At Wolf Ranch

“What the hell is that?” the detective asked.
“Lela called someone.”
Oh God, they found her phone.
“Shit. She called her sister

“What are you going to do with that?” The detective indicated the gold necklace her uncle tucked away in his pocket.
“Don’t worry about it. Do your job. The one I pay you extremely well to do.”
Her uncle went to the bar, grabbed a towel, and wiped down the gun. He wrapped it in the towel and handed it to the detective. “The household staff knows I keep this gun in the top drawer of my desk. Unlocked. Easy enough for Ella to take it and use it on her sister. Plant it, along with the drugs and alcohol, at the hotel room. Make sure the report shows Ella’s prints are on the gun and it is a ballistic match to the bullet in her. Tomorrow morning the staff will arrive for work and discover the body. You’ve got until then to find Ella and kill her

ective Robbins said.
“Don’t think you’re so indispensable. There are plenty of others on my payroll in this town, higher up the food chain than you, that would do my bidding without blinking.”
“I’ll get it done. I’ll need to use some of those contacts to pull this shit off.”
“You know who to use to make this clean. I want all the evidence, reports, and public perception to corroborate the scenario I’ve outlined.”
Uncle Phillip knelt by Lela and used his handkerchief to remove her diamond stud earrings. The ones their mother always wore. He unclasped Lela’s bloody necklace with the pendant of a heart made out of roses that matched Ella’s. Ella reached up and wrapped her trembling fingers around the one against her chest and sighed. Lela’s ring came next. Ella had given her the emerald encircled with diamonds for their twenty-­first birthday. The night they shared a quiet dinner in an exclusive uptown restaurant and planned their future and fulfill