Chapter 37

THIRTY-SEVEN

Justin Crawley turned onto Main and headed to the produce store. As he passed the beauty parlor, he couldn’t help noticing the sheriff and her deputy standing outside speaking with Lily. He slowed his truck to a crawl, watching with interest as she climbed inside the sheriff’s vehicle and both the sheriff and deputy turned to speak to her in the back seat. After their recent conversation, seeing Lily with the sheriff concerned him. He contacted Wyatt Twotrees on the burner phone and explained what he’d witnessed and his earlier conversation with her. “Do you figure Lily is confessing to the sheriff?”

“I have no idea. Did you get anywhere speaking to her?” Twotrees sounded agitated. “I know that the sheriff is working down a list of everyone who was on the mountain that night. They have spoken to me and Clint this morning, so I would imagine Lily is on the list as well and so are you.”

Crawley ran a hand down his face. “I’m in town so they won’t find me at home and I don’t really want them speaking to my folks.”

“It’s no good stressing out about it. I figure finding the bodies has opened up a whole can of worms and all we can do is stick to our story. There’s no evidence at the caves, no matter what the media keeps reporting. We cleaned that place and nothing was left behind. I figure they’re saying all this shit to get one of us to crack.” Twotrees let out a long sigh. “I’ll call Jess and see if they’ve dropped by to see him. I’ll get back to you. You’ll need to contact Lily again. I believe we all need to know what’s going on.”

Crawley’s other phone buzzed. “I have a call on the other phone. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” He disconnected and slid the burner phone beneath his seat before accepting the call through his vehicle’s Bluetooth connection. “Yeah, what is it, Pa?”

“The local deputies dropped by looking for you. I figure it was to give you some information about Cole and Abby. I told them you were heading for the produce store, so likely they’ll catch up with you there.” His pa cleared his throat. “Terrible thing about them two kids being murdered.”

Swallowing hard, Crawley pulled his truck into the parking lot outside the produce store. He backed up to the delivery ramp and slid out of his vehicle. “Yeah, it is. I need to go. I’m just heading into the store. Thanks for the heads-up.” He disconnected.

He’d just finished loading all his purchases onto the back of his truck when the sheriff’s black vehicle slid in beside him and the sheriff climbed out, her deputy close behind. Crawley jumped down from the back of his truck and slammed the tailgate. He turned and almost collided with the tall deputy blocking his way to the door of his vehicle. The sheriff stood just behind him and to the right. He looked from one to the other. “Is there something I can do for you, Sheriff?”

The questions that followed were exactly what he’d expected after speaking to Twotrees. He gave them the account they required, sticking to the storyline. He, like the others, had entered lumberjack contests during his time in college but he had no idea of the location of his Alpha Pi pin. When they started asking him about Marissa’s murder, his stomach clenched with anxiety. This part of the story they hadn’t discussed, so he had no idea what the others had told her. Due to the flooding, he’d been driving back and forth collecting things they needed to make on-the-spot repairs. The heavy and relentless rainfall had caused roofs to leak and gutters to rip from the buildings. They had fences down all over and they had men working around the clock trying to fix everything. He’d told the truth when he’d admitted not knowing exactly where he’d been over the time Marissa went missing.

When the sheriff eventually stopped her barrage of questions, he decided not to stop at Aunt Betty’s Café for a well-earned slice of pie as planned but parked opposite. He dug out his burner phone and, checking inside his notebook for the correct number, called Lily. “I saw the sheriff speaking to you. She’s been visiting everyone in our group. What did you tell her? She was on my back like a rat up a drainpipe.”

“I didn’t tell her anything we haven’t already discussed.” Lily’s voice echoed, as if she was speaking to him in the restroom. “I stuck to the story we decided, to the letter.”

Irritated, Crawley stared out of the window. “You know, if you hadn’t reported Marissa missing, none of us would have been in the spotlight. What you’ve done is given them a list of people they can investigate. Before this, as far as the sheriff was concerned, we didn’t exist. Now we’re all fighting for our lives.”

“Marissa was my friend and she went missing. She didn’t have any family to care, so what did you expect me to do? I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing.” Lily was close to tears.

Shaking his head, Crawley rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you could have, because now we’re all under suspicion for three murders. Wyatt is calling the guys and will contact us with a plan to get out of this mess.” He drummed his fingers on his steering wheel. “From now on, keep your mouth shut.” He disconnected and slid the phone back under his seat. He glanced over at Aunt Betty’s Café and Twotrees’ advice drifted across his mind. Act normal. He climbed out of the truck and ran across the blacktop to embrace the fragrance of freshly baked peach pie.