there opening his trunk and taking out what sounded like metal cans of something. Moments later they smelled gasoline.

* * *

THE ROAD NARROWED further as Dub drove deeper into the foothills and pines. Sarah had picked the perfect place to hide Clancy. It was isolated from any other cabin and deep in the woods. You wouldn’t even know a cabin was here, he thought.

His cell rang, startling him. The moment he saw it was the sheriff, he hurriedly picked up, hoping for some good news.

“Where are you?” the sheriff asked without preamble.

“Almost to Sarah’s cabin.”

“He found the cabin?” It was a woman’s voice in the background.

“Sarah says she left Clancy there with her cousins protecting her,” the sheriff said. “But there’s a chance the killer might know about the cabin and try to get to Clancy.”

“Wait, I thought Sarah was the one who—”

“How close are you to the cabin?”

“Almost there,” Dub said as he came over a rise, and there it was. “I can see the cabin. There’s a pickup parked partway around the back and a black SUV parked out front.”

“That’s the vehicle he drives,” Sarah said. “He’s already there!”

“Are you telling me the killer is already at the cabin?” Dub demanded.

“Don’t go any closer to the cabin,” the sheriff said. “I’m not that far behind you. Wait, I have a…bad…dangerous…don’t…Sarah saw…”

“You’re breaking up,” Dug said, but only got static in answer. He looked down the road at the cabin. He thought he could see someone standing outside. He knew he should do what the sheriff told him to, but his instincts said waiting would be a costly mistake.

As he drove closer, he recognized the black SUV—just as he did the man standing in front of the cabin.