Burnt River by Karin Salvalaggio

him. A guy who cheats on his wife. I’d have to be an idiot to believe him.”
    Macy frowned. “I need a name.”
    “You’ll be discreet?”
    “I’ll do my best.”
    “Bob Crawley.”
    Aiden finally spoke. “Shit, Lana. That’s wrong on so many levels.”
    “I never said I was a saint.”
    Macy tapped her notebook with her pen. “Have you ever known him to be jealous?”
    “To tell you the truth, he’s really mellow. Plus, he’s married. It would be out of line if he expected me to be faithful to him.”
    “She’s right about that,” said Aiden. “The guy is mellow.”
    “We’ll still need to know his whereabouts last night.” She circled his name a couple of times. “Lana, what is your take on how John was adjusting to civilian life? Would you say he was changed by his experiences in Afghanistan?”
    “You mean like Dylan?”
    Macy nodded.
    “As far as I could tell he seemed fine.”
    “Did he get on okay with his family?”
    Lana pursed her lips. “For the most part I’d say yes. He did seem to be at odds with his sister. I asked him about it and he just said it was nothing she’d done.”

 
    9
    Aiden held up his phone and apologized before taking the call. “It’s the officer I sent over to check on the house Patricia Dune is renting.”
    Macy reached across her empty dinner plate and poured another glass of wine. The headache was finally gone and a pleasant buzz was beginning to settle in. Her smile came quicker and the laughter that followed almost sounded genuine. She warned herself to slow down. Even though Aiden was becoming more entertaining as the evening went on, getting drunk would not be a good idea. She put her wine to one side and thought about what her mother had said over the phone when they spoke earlier. By the time Macy had managed to make the call, Luke was already asleep. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t like he could carry on a conversation. It was Ellen who always filled Macy in with all the details of his day. There’d been a doctor’s appointment, a trip to the local pool, and a visit from the neighbor’s cat. As long as Luke stayed perfectly still, it would come sit next to him.
    I’ve never seen him sit still for so long.
    Macy had laughed. Nice trick. We should have that cat visit more often.
    Oh, I almost forgot. I have to drive up to Kalispell tomorrow to pick up a chair I’ve had restored. Can you meet us in the afternoon? There’s a park just across the street from where I’m going.
    I’ll try my best to get there. Do you have an address?
    Aiden placed his phone on the table and picked up his knife and fork.
    “Given the contents of her mailbox, it looks like Patricia Dune hasn’t been home for a few days. There’s no car in the garage and the lights are all off.”
    “She may have gone out of town.”
    “Hard to say at this point. Tomorrow we’ll try to track down someone at her university who can tell us where she may have gone.”
    Macy reached for her water glass. “The text message that was sent to Annie is a game changer. I’m struggling to see how John’s murder could have something to do with the local militias. This feels personal.”
    “I know what you mean, but the killer could have done it to throw us off.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and took a sip of his beer.
    “They’re not usually that clever. Who else have we got on our list?”
    “Bob Crawley, for starters. He should be easy enough to sort out. I don’t feel like being discreet though.”
    “What does a girl like Lana see in a married man with four kids and another one on the way?”
    “You mean aside from his dot-com money?”
    Macy leaned in and whispered, “He’s loaded?”
    He lowered his voice even more. “Plus I hear he’s rather well endowed.”
    She fell back in the chair and laughed. “That’s funny.”
    “Well, it’s what the ladies around here are saying.”
    “Lana isn’t his first, then.”
    “Nor the last. I suspect he’s having too