Cold Case at Cobra Creek

A small smile curved his mouth. “I’ve heard you’re a good cook.”

“Really?” Sage blushed. What else had he heard?

“Yes, I’m sure it helps with your business.”

“I suppose so,” Sage said. “I used to stay with my grandma when I was little, and she taught me everything she knew.”

He sipped his coffee. “Tell me about Ron Lewis. How did you two meet?”

“Actually he stayed here when he came to town on business,” Sage said. “He was a real estate developer. He wanted to convince the town council to go forward on a new development that would enrich the town, create jobs and tourism and bring us out of the Dark Ages.”

“I remember hearing something about that project,” Dugan said, although he hadn’t exactly been for the development. The group handling it wanted to buy up ranches and farms in the neighboring area, and turn Cobra Creek into a tourist trap with outlet malls, fast-food chains and a dude ranch.

“So you struck up a friendship?”

Sage nodded. “I was reluctant at first, but he was persistent. And he took an interest in Benji.”

“Benji liked him?”

“Yes.”

“He would have gone with him, without being afraid?”

“Yes,” Sage said, her voice cracking. “Ron stayed in Cobra Creek most of that summer, so we went on several family outings together.” She’d thought she’d finally found a man who loved her and her son.

Fool.

Dugan broke off a chunk of cake and put it in his mouth. Sage watched a smile flicker in his eyes, one that pleased her more than it should.

“Did the town council approve his plans?”

Sage gave a noncommittal shrug. “They were going back and forth on things, discussing it.” She frowned at Dugan. “Do you think his murder had something to do with the development?”

“I don’t know,” Dugan said. “But it’s worth looking into.”

Sage contemplated his suggestion. She should have asked more questions about Ron’s business, about the investors he said he had lined up, about him.

And now it was too late. If something had gone wrong with his business, something that had gotten him killed, he might have taken that secret with him to the grave.

* * *

DUGAN NEEDED TO ask around, find out more about how the locals felt about Lewis’s proposal. What had happened to the development after his death? Had anyone profited?

But Sage’s comment about Ron’s interest in Benji made him pause. “You said he showed an interest in Benji?”

Sage stirred sweetener in her coffee. “Yes, some men don’t like kids. Others don’t know how to talk to them, but Ron seemed...comfortable with Benji.”

“Hmm,” Dugan mumbled. “Did he come from a big family?”

Sage frowned. “No, I asked him that. And he actually looked kind of sad. He said he was an only child and lost his parents when he was young.”

“Was he married before? Maybe he had a child.”

“No, at least he said he’d never married,” Sage said. “But at this point, I don’t know what to believe. Everything he told me could have been a lie.”

True. In fact, he could have planned to kidnap Benji all along. He’d warmed up to the boy so he’d go with him willingly.

But why?

For money? Maybe someone had paid him to take Benji, then killed Ron Lewis to get rid of any witnesses.

But why would anyone want to kidnap Benji?

Sage wasn’t wealthy, and she had no family that could offer a big reward. Kidnappers had been known to abduct a child to force a parent into doing something for them, but if swaying the town council to vote for the development had been the issue, it wouldn’t have worked. Sage had no power or influence in the town.

Then again, Dugan had no proof that Ron Lewis had done anything wrong. That the man hadn’t been sincerely in love with Sage, that he hadn’t come to the town to help it prosper, that he was an innocent who had been shot to death for some reason.

And that he might have died trying to save Sage’s son.

* * *

“DID LEWIS LEAVE anything of his here at the inn? A calendar? Computer?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Sage said.

“I know it’s been two years, but what room did he stay in?”

“The Cross-ties Room.”

He arched an eyebrow.

“I named each room based on a theme. People who come to Cobra Creek want the atmosphere, the feel of the quaint western town.”

“Can I see that room, or is someone staying in it?”

“You can see it,” Sage said. “I have only one couple staying here now. They’re in the Water Tower Room.”

Sage led Dugan up the stairs to the second floor. She unlocked the room, then stood back and watched as he studied the room.

“Have you rented this room since he was here?”

“Yes, a couple of times,” she said. “I was full capacity during the art festival both years.”

He walked over and looked inside the dresser, checking each drawer, but they were empty. Next he searched the drawers in the oak desk in the corner. Again, nothing.

“What are you looking for?” Sage asked.

Dugan shrugged. “If Lewis was killed because he was into something illegal, there might be evidence he left behind.” He opened the closet door and looked inside. “Did he take everything with him that day when he left?”