The mountain mans badge, p.29
The Mountain Man's Badge, page 29
“I had all charges dropped against him,” Wadsworth said. “He’s free to go, once they’re done stitching him up.”
“All charges?” Lehigh asked. “I thought it was just drunk driving.”
Wadsworth shook his head, a glum expression on his face. “Peters piled on with an assault-against-an-officer and resisting arrest. When I find him, he’s got a lot of explaining to do.”
“Any luck with that?”
Wadsworth shook his head. “Nope. He’s gone AWOL. Wills and Peters, too. Looks like all of them have been in on this thing all along.”
“That explains a lot,” Lehigh said. “I’d been looking for only one culprit. It didn’t occur to me that they’d conspire on this.”
After mapping out a search strategy with Wadsworth, Lehigh swung back by the clinic to drive Ben home. He passed at least two billboards displaying Dwayne Latner’s long, clean-cut face and innocuous slogans like “Experienced and Professional.” He nearly vomited.
“I sure appreciate you guys helping me out,” Ben said once they were back on the road. “I thought I’d be in jail for weeks again.”
“Again?”
Ben nodded. “Last time they kind of forgot about me for a month or so. I lost my job, my apartment—I thought about leaving town. But that’s what they wanted, right? So I stayed. I’m a stubborn old coot, I guess.” He grinned. “Ironic, isn’t it, that they shacked me up with Buck Summers. Which would’ve been fine, if he’d have just let me sleep. But that old fart, all he does is talk, talk, talk.” He laughed to himself and gazed out the window.
“What did he talk about?” Lehigh said. “Anything I should know?”
“He didn’t have anything nice to say about you, if that’s what you mean,” Ben said. “He said you’ve been nothing but a pain in his backside for a year or more now. Him and his friends, that is.”
Lehigh’s ears perked up. “What friends? Any in particular?”
“Well, your father-in-law, for one,” Ben said. “I guess those guys go back a long ways. Ran some campaigns together, stuff like that. But then George went his own way and left Buck behind, kind of a double-cross, according to Buck. But I’m sure this is all old news to you, right?”
Lehigh shook his head in awe. “Actually, no,” he said. “He only recently became my father-in-law, and before that, we almost never talked. He didn’t like me much. In fact, we kind of had a few run-ins of our own.” Anger rose in him, thinking of his burned-down house. He’d never been able to pin it on George, or even his lackeys. For some reason the sheriff had never uncovered any convincing evidence.
For some reason, indeed.
“What else did he say?” Lehigh asked after a few quiet moments. He pulled up and parked in front of Ben’s home, a tiny one-room apartment on the far end of the strip.
“He says you must really got it in for the Rev,” Ben said. “All the hard time you’re giving him.”
“I’m giving him?” Lehigh laughed. “I think he’s looking in the wrong end of the telescope.”
“Buck says you’re fighting the Rev hard on this whole Ev Downey thing,” Ben said, his hand resting on the truck’s door latch. “Holding back evidence, stuff like that. It’s why he’s been helping him out, I guess. They’re old pals, so Buck’s using his connections to all the uniforms to leak stuff out to him through his lawyer. He figures the Rev will go easy on him when his case goes to trial. Makes sense to me, you know? But, hey, you’re the sheriff. You’re on top of all this already, right?”
“Right,” Lehigh said, realization dawning. Ben thanked him for the ride and shuffled up the walk to his apartment.
Lehigh sat behind the wheel of the truck, engine off, thinking. Of course Buck was the linchpin behind the whole situation. After everything went south between them, Buck had tried to pin his murder of Jared Barkley on Stacy, who meant the world to George. Of course that didn’t work, and now he took new aim at George himself—leaking information to Ferguson, and working hard to frame George, his old political pal-turned-enemy.
But if George didn’t kill Everett Downey, who did? Buck couldn’t have done it, at least not alone, since he was in jail at the time. But, as Ben had revealed, he still had lots of friends on the outside—and on the inside. All of them had access to guns...and the evidence.
“HELLO, BUCK.”
The former sheriff took a moment to respond, and Lehigh thought he might be asleep. But the white mane tipped back, moving as slow as a glacier, and his eyes opened to reveal just a sliver of white on each side of his bright blue irises. He stared at Lehigh through the bars, still seated on his cot. He might not have moved since Lehigh released Ben from his cell hours before.
“Carter.” Summers spat the word out like an epithet. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Is it dinner time already?”
“Got a question for you.”
Buck sneered and shook his head. “What kind of question? The I-should-get-my-lawyer sort of question, or should-I-draw-to-an-inside-straight sort of question?”
Lehigh smiled. “Maybe a little of both.”
Summers spat for real this time, his effluent landing an inch from the drain in the center of the floor. “Hasn’t anyone taught you how to do this job yet, Carter? Never tell a prisoner he needs his lawyer. Consider that my answer to your inside straight question.” He closed his eyes and lay down on the cot.
Lehigh slid the key into the lock, slid open the door, and stepped inside, locking the door behind him. Buck remained prostate on the bed, seemingly unconcerned. Lehigh sat on the cot across from him. “It ain’t gonna work, Buck.”
Summers turned his head an inch toward Lehigh, his eyes opened to slits again. “What ain’t?”
“You’re not running me out of this job. Not you, not Jackson, not the Rev. I ain’t going anywhere, at least until the voters get their say in November.”
Buck hissed out a laugh between his teeth. “Suit yourself.”
“And as long as I’m here, so are you.”
Buck shrugged. “I’ve reached my peace with that.”
“Have you reached your peace with letting the Rev walk while he sells you down the river for his crimes?” Lehigh held his breath. He had no proof of their collaboration, neither on the leak, nor Downey’s murder, nor any of their past shenanigans against him. But he trusted his gut. Since his chat with Ben earlier that day, his gut had convinced him they all were in cahoots on at least some part of it—and that he knew about the rest.
Buck lay still, as if he’d stopped breathing, for a minute or more. Finally his chest lifted, as if he’d taken a deep, noiseless breath. “You’re fishing,” he said.
“Wish I was,” Lehigh said. “And I wish, both literally and metaphorically, that the fish were biting right about now.”
“Yeah, good luck on that, too.” Buck closed his eyes and folded his hands across his voluminous belly.
“Okay, just thought I’d ask. Personally, it don’t matter to me which one of you goes down for this, as long as someone does. Well, that’s not entirely true. It seems a pity that you’d have to take the fall for a guy as arrogant as Ray Ferguson, who never misses a chance to trash-talk the sheriff’s office. And not just on TV, either. Why, just the other day—”
“I hate that son of a bitch!” Buck bolted upright in his cot, breathing hard, glaring at Lehigh with wide-open eyes. “Him and his Gospel verses, always spouting this holier-than-thou crap. I’ve never seen such a hypocrite!”
Lehigh leaned back, forced by the power of Buck’s anger. He’d hoped to trigger something, but hadn’t prepared himself for this sudden explosion. “What’s that? The Rev’s a church-going man, Buck. My maw tells me he’s in the front pew, every Sunday, and is quite generous with his contributions.”
“Generous to a fault, you mean. With his salary he could buy the damned church and feed half the poor folk in this here county without sacrificing a single steak dinner himself. Church-going man, my eye. He does it for one reason and one reason only: to be seen.” Buck jabbed a thick finger at Lehigh to punctuate his words.
“Huh. I wouldn’t have guessed it. Maw says—”
“Never mind what your foolish maw says! Ferguson’s a liar and a cheating back-stabber, is what he is. Why he—” Buck stopped, as if catching himself, and closed his mouth tight.
“Here’s the thing, Buck,” Lehigh said. “The Rev’s in a position to make other people pay for not only their mistakes, but his own, too. Now, I’m not saying you two have any sort of deal going—I’m not in a position to know. But what I do know is, the Rev always seems to come out of these scrapes looking awfully clean, you know what I’m saying? And the people around him, not so much.” Lehigh stood. “But you, Buck, you’re a man of honor and well-earned pride, and nobody expects you to utter so much as one cross word about your fellow man. No, sir, it’s well-known around here, you’d fall on your sword for your loyal compatriots, even if they wouldn’t do the same for you. In fact, people count on it. I do, anyway.” He edged toward the door and jingled the keys, taking his time putting the key in the slot.
“Damn him!” The cot creaked behind Lehigh, and he spun, fearing the worst. But Buck had moved away from him, pacing in the deepest recesses of the cell. “Damn, damn, damn!”
Lehigh let him stew a minute or two, then asked in a soft voice, “When’s the last time the Rev has sent word about your case? Days? Weeks?”
Buck muttered under his breath, then glared at Lehigh. “What has he told you?” he asked in a growl.
“About you? Not much. No, I take that back. He’s never mentioned you once.” Lehigh leaned back against the bars of the cell door. “I’d say you’re not much on his mind, Buck.”
Summers continued pacing and muttering. Lehigh couldn’t make out the words. He tried a different tack. “The Rev’s been depending on your little network to get him information from the deputies—don’t deny it, there’s no point,” Lehigh said as Summers tried to interrupt. “Anyway, so far as I know, it ain’t illegal for you to do that. Them, that’s another matter. And we’ve shut them down, Buck. The flow is stopped. Those three boys are likely to be filling up the next cell before dinnertime, and your ability to feed the Rev what he needs will be all over and done with.”
Buck’s protests faded, and his shoulders sagged. “All three of them?” Sadness tinged the edge of his voice.
“Yep. Party’s over.” Inside, Lehigh celebrated. He’d gambled, revealing that, and he hoped his worries about the leak could end. Of course, he still had no idea where Wills, Peters, and DuPont had gone. Still, he pressed on. “So what’s the Rev gonna do with you when that happens? You think he’ll keep protecting you, once you can’t help him anymore?”
Buck plopped back down onto the bed, defeated. Lehigh waited.
“That son of a bitch,” Buck said. Lehigh said nothing. Waited. Watched his prisoner, hoping. Buck took a deep breath, let it out slowly, drew in another. Repeated that a few times, occasionally clenching and unclenching his fists. Finally he looked up at Lehigh. “All right,” he said.
“All right, what, specifically?” Lehigh asked, in as casual a voice as he could muster.
“All right, I’ll cooperate,” Buck said. “I’ll tell you what I know about the Rev, the leaks, the conspiracy, all of it. I’m not saying I know a lot, but—damn him! I know enough to take him down a notch or two.” He fumed for a moment, then a tiny smile creased his face. “Yeah, I know plenty. I ain’t taking this fall for him.” He pointed again at Lehigh. “I’m gonna need some protection from you. And I need to speak with my lawyer. She’ll know what to do.”
“She?” Lehigh caught his breath. There weren’t many female criminal defense attorneys in the area. “Who’s your lawyer?”
Buck grinned. “You ain’t gonna believe it.”
BACK IN HIS OFFICE, Lehigh barely had time to sit before his phone buzzed. “Visitors,” Julia said. “Important ones.”
Lehigh sighed. Everyone considered themselves important when meeting with their elected officials. “Send them in.”
The tall, slender frame of Desmond Mitchell appeared at his door. “Greetings, Sheriff,” he said. “I have good news and bad news.”
“Well, even having half the news be good is a welcome change of pace,” Lehigh said, grinning. Then he remembered his wager with the commissioner and his smile faded. “Let’s start with the good news,” he said. “Just in case.”
“I finished my little poll,” Mitchell said. “Unfortunately, I only got around to asking seven people. That’s the bad news.”
Lehigh sank into his chair. “Let me guess. Five of ’em already said no to me staying on.”
“Nope.” Mitchell sat in Lehigh’s guest chair, smiling.
“Then I guess I don’t understand,” Lehigh said. “By the way, I thought my assistant said I had visitors—plural. Where are the others?”
“I thought you should meet the people I spoke with,” the commissioner said. “Come on in, folks!”
A short parade of Clarkesville residents filed in through the door. His old high school teammate, Phil Reardon, entered first. “Hey, Lehigh,” he said. “Nice digs.”
“Thanks,” he said. “So, you were one of the people surveyed?”
“Yup,” Phil said. “I gave you a big thumbs-up.” He stood aside, and a short, older woman scooted in behind him.
“Who’s that behind you—? Dot?” Lehigh stood and his mouth gaped in disbelief. He’d never seen the tiny, bushy-haired matron outside her cafe before.
“Sheriff, if you think you’re going anywhere, you better think twice,” she said. “We need you.”
Shuffling in behind Dot he spied the athletic figure of a young man with short, wavy dark curls. The face and the identity of the man didn’t register at first. Then, suddenly, it did.
“Jackson Pitt?” Lehigh’s voice squeaked in surprise.
“Sheriff,” the young man said, “I’m real sorry for the way I treated you at the hotel. My uncle Elliott put me up to it, and, well, he can be a real jerk sometimes.”
“Your uncle’s not going to be too pleased if he learns you support me,” Lehigh said.
Jackson laughed. “He’s never happy with me. And I’m just fine with that.”
Next to Pitt stood a thin, forty-something woman covered with tattoos and piercings who looked desperate for a smoke. “Name’s Charlotte, but you can call me Charlie,” she said. “I work at Montgomery’s Gentlemen’s Club—Ev Downey’s place. And I tell you what. Every one of the slick son-of-a-so-and-so’s that rant and rave on County Council about closing down our place has been in there getting lap dances at least twice, and some are regulars. And that includes this boy’s uncle.” She put an arm around Jackson. The boy blushed, but didn’t push away her embrace. She sneered. “And that holier-than-thou prosecutor, wagging his finger at everyone else. He’s as sleazy as the next guy.”
The next citizen in the room, a red-haired woman with oversized, blue-framed glasses, wore a low-cut dress that looked straight out of the 1950s. “My name’s Ginger Michaels,” she said. She paused and focused her attention on Lehigh. “Until two days ago, I worked for Ray Ferguson.”
“And now?” Lehigh asked, the hairs on his arm raised.
She shrugged. “I quit. He treated me, and all the women in the D.A.’s office, like sex objects. And his ethics...lower than low. Mr. Carter, I’m here to help you beat him.”
Relief and gratitude washed over Lehigh. “I’m honored to have your support,” he said. “I can’t offer you a job or anything, but—”
“I understand,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ve got some prospects all lined up. I even have an interview next week with a woman named Samantha Pullen. Do you know her?”
Lehigh grinned. “Well enough to help you with a recommendation,” he said. “She represented me against the county a few months ago.” He turned to Mitchell. “That’s five. You said you had seven. Where are the others?”
A bustle of activity sounded outside the door, and a small group of uniformed deputies filled the room. Ted Roscoe, Jim Wadsworth, Ruby MacArthur, and Martin Lightfoot stood abreast, arm-in-arm, at attention. “We’re here in solidarity with you, Sheriff,” Ruby said, and the others all nodded. “Please stay on and continue the work you’re doing. It’s important!”
Lehigh grinned and shook a finger at Desmond Mitchell. “No fair asking people I hired,” he said. “You can’t exactly call them random citizens.”
“I wasn’t counting them,” Mitchell said. He called out to the hallway. “Doctor?”
County Coroner Herman Doskey shuffled in and pushed between the wall of deputies. “You need to stay on, Carter,” Doskey said. “The truth must come out.”
“Does that mean that what we talked about—”
“Yup,” Doskey said. “And I’ll testify to that, no matter what that means for my retirement.”
Lehigh found it difficult to speak. The group in front of him represented as broad a cross-section of the community as he could imagine, other than Ben Wright, who was probably still recovering from his injuries. Besides Phil Reardon and his deputies, he wouldn’t have considered many of them allies. “Thank you all,” he said, choking on his words. “Your support means the world to me.”
“We’ve got one more, if you’re ready.” Desmond winked at Lehigh. “I saved the best for last.”
“I can’t imagine,” Lehigh said. “This is already a pretty impressive group.”
He looked to the doorway, and the crowd blocking his view parted, just in time to reveal a wiry, silver-haired man in overalls, holding the hand of a tiny stick figure with a halo of gray hair tied back behind her pastel-blue housedress.
“Make that two more,” Desmond said.
“Pappy?” Lehigh’s jaw dropped. “Maw? What are you two doing in downtown Clarkesville?”
