Snakes Among Sweet Flowers (23 page)

“There was a guard found dead after the robbery,” Walter said. “Some of the electronics were found in his house, and it was ruled as a suicide.” He stared at Cam. “Are you saying it wasn’t?”

“It wasn’t no suicide, but I left before it happened, so I didn’t see nothing.”

“Go on, then, tell the rest,” Walter said.

“Well, Detra talked to me. She knew I didn’t want to kill that guard, and she told me to take the money that—”

“Son,” Walter interrupted. “This is an investigation into that woman’s murder, not your past crimes. Let’s stick to the facts, hear me? So you left and came to Hog Mountain? And now he’s looking for you?”

Cam felt stunned for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, right, okay.” He went on about the phone calls to Detra and how she feared Harold knew she’d been involved in Cam’s disappearance but she still wouldn’t leave. He told about all the calls to his mom’s cell and how she had left town because of it.

When Cam finished, the room was silent for a long while, and then Walter asked, “Now what do you want to do?”

Cam looked up in confusion. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, sir. Looks like I’m going back to prison.”

Walter chewed the inside of his mouth and thought for a moment. “You know, I get the impression you want to do the right thing. Let’s meet with the officers coming by and see if we can work something out.”

Cam nodded and chanced a glance over at Jackson, who now looked a lot more like a cop than the guy he’d slept with the night before.

JACKSON AND
his father packed up all Jackson’s things and moved him home. It had been decided that with everything going on, including the police questioning Cam, it would be better, as an officer of the law, to distance himself from the situation. Jackson had made no arguments, and the deed had been done. The two came back at lunchtime, both in their uniforms, although Jackson was still officially out on injury leave.

Walter laid a picture of Harold on the kitchen table in front of Cam. “Is this an accurate representation of the man who you think killed Detra?”

Cam winced, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s him.” The milky deadness of Harold’s right eye gave Cam the creeps even more than it used to.

“My officers are going to circulate this around town, make everyone aware that he might be dangerous.”

Cam nodded more vigorously. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me. I should probably go back and give him his money.”

Walter and Jackson both shook their heads. “Just hold still, son,” Walter said. “We’ll figure this out.” He turned away and pulled out his phone, giving instructions to his officers to go ahead with using the photo of Harold Livsey.

While Walter was on the phone, Cam turned his attention to Jackson, who kept his gaze lowered as if completely mesmerized by the kitchen table.

“Sheriff?” Cam tried.

Jackson glanced up but only for a second, then spoke to the table. “Just give me a little bit to process all this, okay?”

Cam nodded and turned to look out the back window. “Yeah, I get it.”

Most of the afternoon was filled with DeKalb County cops grilling Cam for details on both the robbery of the electronics warehouse, the possible murder of the warehouse security guard, and the possible motives and suspects for the death of Detra. Walter and Jackson stayed close by, taking their own notes and making comments. The interview seemed to be coming to an end when Walter received a call that had him waving for the other policeman to stay where they were.

“Can you bring her by? All right, see you soon.” Walter hung up and addressed those waiting to be filled in. “We have a confirmed sighting of Harold Livsey in Hog Mountain.”

“What?” Jackson and Cam yelled at the same time. Cam continued, standing and fidgeting. “Where? Where is he?” He needed to do something. He couldn’t allow Harold to be roaming around Hog Mountain. It was like having a fox loose in a henhouse.

“Cam?” Walter said, waiting until Cam gave him his complete attention. “Sit down. You’ll know when we know, but you aren’t going off half-cocked, hear me?”

Cam nodded and sat again, but his knee bounced and he picked at a small irregularity in the fabric of the couch. Jackson paced and seemed as nervous as Cam.
But what can Jackson do?
Cam wondered. He was injured and had a cast on his gun arm. He was just another sitting duck for Harold. Cam couldn’t let him get hurt either.

About five minutes later, a car pulled up in front of the house, car doors closed, and voices could be heard approaching the front door. When the door opened, Cam felt his heart drop all the way to his toes at the sight of Ida Evans. She had seen Harold? If he had hurt her….

It was then that the fog of sadness, which had settled in Cam’s mind at Detra’s death, burned off. Cam’s eyes narrowed with anger, and he knew, come hell or high water, he was taking Harold down before the man did any more damage to Cam or anyone else he knew.

Ida was seated, eyes wide at all the uniforms, but she gave Cam a reassuring smile and patted his leg. “It’s gonna be okay, honey.”

“You say you saw Harold Livsey?” one of the DeKalb officers asked.

“If you mean that man from the picture with the dead eye, I talked to him. He said he was a friend of Cam’s.”

“Ma’am, he’s no friend of mine,” Cam corrected.

“He was really nice. The eye was a little scary at first, but a person can’t help things like that.”

“Can you tell us about the meeting?” the officer asked, obviously trying to get the conversation back on track.

“Well, I was at the cleaners and I told them my name so they could get Charles’s suit. I get it cleaned once a month whether it needs it or not. And then that man, Harold you said, he stepped up and asked if I was the Ida that Camden Sanders had been talking about. Now that was right nice to hear, and I said I could be, since I knew Camden. He said he was a friend from out of town, hadn’t seen him in a while, but had heard all about Hog Mountain from someone who stayed in contact with Cam. He asked me not to mention meeting him, said he wanted to surprise Cam with a visit.”

Cam ground his teeth, his hands squeezing into fists.

“And you saw him today?” Walter asked.

“Oh my, no. It’s been days ago.”

The attention of everyone in the room flew to Ida as she opened her purse and flipped through some papers. “Hmmm. What day did I go to the cleaners? Oh, here it is.” She held up the receipt, then pulled it close as she squinted to read. “That was… Monday. Monday afternoon, just after lunch. I remember because Charles and I ate at the diner, then picked up his suit on the way home for our nap.”

Monday. Detra’s body had been found Monday morning. Cam had called her Sunday evening. Harold had been in Hog Mountain on Monday. It was already Thursday. Why hadn’t he come for Cam yet? Harold had to know where he was. What game was Harold playing?

As Ida was preparing to leave with a Hog Mountain policeman who had been waiting to carry her back home, she paused. “Wait.”

Everyone immediately stopped and turned to her.

“He said he heard you had three kids now. I laughed and told him they weren’t yours, that you were just watching them and helping them out. I told him how good you were with them, how much you cared about them.” She must have seen the worry on Cam’s face, maybe on the others’, because she paled and asked, “That was a mistake, wasn’t it?”

“We don’t know, Ida. We’ll check it all out. Don’t you worry about it,” Walter consoled her, patting her back and guiding her to the door. “You call if you think of anything else he said or asked.”

She waved at Cam, looking worried, and he worked up the strength to smile back. “Thank you, ma’am, for letting us know.”

Ida took Walter’s arm and pulled him out the door with her. Cam could hear voices outside but was unable to make out any of the words.

When Walter walked back in, he immediately pegged Cam with his gaze. “What is this man capable of?”

“Anything, sir. I wouldn’t put anything past him. We got to get out to those kids.” Cam again came to his feet, but so did all the officers in the room, and Cam quickly sat back down, knowing from experience that going up against cops would get him nowhere.

Walter pulled out his phone and turned away from the group. He was about to dial when it rang with an incoming call. “This is Walter Rhodes,” he answered. A frown grew deeper as he listened. “When?” He nodded. “Was Junior there? … Okay, thanks. Listen can you run by and just check on the Watson family?” He closed the phone and turned back to those assembled in Cam’s living room. “It seems our Mr. Livsey has made two visits to the Dairy Queen in town. On Monday and again on Wednesday. He’s looking for Junior, who is back to work by the way, but he missed him both times.”

“Shit. What is he doing?” Cam said, mostly to himself. Cam felt a nudge at his arm and was surprised when he looked down and found Tommasina braving all the company for some petting. Cam ran a hand over her coat and sighed. Everything was going to shit, and he had to stop Harold from hurting anyone in Hog Mountain.

Again the DeKalb officers were collecting their things to leave. Cam watched them as he considered what he should do and what Harold’s plan might be. He glanced over and caught Jackson watching him. Cam gave a hesitant smile, then leaned forward.

“Sheriff, what do you think your father is planning to do about this? I feel like I need to get to Harold.”

Jackson frowned. “You worried we might arrest him?”

“I’m worried he might kill someone before you do.” Cam frowned harder. “What the fuck? You know me better than anyone around here. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a big sharer, but fuck, Sheriff, you think I’m not worried about all this? He’s already killed Detra.” Cam’s voice cracked. “She was my best friend. I can’t let him do that kind of damage to Hog Mountain. Not when I can stop this.”

Jackson looked down at his hands and then stepped closer to Cam. “Look, after Daddy leaves, I’ll call and we can talk, okay?”

Cam nodded, realizing Jackson was scared his dad would see something between them that would give Jackson away. Was there even anything to see anymore? Cam wasn’t sure. And that was all Harold’s fault too. No, he guessed it really wasn’t. Cam had made his bed, hadn’t he? And now he needed to lie in it. Whatever that meant.

Walter walked the other officers out to their cars, leaving Cam alone with Jackson. Cam watched him, wondering if he would jump at the chance or if Cam would have to initiate any talking.

It took a moment, but finally Jackson said, “I really will come back over, Cam.” He left it at that.

Walter came back through the door and, in an all-business voice, said, “So that’s all worked out. You testify and things will go well for you. They’re getting it worked out with the DA.”

“But we have to stop him first. Before he hurts someone.” Cam was about to go insane with the need for action. “Shouldn’t we be out looking for him?”

“Cam?” Walter said. “
We
are out looking for him. I have my entire force out. You need to let us do our job.”

Cam scrubbed his head and then his face. “Sir, no offense, but I need to stop him. He is showing me that he can hurt people. If simply talking to them doesn’t get me moving, then he’s going to up his game.” Cam froze, his gaze jumping to Jackson. Jackson was the one person who he cared about that Harold hadn’t made a move for. Was the fact that he was a policeman keeping Harold away? Cam doubted it.

“What?” Jackson and Walter asked at the same time.

“He’s going to do something to Jackson,” Cam stated. He didn’t know what, but Harold was going to try to hurt him. And the fact that he was a cop would only make it sweeter for Harold.

“Like what? Why do you say that?” Walter asked, seeming to take the issue seriously.

“Because he wants to destroy my new life.”

“And why Jackson?” Walter appeared clueless, and was about to ask more when his phone rang again.

Cam was getting to hate the sound of that phone. It always meant trouble.

It ended up being Jackson’s mother on the line. Cam could tell by the one side of the conversation going on. It was indeed trouble, although it seemed to be something personal and Pamela needed Walter to come home to talk about it.

Walter appeared to be in a big hurry once he was off the phone. “Your mother is in one of her tizzies and she won’t tell me what is wrong until I get there. Do you need a ride, Jackson?”

Jackson nodded and got up to go, but he cut his eyes over to Cam before following his father out the door, Cam guessed to let him know he hadn’t forgotten his promise.

Cam stood at the front window and watched them go, then sank down on the couch and waited. It seemed so lonely to think of having no one in the house all evening. And the children wouldn’t be by the next day, either. Things were just starting to go right. Was he going to let Harold ruin this for him?

About twenty minutes later, as Cam was feeling himself start to doze, his cell rang. “Yeah?”

“Cam, I can’t come by tonight.” It was Jackson, and he sounded upset.

“But you promised. Is everything okay?”

“Cam, there’s a rumor all over town. Mom’s been called by most of the ladies at church. They say we’re sleeping together.” Jackson let out a muffled sob. “I told Momma and Daddy the truth, but….”

“Oh, Sheriff. I never meant for this to happen.”

“I know. I just… I need to handle this, okay?”

“Was it Grant?”

“I think so,” Jackson said quietly.

“Are we okay?” Cam asked.

“I… I-I don’t know.”

Cam nodded. “Okay. Night.”

Cam threw the phone onto the coffee table and sighed. The thought was just crossing his mind about how quiet the house was when a familiar voice came from the darkened kitchen.

“Having problems, Cam?”

He would recognize that smooth, deep voice anywhere.

CAM SAT
up straight, immediately on full alert. “Goddamn you, Harold. What the fuck are you playing at?”