Chapter sixty-five
SATURDAY, 1:35 P.M.
EMERALD M RANCH
Deputy Taggart had delivered Austin, Willow, and Charlie to the ranch after taking their statements and was leaving two deputies there to watch over Charlie. He was taking the threat seriously or at least didn’t want to take any chances that Sheriff Haines hadn’t been working alone.
“Is it all right if Willow and I go visit Mr. Haus at the nursing home?” Austin asked.
Deputy Taggart angled his head. “Why would you want to do that at a time like this? That girl needs you.”
Evelyn set down a tray with mugs of steaming coffee. “She’s sleeping soundly, and she knows and trusts me. I can take care of her if these two have something they need to do.”
“Does it have anything to do with this investigation?” Deputy Taggart asked.
“Maybe,” Austin said.
“This is a police matter now. I don’t want you interfering with the investigation or putting yourselves in more danger.”
“We were hired to investigate too, Deputy Taggart.” Willow stared at her computer, looking beat. She was working on something and was determined to see this case through. Austin knew just how she felt.
They’d been hired to find Charlie, which they’d done. But she was still in danger until her abductor was brought to justice. Willow was likely still in danger as well. Besides, Austin wanted justice for JT as much as Willow did. “We’re only going to question Mr. Haus, an elderly man in a nursing home. If we learn anything from him, we’ll share that information with you. He’s in Clair though, so Sheriff Everett will want to know what we find out too.”
Deputy Taggart nodded. Many law enforcement entities would be involved before this ended, what with a cold case abduction victim found and the person they believed was behind Marilee’s murder and the abduction still out there. Austin didn’t have time to waste as they waited for others to get up to speed.
“I can’t exactly tell you not to talk to Mr. Haus, but humor me. Come right back here. I want to keep track of everyone in case I have more questions, especially if a killer is still out there. Mind if I ask about his connection?”
“I’m not sure,” Willow said. “Call it a hunch. He knew Marilee, Charlie’s mother, who was murdered. I’m trying to find a link back to Texas and that hospital in Houston where Charlie was taken from.”
Mr. Haus said Marilee knew his secret. Maybe he knew some of hers too. Maybe Mr. Haus knew the man she planned to meet the night she was murdered. Austin kept that part to himself. It was a long shot anyway.
“Fair enough.” Taggart headed for the door. “Then come straight back to the ranch. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Austin said.
“Keep her safe, McKade.”
To my last breath . . . Austin appreciated that Taggart trusted him to do just that. More than anything, he wanted this to be over so he could hold Willow. Kiss her. Tell her the emotions bursting through the cracks in his heart. Working through this with her had brought them closer than they had ever been.
Austin drove Heath’s truck to the nursing home in Clair. Willow was quiet on the drive, but he understood. So much had happened within a short time that his mind had to catch up. Had to comprehend and internalize. Maybe he could see clearly what they had been missing all along.
Someone had paid Sheriff Haines to do his business. Had Marilee also been paid to abduct Charlie? What was this person’s connection to the sheriff and Katelyn Mason? Why had law enforcement not found that connection early on but instead deemed the abduction random?
“You’re sure quiet. What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I hope we aren’t barking up the wrong tree, as Sheriff Everett put it.”
“Well, he was wrong about that, wasn’t he? We found her.”
“Dead wrong. But we almost got her killed in the search too. Sheriff Haines had been warning us away.”
“Since there’s another person out there involved—the person who killed Marilee, if the sheriff can be believed—we don’t know if Charlie would have been safe if we had left her alone to hide. The truth needed to come out.”
“Needs to come out. We’re not done here yet.”
“I’m with you all the way. I need to know who was behind the abduction too, Willow. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re on the right track. It’s a hunch JT would have followed. It’s a thread. So we follow the threads.” Would they finally find the right needle? “You make an excellent investigator. You should apply to work for the FBI.”
“I think I’m good right where I am.”
“I’m glad you realize that.” He hadn’t been sure she would keep the business going with JT gone, but maybe now she would have the confidence to do so.
Once they arrived at the nursing home, he followed Willow in, letting her lead the way. She’d been wonderful with Mr. Haus before, forming a loose but warm friendship. He was certain the man would want to see her again—that is, if he remembered her. Dementia often had the unwanted effect of wiping the memory slate clean—short-term and long-term.
At the counter, they met another nurse, Bob. A thirty-something lanky guy with dark hair and glasses.
“We’re here to see Mr. Haus.”
“You family?”
“Friends. We came by a couple of days ago, and I told him I’d come back to see him,” Willow said.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but he passed away.”
The news turned Austin’s insides to stone.
Willow stumbled back a little. “I’m so sorry to hear that. When?”
“Last night.”
Willow swayed. Austin grabbed her elbow. “What about Kim? Can we speak with her?”
“She’s in Mr. Haus’s room, clearing things out for his son.” Bob ushered them past the circle of elderly patients in wheelchairs playing a game involving bubbles and down the long hallway to the farthest room on the left. “Here you go.” He peeked his head into the room. “Kim, some people came to see Henry. Claim they knew him. I’ll let you deal with it.” To them, he said, “Go right in.”
Austin ushered a shaky Willow into the room. Antiseptic and asparagus again. Kim eyed them. “Y’all are too late.”
Pain etched Willow’s face. “What happened?”
“What do you mean? The guy was ninety-two years old.”
Willow roamed the room, eyeing the few knickknacks and photographs that sat out.
“He’s been here so long, I didn’t have the heart to take his stuff out to make room for the next person. He’s been here longer than I have. Usually people don’t stay so long. Insurance won’t let them, or they die. But Mr. Haus beat the statistics.”
Austin peered at the photographs along with Willow. She lifted one particular photograph. A man stood next to . . . was that . . . was that Sheriff Haines? Albeit a much younger man—a deputy at the time.
Willow showed it to Austin, then she asked Kim, “Who is this man?”
Kim pointed at the man standing next to Haines. “Mr. Haus’s son. And that’s his friend. He’s the sheriff the next county over now, I hear. Sheriff Haines. I told you he only had one son.”
Willow held Austin’s gaze.
The man in the picture wasn’t Silas Everett. Interesting. Then Kim didn’t know that Mr. Haus was Sheriff Everett’s biological father. Nor did she know that Mr. Haus had two sons, after all, just like he had said. Who knew? Marilee? Did Sheriff Everett even know his real father had died last night?
“That isn’t true.” A uniformed man filled the door frame, startling them. Sheriff Everett. He stepped all the way into the room, his law enforcement presence intimidating in the small space.
His features contorted. “He could never openly recognize me. After all, he’d had an affair with my mother that destroyed his family. Could have destroyed mine, except no one knew about it. Not even the man who raised me as his own knew Henry Haus was my real father.” He picked up the picture of Haines standing next to Mr. Haus’s other son. “Marilee brought him to meet me a couple of times a year for the last ten years or so.”
“You’re the secret, then. Mr. Haus said that Marilee knew his secret.” Willow eyed Kim. “He told us he had two sons, but apparently only Marilee knew about that.”
Regret filled his eyes as he shook his head. Then he angled it, suspicion shoving aside the regret. “Why are you two here?”
“We had hoped to ask Mr. Haus if he knew anything about a man Marilee was supposedly in love with. That’s what Clyde told us.”
Everett shook his head. “My cousin was insanely jealous. You can’t listen to anything he says. That’s why Marilee fought with him. She wanted out of the relationship. But I knew he couldn’t kill anyone. I knew he hadn’t killed her. He was with me.”
“Sheriff, do you know anything about your half brother?” Austin asked.
“Nothing more than his name. He knew about me, before I knew the truth, and never contacted me. I figured he didn’t want to meet me. I didn’t know for the better part of my life that old Mr. Haus here was my father.”
“He was here last night,” Kim said. “He got to say goodbye before his father died.”
Sheriff Everett narrowed his eyes. “How often did he come?”
“Usually once a year. Mr. Haus was surprised to see him.”
“And he showed up last night? Why?” Willow asked.
“I couldn’t say.” Kim pursed her lips.
“What’s his name?” Willow asked.
“Jay,” Kim said.
“Jay . . . ?”
“Jay Haus, what else? After he left, we had to call him to let him know his father had died. At least Mr. Haus got to see his son one last time, only moments before he died.”
Could Jay have killed his father because of the secrets he knew—the secrets Mr. Haus claimed Marilee had kept for him? If so, it wouldn’t be a stretch if Jay had killed them both.
They had come to ask Mr. Haus if he knew who Marilee was supposed to meet at the motel the night she died. Had that man murdered her? Had Marilee kept her relationship with this man a secret even from Charlie?
But without Mr. Haus to answer their questions, it was another dead end.
Still. Maybe not. Jay Haus had been friends with Sheriff Haines. The sheriff had been working with someone.
Austin studied the contents of the box Kim had been filling with Mr. Haus’s belongings. A flash of silver beneath a few shirts caught his attention. He tugged it out without asking permission. Willow looked over his shoulder. An elaborate western belt buckle.
Handcrafted by the Wyoming Silversmith Company.
“It’s the same company that made Marilee’s necklace,” she said.
They’d never connected with Hank at the silversmith company, but there was no need now.
“Do either of you know where Jay Haus lives now?” Austin asked.
“Why are you asking?” Sheriff Everett studied Austin. “I can find out if you give me a reason to look.”
“Marilee was the woman who abducted Charlie years ago. We know that Sheriff Haines was working with someone too. Someone who abducted Willow last night.”
“Why would you suspect Jay?”
Austin rubbed his jaw. This was another thread. A very loose thread. Sheriff Everett didn’t like his questions, but he pressed on. “Marilee kept your secret about Mr. Haus being your father. Did she ever say anything to you about a relationship with Jay?”
“No.”
“I think she was good at keeping secrets,” Willow said. “If Jay was behind Charlie’s abduction and Marilee’s murder, there could be a connection to Katelyn somehow. Something that was missed before,” she said.
Maybe. But the sheriff wanted a solid reason to look into his half brother. Austin couldn’t give him that.
“Was there anything unusual about him?” Willow asked.
Kim frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean. Like what?”
“Did he appear injured?”
Good question, Willow.
She shook her head. “No, he seemed fine.”
Austin saw where she was going with the question, but if Jay was their man, he would have come here to see his father hours before he abducted Willow and hit the moose.
Willow faced the Sheriff. “Jay could have been the one to partner with Sheriff Haines in Charlie’s abduction. Obviously they were friends.”
Sheriff Everett didn’t appear convinced.
“Did he bring his father any gifts last night?” Austin asked.
“He had a sack, yes,” Kim said.
Austin peered into the garbage can. He pulled out his latex gloves and dug around in the can, then pulled out a package with a big State of Texas sticker on the front. “Pralines from Texas.”