CHAPTER 28
Dan had figured he’d hear from Roy Calloway, though not this quickly. Cedar Grove’s sheriff sat in the lobby of Dan’s office, casually flipping through a months-old magazine from a collection on the coffee table and biting into an apple. He was dressed in full uniform, his hat resting on the chair beside him.
“Sheriff. This is a surprise.”
Calloway put down his magazine and stood. “You’re not surprised to see me, Dan.”
“I’m not?”
He chewed another bite of apple. “You did list me as a witness on that pleading you filed.”
“Word always did travel fast here in Cedar Grove.” With no court appearances, Dan had dressed casually in jeans and a button-down. He liked to wear slippers in the office. Now he wished he’d worn shoes, though the discrepancy in their heights wasn’t nearly as significant as it had been back when Calloway used to stop Dan on his bike to ask what he was up to.
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?”
“How is it going to impact your business when word spreads you’re representing Edmund House, the convicted murderer of one of Cedar Grove’s own?”
“I suppose my criminal practice could pick up.”
Calloway smirked. “Always the smart-ass, weren’t you, O’Leary? I wouldn’t count on that.”
“Well, unless you have some stock tips to go along with your prediction for my legal career, I have work to do.” Dan turned to leave.
“You have questions for me, Dan, here I am. I haven’t hid a single day my thirty-five years on the job. Somebody has questions for me, I’m happy to answer them.”
“I’m sure you would,” Dan said. “But I have to do it in a court of law, after you’re sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Calloway took another bite of his apple, taking a moment to chew before saying, “I did that once, Dan. Are you saying I lied?”
“That isn’t for me to decide; that’s for a judge.”
“Judge already did that too. You’re rehashing old business.”
“Maybe. We’ll see what the Court of Appeals has to say.”
“What did she tell you, Dan?” Calloway paused and gave him a sardonic grin. “She tell you that no one asked Hagen the news show he was watching or that Sarah had different earrings?”
“I’m not going to discuss this with you, Sheriff.”
“Hey, I know she’s a friend, Dan, but she’s been on this crusade for twenty years. She tried to use me and now she’s using you. She’s obsessed, Dan. It killed her father and drove her mother crazy and now she’s sucking you into her fantasy. Don’t you think it’s time to put it to bed?”
Dan paused. When Tracy had first come to him, that had been exactly what he’d thought, that she was a sister unable to get past her guilt and grief, obsessed with trying to find answers to questions that had already been answered. But then he’d looked at the file and her reasoning had seemed just like the Tracy he’d always known, the leader of their little band of friends—practical, dogged, and logical. “You’d have to ask her that. I represent Edmund House.”
Calloway held out the apple core. “Then maybe you could throw this out for me, since you’re apparently adept at handling garbage.”
Unruffled, Dan took the core. So far he’d found Calloway’s attempts to intimidate him to be more pathetic than threatening. He tossed the core into a pail behind the desk on the first attempt. “I think what you’re going to learn, Sheriff, is I’m adept at my job. You might want to remember that.”
Calloway fit his hat onto his head. “I got a call from one of your neighbors. He says your dogs have been barking something fierce during the day, sometimes late at night. We do have an ordinance in town about dogs disturbing the peace. First offense is a fine. Second offense, we take the dogs.”
Dan felt his anger build and fought to control it. Threaten him? Fine. Don’t threaten innocent animals. “Really? You can’t do any better than that?”
“Don’t try me, Dan.”
“I’m not going to try you, Sheriff, but if the Court of Appeals grants my petition, I am going to seriously cross-examine you.”