Tessa Stark: Desert Heat

Chapter Twelve

 "Hallie Whitmore was having an affair with a woman?" asked Cole, giving his head a shake. "Or...was the affair with Rutherford?"

"I'm not sure. But, it really seems like Hallie and Angela loved each other. Or at least, started out in love with each other."

She'd scrolled back a fair piece through the conversations Hallie had exchanged with Angela and before all the outrage and desperation, to which Hallie had not responded, the two had texted nearly every single day and had been for months on end. And the messages between them had been rather sweet and flowery, innocent in a way, which was surprising. There had been no lewd language, no sexting, no naked selfies. And unlike the texts from all the other people, Hallie had taken part in those earlier conversations.

I can't wait to see you. I want to go where no one will ever find us. I want to be with you, to lay with you under all those stars that go on forever. I'll meet you at our place, mon ciel étoilé. You, a blanket, a bottle of wine...that's my fondest wish.

Angela's messages in return had been much the same.

I want you in my arms, mon ciel étoilé.  You're all I think about. You are the only thing that matters to me. I'll meet you beneath the midnight sky. You, a blanket, a bottle of wine...that's my fondest wish.

Hallie and Angela had both signed off at the end of nearly ever conversation in the exact same way. You, a blanket, a bottle of wine...that's my fondest wish.

"Do you speak French?" she asked, pulling her work cell from her bag and quickly searching for a translation.

"No. I can barely manage English. Why?"

"Just wondering. Sometimes internet language translations aren't terribly accurate, but..." she quickly read the first one she found, "Hallie and Angela called each other, roughly translated, my starry sky."

"That's...sweet? I guess?" came the very male response.

It did seem sweet...she guessed?

"Welp, this means a couple of things, I'd reckon," Cole intoned, his voice tight. "Rogers dropped the ball and now the department is screwed. And we have ourselves another suspect."

Indeed. That was two names firmly on the board. Nathan Rutherford, who could have found out about Hallie's affair. And Angela, who could have decided that if she couldn't have Hallie, no one could.

"Who gets to tell Sheriff Gonzalez?" wondered Tessa, dropping both phones and the charger into her bag. "I don't work for him, so he probably won't explode all over me. I mean...probably."

Cole chuckled, a throaty and pleasant sound. "I'm not worried about you and me. I would not want to be Rogers, though. That poor bastard."

"Yeah. That poor bastard....who left a potential suspect blowing in the wind for an entire month. I hope the sheriff explodes all over him."

A month was more than enough time for Angela, were she the culprit, to destroy any evidence that could possibly be destroyed and to come up with an alibi of some kind. It didn't even have to be an airtight alibi. It just had to cast reasonable doubt.

"I hope we get to watch," Cole added. "Killers walk away free and clear because of sloppy shit like this. I mean, what was Rogers thinking! Why didn't he just go through all the messages!"

"My opinion? Rogers probably saw the messages from Rutherford that back up his story about Hallie disappearing from time to time and he stopped there," she offered. "He'd already figured Rutherford for the murder, so why offer up anything that could possibly help his one and only suspect?"