“Then I’m betting that’s where you’ll find the money.”
Tracy recalled the receipt for the Emerald Credit Union she’d found in the garbage can at the motel room.
Fields sat back with a shit-eating grin. “Then there was the little issue of the girlfriend.”
“I figured that was coming,” Kins said.
“There’s always a girlfriend. Am I right?” Fields used a hunk of bread to wipe up sauce from his plate.
“You talk to her?” Kins asked.
Fields shook his head. “Haven’t determined who she is yet. Andrea told her boss she thought her husband was cheating on her, but she didn’t say with who.”
“Any evidence that was the case?” Tracy asked.
“I was still running it down, but apparently it wasn’t the first time. He’d been banging a little hottie from his law firm before they got married and I guess didn’t think a wedding band should inhibit that activity.”
“You talk to her?” Tracy asked.
“Ain’t my first rodeo, Detective.” He popped a piece of bread into his mouth.
Tracy really didn’t like this guy.
“She says she broke it off when she found out he’d gotten married. Apparently, he’d kept that little trinket from her for a couple months.”
“Sounds like a dirtbag,” Kins said.
“Yeah.” Fields nodded. “The wife also told her boss she was going to consult a divorce lawyer.”
“Did she?” Tracy asked.
“No evidence she did.”
“I think I’m seeing her motivation for disappearing,” Kins said.
“Divorce doesn’t get her out of the debt with the personal guarantees out there,” Fields said. “And because Oregon is a community-property state, Andrea was jointly liable for all the debts.”
“She was worried she’d lose her trust,” Tracy said.
“He declares bankruptcy, no big deal,” Fields said. “He’s got nothing but debt. Her? She’s sitting on a big pile of money the creditors would love to go after.”
“Why’d they take out a loan in the first place?” Kins asked.
“Like I said”—Fields took another bite of the linguini—“she wouldn’t let him use the trust money.”
Kins looked at Tracy.
“Yeah,” Fields said, reading the look. “The guy’s got motivation up the ass to kill her.”
“In which case, he would have just shoved her off the mountain,” Tracy said, thinking there had to be something more to it.
“It was the perfect setup,” Fields said, shrugging. “People die on that mountain every year. I think that’s why it was just the two of them—no guide. Husband claims wife’s death was a tragic accident. Who was going to be any wiser?”
“But he’s a lawyer,” Tracy said, still not completely convinced. “He had to have at least realized that the bankruptcy, the insurance policy, and the bad marriage, not to mention the girlfriend, would be pretty solid circumstantial evidence it was no accident.”
“He claimed he didn’t know about the insurance policy,” Fields said. “Or about any girlfriend.”
“He says it was her idea to take out the policy?” Tracy asked.
“And to climb the mountain,” Fields said. “Like I said, I was sure he killed her. Now? Well, she’s unhappy too, right?” Fields said. “So maybe she sees this trip up the mountain as the perfect opportunity to fake her own death, get out of a bad marriage, and stick the husband with the bills and headaches.”
“And maybe get even for the girlfriend while she’s at it,” Kins said.
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” Fields said, wiping the corners of his mustache with the napkin.
“Maybe,” Tracy said. “Or maybe she suspected the husband didn’t intend for her to make it off the mountain and beat him at his own game.”
“Why would she go if she knew he was going to try and kill her?” Kins said.
“She has to go if she wants to fake her death to get out of the marriage and the debt,” Tracy said.
Kins shook his head. “She could have just run.”
“Running doesn’t mean she’s dead,” Tracy said. “This way, she hides the trust money, plants some seeds—like the insurance policy—and tells her boss the husband is cheating on her and she wants a divorce. When he goes to sleep, she walks off knowing everyone will blame the husband.” She looked to Fields. “The ranger says she had to have help getting off the mountain.”
“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know who that would have been. Her parents are deceased and the only relative is an aunt in San Bernardino who hasn’t been in contact with her since Andrea left for Portland. Number’s in the file. There’s the husband—”
“Who we can rule out,” Kins said.
“—her boss, and one friend,” Fields said.
“Who’s the friend?” Tracy asked.
“Devin Chambers. They worked at the insurance company together.”
“You talk to her?” Tracy asked.
Fields gave her that look again. “Like I said, not my first rodeo. I checked her out. She said Andrea confided in her that the husband had admitted to the girlfriend and that he’d physically abused her.”