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Authors: Bill Crider

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Rhodes had known that the rest wouldn't be easy.

“Now what?” Hack said.

“That's simple enough,” Rhodes told him.

Hack shook his head. “I don't see how.”

“Me neither,” Ruth said.

“We'll just have to get somebody to confess.”

“Who?”

“I'd settle for anybody. I'd like to work on Thorpe, but he's not going to be able to confess to anything for a long time, if ever.”

“Sure was inconsiderate of that fella to shoot him,” Hack said. “Who does that leave you with besides Lily?”

“A couple of people at least, but Lily's a better bet. I need to get her to admit her part in it.”

“How you gonna do that?” Hack said.

Ruth looked at Rhodes expectantly. “Do you have an answer for him?”

“Sure.”

“What's the answer then?” Hack said.

Rhodes shrugged. “The answer is, I don't know.”

“Bull corn,” Hack said.

Ruth smiled. “There's one more thing.”

Rhodes asked what it was.

“Mrs. Gadney wants a lawyer.”

“Perfect,” Rhodes said.

“And she wants Randy Lawless.”

“Thanks,” Rhodes said. “You just made my day.”

“I'm glad to hear it. What do I do next?”

“You check out Lily's Explorer. It's at Truck's Trucks. See if you can find some soil samples that match the mud at the Tumlinson place.”

“Where's the Tumlinson place? I'll have to go there, too.”

Rhodes told her how to get there.

“What if the soil's just like the soil all over the county?”

“Let's hope it's not,” Rhodes said.

“It's prob'ly not,” Hack said. “Mostly white clay down there, and sticky old black gumbo around here.”

“That would make it easy,” Ruth said. “If we can get a match, it would help the case.”

Rhodes agreed and added, “We need all the help we can get.”

“Amen,” Hack said.

Chapter 26

RANDY LAWLESS WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL LAWYER IN BLACKLIN County by just about any measurement Rhodes could think of. His clients were likely to escape conviction, he was rich, and he'd even served a couple of terms in the state legislature.

He was good-looking, he was tall, he had thick, black hair, and he drove an Infinti. His wife, Barbara, was an officer in just about every club in town and the star of an amateur theatrical production every year.

Lawless could even joke about his name, and often did, especially in court and especially before opposing counsel could work in some kind of snide remark.

If pressed, Rhodes might have admitted that Lawless was a pretty good lawyer, but he would have hated to do it, and he would never have said it to Lawless except as a joke.

“My client says you threatened her and then beat her,” Lawless
told Rhodes. “You could be in real trouble. Police brutality is a grievous offense.”

“I like the way you can keep a straight face when you say things like that,” said Rhodes, who also liked the use of
grievous
. “It's no wonder you do so well with juries.”

“Don't try to change the subject, Sheriff. This is serious business.”

They were in Rhodes's courthouse office, which is where Rhodes had told Lawless he'd be when the lawyer had asked for a meeting. Lily was already free on bond, and not a high bond at that. She hadn't been charged with murder, only with embezzlement.

Lawless looked at ease in his thousand-dollar suit. His custom-made cowboy boots had probably cost even more. Rhodes felt downright ratty by comparison.

“I know how serious it is,” Rhodes said. “I don't suppose Lily mentioned that she hit me with her purse.”

He was sorry he said it as soon as he saw Lawless smile.

“That's going to sound great in a courtroom,” Lawless said.

“I'll have to get you on the stand as soon as I can.”

“I thought you told me the case would never come to trial.”

“That was before I heard what your testimony was going to be. I wouldn't want the county to miss out on hearing how the sheriff let a woman with a purse get the drop on him.”

Rhodes fingered the place on his jaw where decorations on Lily's purse had made an indentation. He decided that he didn't like Lawless now any more than he ever had. Less, in fact.

“As you know, my client claims she's not guilty of the charge you've filed against her, much less of the murder you've accused her of committing. If you'll have a talk with her husband, you'll
find out that he's going to withdraw any charges of embezzlement. It was all a misunderstanding.”

Lawless had talked with Truck, and Lawless was one smooth operator. He wasn't going to get Lily off that easily, however, not if Rhodes could help it.

“We'll see how it goes,” Rhodes said. “This has just started.”

Lawless stood up. Rhodes wondered how much his tie had cost. More than Rhodes had spent on ties in his lifetime, most likely.

“You're right about that, Sheriff. I hope you know what you're getting into.”

Rhodes knew all right. He'd dealt with Lawless a few times, and Lawless hadn't always come out the winner. Rhodes had the edge, in fact, which he was sure didn't sit well with Lawless.

“I'll see you later, Sheriff. After I've had time to gather the facts and show you how wrong you are.”

“I'm looking forward to that,” Rhodes said, smiling.

Lawless smiled back. His teeth were depressingly perfect, a fact made all the more depressing because they were so obviously his own teeth.

“I just bet you are.” Lawless turned to leave.

“I have one question for you before you go.”

Lawless turned back. “I'm not promising an answer.”

“This isn't a legal question. I just wondered if you had a cat.”

“No. I don't have a pet.”

“Then you need one. I have Helen Harris's black cat at my house, and I'm trying to find him a good home.”

“Then you're asking the wrong man. I don't much like cats, and my wife likes them even less than I do. She says she's allergic to them.”

“I've heard that's purely psychological,” Rhodes said.

“I'm not saying it's not, but I'm not going to be the one to tell my wife that. If you want to do it, be my guest. Is that all you wanted to know?”

Rhodes said that it was, and Lawless left without offering to shake hands, which was fine with Rhodes, who didn't care to shake hands with him anyway.

Rhodes slumped back in his chair and wished he had something to prove that Lily was guilty, but he didn't. Ruth was working on the prints, but from what she'd told Rhodes so far, the only identifiable ones on the stool legs belonged to Mrs. Harris. Things weren't shaping up the way Rhodes had hoped.

There was a knock on the door. Before Rhodes could say “Come in,” Jennifer Loam opened the door and stepped inside.

“Just the man I've been looking for,” she said.

Rhodes fought the urge to slip even lower in his chair. He stood up. “What can I do for you?”

Jennifer sat down and got out her little recorder. “You can tell me all about the big fight you had with Leonard Thorpe and about how you captured Lily Gadney.”

Rhodes sat back in his chair. “You don't really want to hear it.”

“Oh, but I do.”

Rhodes told her, being careful to say nothing to indicate that Lily Gadney was guilty of any particular crime. She was just “a person of interest” as the current phrase had it.

“You disappoint me, Sheriff. I never thought I'd hear you use that kind of government-speak.”

Rhodes was a little disappointed in himself, too. “I got carried away. I wanted to make sure you knew she wasn't accused of murder. She has a good lawyer.”

“Not Randy Lawless.”

“He's the one.”

“That should be a lot of fun. The editor will love it. We'll sell a few extra papers.”

Rhodes said he was always glad to do what he could to assure the financial stability of the free press.

“Off the record,” Jennifer said, ignoring his comment, “do you think she killed Mrs. Harris.”

“
Off the record
would mean that you'd turned off the recorder.”

Jennifer clicked it off. “Well?”

“I think it's a good possibility, but only because I don't have any other suspects. She claims she's innocent.”

“Maybe she is.”

“Maybe. I'm not going to close the investigation, if that's what you're asking.”

“Can I print that?”

“I'd rather you didn't. If there's someone out there who's guilty, he might be thinking he's off the hook. Thinking like that is what gets people caught.”

“So you don't think Mrs. Gadney did it?”

“I didn't say that.”

“I'm never sure what you're up to, Sheriff.”

Rhodes said that he wasn't ever sure, either.

“And I never know when you're being serious.”

“Most of the time,” Rhodes said, “but not always.”

“See? That's what I'm talking about.”

“Sorry,” Rhodes said, though he wasn't. “I'll try to do better when we're on the record.”

Jennifer smiled. “I have enough of that now to write a good story. The handsome, crime-busting sheriff mud-wrestling the
hardened criminal and then saving his life. That will sell some papers all by itself.”

“It didn't happen exactly like that.”

“That's what it will sound like, even in a straight account. You might as well get used to your new role.”

Rhodes didn't like the idea of having a new role or of having a role at all. He just wanted to do his job.

“Will you be at Helen Harris's funeral tomorrow?” Jennifer asked.

Rhodes said that he would. He didn't like funerals, but he nearly always went.

“Do you think Mrs. Gadney will be there?”

“No,” Rhodes said, “I don't. What are you going to do about Alton Brant? Write a story about his masquerade or forget about it?”

“I'm not going to forget about it, but I'm not going to write a story. Not for the time being, anyway. The editor didn't think it would serve any useful purpose to run one.”

Rhodes supposed Brant's assumption of rank had been innocent enough.

“We won't be doing any more interviews with him on Veterans Day, though,” Jennifer said.

“That's probably a good idea.”

“Yes. It probably is.”

The rest of Rhodes's afternoon, what was left of it, was taken up with routine things, the most interesting of which was a stolen-car caper that Buddy worked, although the car hadn't actually been stolen.

“It was just a sale gone bad,” he explained to Rhodes.

“That ain't what Dora Aman told me when she called it in,” Hack said. “She said it was stolen right out from under her.”

“You told me that, too,” Buddy said. “Which is why I wound up chasing Ron Alvarez about five miles down County Road 178. You know Alvarez?”

Rhodes said he didn't, and Hack shook his head.

“Has a little place out close to Obert. Cuts hay and does some shredding. He was trying the car out, so he says, when I got after him. Nice little Chevy. Clean. Low miles. Runs like the dickens, even on that dirt road. Good suspension, too. Didn't bounce all over the place.”

“You sound like you're sellin' it yourself,” Hack said.

“Just trying to give you an idea of what happened and why. Anyway, I came up behind him and put on the siren. He took off. Maybe he wanted to see if he could get away just for the fun of it. He couldn't, so he finally pulled over. I talked to him about the car, and he said that it was his. Claimed he'd bought it from Dora Aman this afternoon and paid her cash money for it.”

“Did he have any proof of that?” Rhodes asked.

“He sure did. He had the title with Dora's signature on the back. He was telling the truth. He'd bought that car fair and square.”

“So how come she said he'd stole it?” Hack said.

“I went back to her place and asked her about that. She hemmed and hawed and finally said she'd changed her mind and didn't want to get rid of the car. It was in such good shape that it was probably better than a new one.”

“She admitted that she'd sold it to him, though?” Rhodes said.

“Yeah, but she claimed she called him and said she'd changed her mind and wanted it back. He said no way, so she reported it as
stolen. She says that if he wouldn't let her change her mind, it was the same thing as stealing. She wanted me to arrest him and lock him up, and she wanted her car back.”

“What did you tell her?” Hack said.

“That I gave him a speeding ticket.”

“I bet that didn't satisfy her.”

“It sure didn't. Just made her madder. She says she's gonna sue Alvarez, and me, too.”

“What did you say to that?”

“I told her to get a good lawyer.”

“Who'd you recommend?” Hack said.

“You know we don't do that kind of thing.”

“Yeah, I know. I'll tell you who I'd get if it was me.”

Rhodes had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

“Who?” Buddy said.

“Randy Lawless,” Hack said. “Who else?”