Her Frozen Cry (Detective Amanda Steele)

“I’ve seen extreme,” she said drily. And her mind went back to how Tony had gotten weird at the mention of his daughter, shutting that branch of the conversation down quickly. “How is Bethany, by the way?”

“Beth? She’s fine.”

“It must have been something for her to deal with. The divorce,” she added to clarify.

“Not really. Claudia and I had been separated two years by the time it finalized. Besides, Beth is an adult and married. My split from Claudia was of little consequence to her.”

Amanda wasn’t so sure about that. “We’ve asked before, and I am going to again. Could we have Alicia’s computer, just in case it lends something to the investigation?”

Tony shook his head. “I can’t let you. Not unless I’m forced to by a warrant. It contains proprietary information.”

“It could aid the investigation,” Trent stressed. “Help us find out who did this to your wife. Don’t you want that?”

“Of course, I do, but I still won’t.”

Trent flipped his notepad closed and clicked his pen. “Alicia was planning to change her will. Do you know anything about that?”

Amanda’s mind was such a mess, she cursed herself for not tugging on that particular string.

Tony shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“So you didn’t kill her because she was removing you as a beneficiary?” Trent’s eyes were steel, and his gaze was fixed on Tony.

“Absolutely not.” Tony’s cheeks burned a bright red.

Amanda let a few beats of silence pass, studying Tony, but his body language was closed off. “All right, if we could get those bidders’ names, we’ll be out of your way.”

A few minutes later, she and Trent were back in the car.

He twisted his hand around the steering wheel. Eventually, he looked over at her. “He could have poisoned her. We should look at his vehicle’s tires and his shoes, at least find out his foot size.”

She could still conjure the feel of Tony’s hand on her wrist.

“Amanda?” Trent prompted.

“We will if it comes to that, but do me a favor. Look up Bethany Bishop in the system.”

Trent sighed and clicked on the keyboard for the onboard computer. “Bethany Wagner now. Twenty-three, married to Isaac Wagner, thirty-one.”

“And what do they do for work?” It was hard to ask, her gut telling her she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“One second… Oh.”

That oh might as well have been a stone tossed to the bottom of her stomach. “What?”

“Looks like they own Paws and Claws. It’s a veterinary clinic.” He looked over at her. “And Tony knew pentobarbital was used for euthanizing animals.”

“So do I. Doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“Yeah, but you take that and how he clammed up after mentioning Bethany. It all seems a little strange.”

“I see that.”

Trent shifted his body to face her. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this.”

“Then don’t say it.” She looked into his eyes. “You don’t have to say it.”