“Berg said Andrea believed he was cheating on her and it wasn’t the first time.”
“So our theory is what? The husband realizes she’d set him up, hunts her down, and kills her to get even.”
“Not just to get even. To get what he was after in the first place.”
“The money,” Kins said.
“She’s already dead,” Tracy said. “He figures that if he finds her, he finds the money. Since she’s already dead, no one is the wiser. He just needs a way to dispose of the body so she’ll never be found.”
“Okay, but how do we prove it?” Kins said.
“I think we need to find Devin Chambers. If Andrea was going to confide in anyone, it sounds like it would have been her.”
“You think that’s why Chambers left town, that maybe she was the person who helped her?”
“Ranger Hicks is convinced Andrea Strickland didn’t get off the mountain alone,” Tracy said.
“Then I’d also like to talk to the aunt,” Kins said. “Being dead has to get lonely, and it sounds like she was her only family.”
Tracy called Stan Fields on the drive back to Police Headquarters to discuss Devin Chambers. She put him on speakerphone.
“Did you know she’s left town?” Tracy asked.
“No, but no crime in that. Why, you think they could have been dykes or something?”
Tracy rolled her eyes while Kins stifled a laugh. “No, but it’s possible if Andrea confided in her that they remained in touch.”
“She told me she didn’t know much of anything.”
“Did you ever come across any evidence the husband was having another affair?”
“The employer mentioned that. She said the wife was convinced he was cheating on her, but she didn’t have any details. I spoke to the associate at the law firm he’d been hammering and it wasn’t her; she said the first time had been a mistake, that she didn’t know he’d gotten married, and she was married and had moved on. Hadn’t seen or talked to him in months.”
“Okay, so you haven’t followed up with Devin Chambers?”
“Like I said, I had no reason to. She had receipts indicating she was out of town when they climbed. You have something different?”
“I don’t know,” Tracy said.
“It’s your rodeo, Detective. Have at her if you think there’s something there.”
Tracy hung up. “I really don’t like that guy.”
“He’s a cowboy,” Kins said, smiling.
“He’s a jackass.” Tracy let a few miles pass, thinking again of Brenda Berg and her baby. Kins had three boys. “You glad you had kids, Kins?”
Kins looked over at her. “It got to you, didn’t it? I figured it did.”
“What?” she said, sounding defensive.
“Berg and you are about the same age and have a lot of similarities.”
“We don’t have that many similarities.”
“Oh no?”
“So are you glad?” she asked.
Kins gave it some thought. “Not when they crash the car, or tell me the night before that they have a report due.” He smiled. “But the other ninety-nine percent of the time? Yeah. I’m glad. Does Dan want to have kids?”
“I’m forty-three,” she said, wondering if she’d waited beyond her window.
“I know a woman who was forty-two when she had her first. She has two now.”
“They’re healthy?”
“From what I know. Have you talked to Dan about it?”
“Yeah, a little bit. But a part of me wonders if his willingness is just because I’m asking. Neither of us is young.”
Kins frowned. “People make a big deal about having kids when they’re young. Let me tell you, that’s not always a good thing. I have a lot more patience now than I did when I was twenty-five, and patience is a big part of being a parent.”
“I used to think I’d have kids in my twenties. Now I look back and think I was still a kid in my twenties. At least until my sister died. Things changed after that. It wouldn’t have been fair to have kids then. I was too busy trying to find out what had happened to her.” She looked at Kins, who, other than Dan, was her closest friend. “So you don’t think I’d be too old, huh? You don’t think I’d show up at grammar school and have people thinking I was the grandma?”
“So what if they did?”
“I’d be over sixty before he or she turned twenty.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not looking forward to having an empty nest in my midforties either. I don’t know what the hell Shanna and I are going to do. My kids are the best part of my life.”
“I hope you didn’t tell Shanna that.”
“Hey, I’m old. I’m not stupid. Okay, here’s what I think—call it Kins 101. When we didn’t have kids, we adapted, right? When we had kids, we adapted. When the kids are grown and out of the house, we’ll adapt again. Age doesn’t play into any of that. If you love Dan, and you want kids, I say go for it. You’d be better parents than ninety-nine percent of the knuckleheads out there.”
Tracy smiled.
“Grandma,” Kins said.
“You’re such an ass,” Tracy said, laughing.