“There’s a possibility there. He’s glib and very charming. I’m sure that everything he tells me is the truth, he just doesn’t tell me everything. I know he loved Celina. He wanted to marry her after my father was killed. Maybe she said no one too many times.”
“Conjecture and more conjecture. So, that leaves Lambert. What about him?”
Alex lowered her head and stared at her bloodless fingers. “He’s the most likely suspect, I believe.”
Greg’s chair sprang forward. “What makes you say that?”
“Motive and opportunity. He might have felt his best friend was displacing him and killed her to prevent it.”
“Pretty viable motive. What about opportunity?”
“He was at the ranch that night, but he left.”
“Are you sure? Has he got an alibi?”
“He says he was with a woman.”
“Do you believe him?”
She gave a short, bitter laugh. “Oh, yes. I can believe that. Neither he nor Junior has a problem with women.”
“Except your mother.”
“Yes,” she conceded quietly.
“What has Lambert’s alibi got to say?”
“Nothing. He won’t tell me her name. If she exists, she’s probably still around. Otherwise, what difference would it make? I’ll work on tracking her down when I get back.”
“Who says you’re going back?”
Up till now, Alex had been pacing. Returning to her chair, she appealed to him. “I’ve got to go back, Greg. I can’t leave it up in the air like this. I don’t care if the murderer is the governor himself, I’ve got to see it through to the finish.”
He nodded toward the telephone on his desk. “He’s going to call me this afternoon and ask me if you’re off the case. He expects me to say yes.”
“Even if that would mean leaving a murder unsolved?”
“Judge Wallace convinced him that you’ve got a bee up your ass and that this is a personal vendetta.”
“Well, he’s wrong.”
“I don’t think so.”
Her heart stopped beating. “You think that, too?”
“Yep, I do.” He spoke softly, more like a friend than a boss. “Call it quits, Alex, while we’re all still speaking to each other, and before I get my tail in a real crack with the governor.”
“You gave me thirty days.”
“Which I can rescind.”
“I’ve got just a little more than a week left.”
“You can do a lot of damage in that amount of time.”
“I could also get to the truth.”
He looked skeptical. “That’s a long shot. I’ve got cases here that need your expert touch.”