Rarities Unlimited 03 - Die in Plain Sight

and putting her face in his. “Your father tried to kill us!”
    “So you say. He says differently.”
    “When did he wake up?” Ian asked.
    “Early this morning,” Rory said. “You got any coffee?”
    Ian gestured with his cast to the telephone. “Call room service. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
    Rory sat down on the couch and rubbed his face with a weariness he couldn’t hide. “Okay. Here’s how it is. Ward says he saw a truck go over the edge of the road, went down to help, and was shot for his trouble.”
    “You believe that?” Ian asked mildly, nudging Lacey into a chair. He didn’t blame her for wanting to rip out a few smug throats, but it wouldn’t do any good right now and might land them in jail.
    “I think mistakes were made,” Rory said carefully.
    “Yeah, they sure as hell were,” Ian said. “Let me list them for you. The first one is that Ward was checked out of the ranch by the south gate guard, wasn’t checked back in at all, yet somehow he turned up on the main road anyway.”
    “There are more ways in and out of the ranch than the guarded gates,” Savoy said.
    “How many of them would you take when it was raining like a bitch?” Ian asked.
    Savoy didn’t answer. There was only one paved road in and out of the ranch and everyone at the table knew it.
    “Did you call your father to tell him we were coming to see the paintings?” Lacey demanded.
    “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
    “He must have left the house as soon as he hung up,” Ian said. “Odd, don’t you think?”
    “He went target shooting at the club,” Savoy said. “He does it all the time, including when the club is closed. He owns the place, so he has his own key, and comes and goes as he pleases.”
    “Does he usually run out to pop off a few right after he’s got people lined up for a visit?”
    Savoy shrugged. “He knew I’d come and take care of whatever the two of you wanted. He didn’t have to wait around.”
    Ian looked at Rory.
    The sheriff looked at his hands on the table.
    “The third mistake was shooting out the windshield on my truck,” Ian said. “There’s a slug buried somewhere in the upholstery. Of course, you have to be looking for it to find anything.”
    Rory braced his elbows on the table. “You shot at him. He shot back. There might be a slug somewhere in your truck. So what?”
    “I don’t believe this,” Lacey said, watching the sheriff with dark, furious eyes. “Did you look at the place we went over? Did you look at the truck? Did you do any damned thing except rush to cover up for your boss?”
    “The road is always a mess after a good rain, the truck is upside down at the bottom of the bluff with the roof crushed into the frame, and what’s left is pretty much buried in mud,” the sheriff said.
    “Convenient,” Ian said. “Now I know what my great-uncle meant about nothing changing in Moreno County. No police work then and none now.”
    Rory shot to his feet. “Listen, you—”
    “No, you listen,” Ian cut in. “Ward avoided any manned gatehouses going back to the ranch. Why? He saw our ‘accident.’ How? From the top of the bluff? Okay, then what was he doing there standing in the rain with a rifle in his hands? He shot out the windshield and blew off the right front tire. You look, you’ll find proof.”
    “My father had no reason to shoot you,” Savoy said. “You’re crazy.”
    Ian ignored him and concentrated on the sheriff. “If Ward saw us goover the edge and was just trying to help, why did he circle in from the side instead of hurrying straight down to see if we were hurt? Why didn’t he call for help the instant we went over? And then,” Ian said sardonically, “to really put the cherry on top of your fantasy sundae, you say I had a wild hair and unloaded my gun at the Good Samaritan who was coming to help us.”
    Rory started to speak, closed his eyes, and put his head in his hands. Ward could and had explained away each point Ian brought up, but listening to them all laid out at once made the explanations less…believable. He shook his head, baffled.
    “Speaking of fantasies,” Rory said, his voice rough, “why would Ward want to kill you two?”
    “We went over that last night,” Lacey said. “Over and over and over.”
    Ian was more patient. If the sheriff wanted to rehash last night, then that’s what they’d do. At least Bliss wasn’t here, interrupting every other word.
    “The instant Lacey showed up with