Free Betrayal with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Three) by Jenn Vakey

husband was the second victim killed by this man,” she said as she slid a picture of Lamar Mifflin across the desk. “My husband’s body was discovered this week just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. There was some trace recovered that suggests Mifflin was in this area just prior to the murder. Since he hasn’t been seen since, I was hoping that someone here might remember him and know where he could have gone after leaving here.”
    Stigent studied the photograph carefully before handing it back to her. “You say that he would have been in the area nineteen months ago?” he asked as he spun in his seat toward the filing cabinet in the corner. “Do you know an approximate date?”
    “Christopher was killed on the twenty-fourth of July. The trace that was found on his remains was from a Rocky Mountain Maple and a Penland beardtongue. Given the amount of both discovered, I would think that he must have been in the area just prior to the murder,” she explained. “He also took his vacation time just two days before the killing, so that would put him here somewhere between the twenty-second and the twenty-fourth. He might have also returned after.”
    He flipped open the logbook he had pulled out of the filing cabinet. After several minutes, he closed it again and shook his head. “During that week we had one traffic accident, two mailboxes smashed, and one high school student arrested for peering into a bedroom window. All involved were members of our community. It isn’t often that we have instances involving tourists, but of the few we have had, I don’t recall him ever being involved.”
    “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was successfully able to avoid police detection during the time he would have been in your town,” she said. “He was on the force for eight years prior to committing the murders.”
    “He was a police officer?” he asked as he sat upright. She saw the familiar distressed look settle over his face at the mention of a fellow law enforcement officer being involved in a murder. She had grown to despise that look.
    “He was my partner.”
    As he leaned back and let out a low whistle, Sheriff Stigent pulled his hands up behind his head. Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t seem to come up with a response.
    “It appears that he was having an affair with the first victim before killing her. He must have known that it would only be a matter of time before we discovered his relationship with her and he became our prime suspect,” she rattled off quickly. “The best I can guess is that he hoped we would be too distracted if another victim showed up; someone close to the department. We were able to track down the first victim’s phone records the day after he killed Christopher, though, and learned she had been receiving frequent calls from a disposable phone belonging to him. By that time, he had already fled.”
    “What makes you thing that he was here?” he asked. “I know that we’re one of the few places where Penland beardtongue grows naturally, but we’re not the only one.”
    “I received an anonymous tip this morning telling me to look for him here,” she stated. “I was already heading back to Texas, so I thought I would swing by on my way to see if there was any chance that someone around here could have known him.”
    “Well, I’ll do anything I can to help,” he said as he rose out of his chair. She was genuinely surprised by his offer. “My detective is out today, but he’ll be in tomorrow morning if you want to come back then. He’ll be able to help you with anything you need while you’re in town.”
    Rilynne stood up and walked with him back to the front desk. “Thank you very much for your time and assistance.”
    *
    She felt as though she had stepped into a movie set as she drove down the narrow street at the center of town. In the middle of Brooks Hollow stood a giant gazebo surrounded by old benches and neatly pruned pine trees. The buildings surrounding the round