Page 13 of K-9 in Pursuit

Darinda began sobbing once more, and the woman passed her a box of tissues. Chloe wanted to weep, too, but anger and confusion overwhelmed the impulse to tears. How could this have happened?

And the hits kept coming. A sheriff’s deputy waited by Chloe’s car when they emerged from the funeral home. Chloe had talked to law enforcement for what seemed like hours this morning, going over and over everything she knew of Sharee’s movements the past few days. Why was this deputy back now?

“Yes?” Ben said, and eyed the man in uniform warily.

Middle-aged and medium height, the man’s expression gave away nothing. “I’m Sergeant Lowry,” he said. “I need to ask you a few questions about your daughter.”

“I have questions for you,” Darinda said. She had transformed herself from grieving mother to avenging matriarch, shoulders back and head up, eyes blazing. “How did this happen? I thought this was a safe place.”

“It’s generally safe,” Lowry said. “We average less than one suspicious death a year.”

“What are you doing to find Sharee’s killer?” Darinda asked.

“We have a suspect in custody.”

The words jolted Chloe from her own stupor. “Who?” she asked.

“His name is Brian Weeks. He’s a ski instructor Sharee was known to have a crush on. Word was he wasn’t pleased with the attention.”

“He’s a ski patroller,” Chloe said. “Not a ski instructor.”

Darinda turned on her. “You know this person?”

“We’ve met.” She didn’t really know Brian, but she had spoken to him. How naive would it sound if she protested Brian hadn’t struck her as the murderous type? “You think Brian killed Sharee?” she asked the sergeant.

“Several of her friends mentioned Sharee’s crush and Weeks’s reaction to it. And he doesn’t have an alibi for her time of death.”

Neither did Chloe for that matter, but she certainly hadn’t killed her sister. “You have evidence Brian killed Chloe?” she asked.

The sergeant’s gaze aimed somewhere over her left shoulder. “I’m not at liberty to divulge that information.” He returned his focus to Darinda and Ben. “Did Sharee ever mention Brian Weeks to you?” he asked. “Did she mention anyone else she was involved with? Or someone she was afraid of?”

“No.” Ben looked at his wife. “I don’t think so.”

“Sharee had so many friends.” Darinda dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “Everyone who knew her loved her. And she was so beautiful. Men were always attracted to her.”

“Any men in particular?” the sergeant asked.

“Oh, none that I can recall,” Darinda said. “Not here in Colorado.”

“What about back home in Virginia?” Lowry asked.

“Oh. Well, there was a little trouble with a teacher,” Darinda said. “A man who completely misinterpreted Sharee’s innocent admiration of him.”

“What is his name?” the sergeant asked. “I’ll want to talk to him.”

“You can get that information from Sharee’s school.” Ben took Darinda’s arm. “We have to go now. We’re exhausted.” He opened the car door for his wife.

The sergeant turned to Chloe. “Sharee lived with you, is that right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Why was that?”

How to explain the whole sad story? She looked back at the car. “Let me give my keys to my dad so he and my stepmom can go back to my apartment and rest. Then you and I can sit down somewhere and I’ll tell you all about it.” And maybe in turn he would tell her more about why Brian Weeks had supposedly murdered her sister.

WHEN BRIAN WAS finally allowed to make a phone call, he contacted Connor. He could have called his parents, but he would rather they never know about this. His father pastored a medium-sized church in Brian’s home town in Oklahoma. The town was small enough that news that a minister’s son had been arrested for murdering a teenager would make the local paper. It might even result in his father losing his job. Brian wanted to forestall that as long as possible.

And Connor could be of more immediate help. After a rushed explanation of where Brian was and why, he got to the real reason for his call. “Please go get Daisy. They made me leave her at my place by herself. I know she’s upset. You still have my key, right?”