Cowboy's Legacy

“I need you to let me handle this,” Mark had said. “You know you’re too emotionally involved.”

Swearing under his breath, he’d nodded. “You’re right. I’ll do whatever you suggest. I trust you, Mark.”

“You’d do the same thing in my shoes. The DCI will want to talk to you. After that, you’ll need to find somewhere to stay since your house is now a crime scene.”

Flint had felt as if his heart would burst when Mark had gotten the call from Harp. “What did Harp find over there? Please, Mark, you have to tell me.”

“Nothing to indicate that Celeste had anything to do with Maggie going missing. But she’s left town and she was apparently upset before she left. Flint, I told you—”

His heart had started pounding the moment Mark had answered his phone and said, “Bring Duma down to the sheriff’s department for questioning.”

Panic had made his knees go weak. “Celeste?”

“No—Wayne Duma. He says Celeste left town to go to a spa.”

“She’s lying. You have to—”

“Flint, he’s coming downtown. We’ll find out what he knows.”

“She picked today to leave town? Mark—”

“I know. We have to find Maggie. That’s what we’re doing.”

Flint had nodded, but his heart had been racing. Celeste had done something with Maggie. This had been building for some time.

“I know you’re right, Mark, but I need to know what’s going on or I’ll go crazy. Starting with what Duma has to say.”

Mark had suggested he watch the interrogation. Flint had agreed, although he could feel the clock ticking like a time bomb in his chest. Maggie had been missing for at least several hours now. Statistically, the sooner they found her, the better chance they would find her alive. He feared she’d been taken on impulse. He envisioned the scene back at his house. The two women arguing, maybe getting into a shoving match, and then Maggie getting hurt.

If she was badly hurt, things would have gone downhill from there. Celeste would be scared. She’d do something stupid, like abduct Maggie to keep what had happened from coming out. Things would only get worse from there. Celeste would be running scared. She would realize how hard it was to hide someone. How desperate would she get, all the time not realizing that she was getting in deeper and deeper?

He stared through the glass, wanting to shake the truth out of Wayne Duma.

“How do you explain the condition your bedroom was in?” Mark asked.

Duma rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “Celeste and I had a fight last night. She was still upset this morning.”

“What did you fight over?”

“I don’t even know. With Celeste...” The man looked away. “We haven’t been getting along for some time now. This morning, after another rough night, I suggested we might want to take a break.”

“Divorce?”

“I didn’t say that, but I think that’s the way she took it. I told her we would talk about it later when we were both calmer.”

Flint felt his stomach roil. Celeste would have been beside herself, he thought. She might not like the choice she’d made in hooking up with Duma, but she wouldn’t want to give up the luxury, the name or the perceived power that came with it. Given the kind of mood she must have been in, anything could have happened.

“I went to work,” Duma continued. “I knew she had some meeting she was going to. I almost didn’t take her call later that morning when my assistant said she was on the line. I didn’t want to continue the argument, especially at work and on the phone.”

“But you did take the call.”

He nodded. “She was still upset. She sounded hysterical. I honestly thought she might do something to herself if I didn’t stay on the line. So I let her talk. She went on about the two of us, the same stuff I’ve heard before. I don’t give her enough attention, that sort of thing.” He sighed.

“Did she mention Maggie Thompson?”

Duma looked away for a moment. “She told me that she’d run into Maggie at the grocery store and that her ex and Maggie were moving in together.” He cleared his voice. “She was calmer then, I thought. She said she was having trouble dealing with it, that she had some unresolved feelings for Flint and that part of our problem was that she blamed me for their divorce. If she hadn’t met me...

“But that she loved me and just needed some time away. She said she was sorry she’d put me through so much. She sounded as if she was accepting that her ex was going to find happiness with someone else. She promised that when she came back everything would be much better.”

Much better because Maggie would be out of the picture. Cursing, Flint couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He wanted to put his fist through the glass. He’d been married to Celeste. He knew what extremes she went to when she felt she was about to lose something she wanted. There was no telling what she would have done.

“Did she tell you where she was going?” Mark asked.

“No, just that she was packing to go to a spa. She sounded...calm.”

According to Harp, Celeste had been anything but calm given the shape of the bedroom where she was packing, Flint thought. Had she gone from there over to his house the two of them had shared and confronted Maggie?

Celeste probably still had her key, not that she would have needed it since she knew he usually left the door unlocked. So she could have been waiting for Maggie. Or worse, he thought with a curse, she could have just walked in and surprised Maggie.

He mentally kicked himself for not getting the locks changed, for not locking his door. But this was Gilt Edge, after all. Aside from a rash of break-ins a few months ago by some teens... The point was that Celeste could have gotten to Maggie—and had.

But then, so could anyone else, he thought and shook his head. It hadn’t been anyone else. He knew who had Maggie. He was staring at the person’s husband.

“I’m telling you Celeste wouldn’t have done anything to Maggie. Yes, maybe she tried to scare her off with some stupid vandalism, but kidnap her?” Duma shook his head. “She wouldn’t do anything so...”

“Crazy?” Mark asked.

Duma hung his head. “She was just angry. By now, she’s over it. We’ve had fights before.”

He didn’t sound convinced they would patch things up, Flint thought. This man had seen Celeste’s crazy. He was running scared this time and probably fed up. Flint knew that feeling, having been there with Celeste himself.

“I think my wife has too much time on her hands and...” Duma looked up at Mark as if pleading with him to agree that Celeste wouldn’t have hurt Maggie. “This whole thing is so...frustrating. Yes, my wife might need...help. I’ve tried to get her to see someone.” He put his head in his hands. “It’s put a terrible strain on our marriage. I should be more patient with her, but when she calls me at work with this foolishness...”

“Did she mention that she was going over to Flint’s house to see Maggie?”

Duma lifted his head. “No. I told you. She said she was going to a spa.”

“But she didn’t mention what spa or where and you didn’t ask?”

“No. I was just relieved that she was going away for a while.” He looked guilty, and for a moment, Flint almost felt sorry for him. Maybe if Duma hadn’t had an affair with Celeste while she was still married to him, Flint could have worked up more compassion for the man. Instead, he felt as if Duma had gotten what he deserved: one crazy-ass woman who was capable of doing just about anything.

But if Celeste had lost it and done something to Maggie... He clenched his fists tighter. They had to find Celeste. It was too much of a coincidence that she’d left town now—at the same time Maggie had gone missing. Especially now that he knew how upset Celeste had been.

Mark was questioning Duma about other spas Celeste had gone to. Mark had gotten a warrant, so they were checking into Duma’s bank and credit-card statements. In the meantime, the state crime team would be arriving and going over Flint’s house as well as the Dumas’. Flint had mixed feelings about that. Maybe they would find proof that would help find Maggie. Or maybe they wouldn’t find any physical evidence other than Flint’s own DNA at the scene and kick him off the case.

“Does Celeste own a gun?” the undersheriff asked.

Flint’s ears perked up. Duma raised his head. He looked guilty. Flint swore.