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She stared at me with anger in her eyes. “How do you know who I was with? How do you know Carter? Are you having me watched?”
“Of course I am. I’d be fool not to, wouldn’t I? Things in this case are not adding up, Miss Suzie. Your husband had a huge insurance policy on him and you are the beneficiary. That gives you motive. His death has been ruled suspicious and I’m required by law to investigate.”
“His death is not suspicious at all,” Suzie was worked up and she yelled at me. “Chris invited death. It was the way he lived his life. He was always on the edge, flirting with death.”
“And you got tired of it and decided to speed things up for him?”
“No. I loved Chris, but he was crazy, Sheriff.” She started to cry. “He’d be gone for days at a time for no reason other than challenging Mother Nature to see who would win.”
“So you hooked up with Carter Raza?”
“Hooked up? That’s a rude term, Sheriff, and I resent the implication. Carter is a friend. He would come over and stay with me when Chris was gone for days at a time. Is that so wrong?”
“When did you come up with your plan to get rid of Chris for good?”
“I never had a plan like that.”
“What about Carter? Was it his plan? He gets rid of Chris and the two of you live happily ever after on the three million?”
“Carter would never do anything like that. He’s a gentle and caring person.” Suzie grabbed a wad of tissues and sobbed.
“Tell me the real reason you and Carter went to see Robert Thorn. I want the truth and a lot better explanation than the one you just gave me.”
Suzie dabbed at her eyes and didn’t say anything. I watched her and waited for her to get her story together.
“Tell me about the visit to Thorn’s ranch, Suzie. You can tell me here in the comfort of your living room, or you can tell me in the interrogation room at the station in Coyote Creek. Your choice.”
“Okay. Carter and I went up there to see if Robert Thorn knew what really happened to Chris.”
“And did he know?”
“No. He said a bear had dragged Chris out of the bush and left him behind his ranch house.”
“Had you ever met Robert Thorn before you and Carter drove up to his ranch to ask him questions?”
“No. I’d never met him.”
“How about Mrs. Thorn. Do you know her?”
“No. I never met his wife either.”
I smiled at Suzie. She was sticking to her story and doing it pretty well. I almost believed her. “I’d like you to give me Carter’s address. I need to talk to him.”
She jumped up out of her chair and paced. “No. I’m not giving you Carter’s address, Sheriff. We haven’t done anything wrong and you have no legitimate reason to talk to Carter.”
“Address or not, Miss Suzie, I will be talking to Carter Raza. I think the two of you are up to your necks in Chris’s death and you both have a lot of explaining to do.”
I tossed a card on the coffee table. “When you feel like telling me the truth, call my cell. I’ll be waiting for your call, Suzie.”
I walked out to the Bronco and drove down the street a ways to see if she called Carter Raza right away. I had a tag in the living room and I might be able to hear her conversation.
Thorn Ranch. Oilmont.
Billy arrived at the Thorn ranch and Gail Thorn opened the door to him. He asked for Robert and his wife said her husband was working in the barn.
Billy opened the barn door and all he could hear was pigs squealing. He walked around and found Robert Thorn in one of the pens pulling teeth out of newborn pigs.
“Hey, Mister Thorn. Talk to you for a minute?”
