Free Share No Secrets by Carlene Thompson

different. I was mad at him for being so stupid as to ride a motorcycle he couldn’t handle. Julianna didn’t do anything stupid.”
    “Didn’t she? She wasn’t spending the night at the Belle of the hell of it. It’s pretty evident she was having an affair.”
    “I didn’t know anything about it, and Julianna wasn’t one for keeping secrets.”
    “Well, she had at least one she didn’t share.”
    Adrienne knew he was right, but she didn’t want to admit it to the county sheriff no matter how obvious it was. Instead, she said, “You sound tired, Lucas.”
    “I am. That’s the problem with being a sheriff in a relatively quiet county. Not a lot of murders, thank God, particularly not like this one. I’ve lost my stamina.”
    “Have you found out anything about who might have been with Julianna at the Belle?”
    “No. Of course, the trace evidence is still being checked, although in a hotel room, working with trace is a nightmare, even if the room hasn’t been officially rented for a year. Also, there are no fingerprints. None. Someone spent a lot of time wiping down that place.”
    “What about Claude?” Adrienne nervously carried the receiver of the cordless phone to the front window and looked out at the paperboy jamming today’s edition of the
Register
into the paper box at the end of her driveway. “Could he have murdered Julianna? I mean, I know Claude wasn’t having an affair with her, for God’s sake, but he could have been jealous of whoever was. He could have murdered her to punish her.”
    “I’ll admit he makes the perfect suspect. Erratic, unstable, possessive. Mrs. Kirkwood shouldn’t have kept him around, even if he did take over just as the Belle was closing and there wasn’t much damage he could do to the place, not that she cared anyway. But you saw him this morning. Do you think he was alert enough to wipe away all the fingerprints? And why would he even bother? There’s a logical reason for him being there. Besides, Claude has an alibi. He got lucky last night at that topless bar just out of town, the Cat’s Meow. Met a young lady named Pandora Avalon.”
    Adrienne stopped pacing. “Please don’t try to convince me that’s her real name.”
    “No. It’s Maud Dorfman. Anyway, the forty-four-year-old Miss Avalon went home with Claude for a night of unbridled passion. She swears she was at his cottage until the sound of the crash woke them. According to her, she got out of there as fast as she could, leaving Claude heaving into the commode from downing too much bourbon the night before. She said, and I quote, ‘I never saw nobody puke so hard. I thought his damned stomach was gonna spew right up outta his mouth.'”
    “I always thought Claude would be a fun date,” Adrienne said drolly.
    “Yes. Along with his ax. The idiot. Anyway, I don’t think he was in any shape to have killed Julianna, much less brushed her hair and posed her so carefully on the bed before he came reeling down the hill to get me at the site of the wreck.”
    “Do you think there was any connection between the wreck and the murder?”
    “No. Two fifteen-year-olds were illegally driving one of the cars. They caused the wreck and they both died. The three people in the other car were seriously injured. None of them claims to have known Julianna, not to mention that two of them are Amish. The Amish aren’t known for lying,
or
for Covering for murderers, if you’re thinking the driver of the car they were in could have been the killer.”
    “That leaves Claude. Do you believe he’s completely in the clear?”
    “I don’t think he killed her, but I have a feeling he may know more than he’s saying. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to arrest people based on my feelings.”
    “You should speak to someone about that.”
    “Maybe your brother-in-law. I’m sure he’s going to be our next governor.”
    “I hope so. Otherwise, Vicky’s going to have a tough time over the next few years. Philip