Coulter nodded, and Saige wondered whether or not he picked up that Alex wasn’t being totally honest.
“Do you think that we have enough to go to the governor to get a stay?” Saige asked Coulter. “Alex thinks it’s worthwhile asking Daniel Sterling to get the papers ready.”
“Hmm, maybe.” Coulter mumbled as he quickly added sausage to a piece of toast and made a sandwich. “You have my cell number, Saige, so message me Daniel’s email address and I’ll send a formal report to him to be included.”
“I’ll send it to you,” Saige agreed.
Coulter nodded. “Thank you for breakfast but I need to go.” He stood and shoved the chair back under the table, his sandwich in the other hand. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. I’ll text you a time when I know I’ll be free.”
“Thank you.” Saige stood to walk him out, but Coulter waved her back into her seat.
“I can find my own way out...stay together. Safety in numbers.” Coulter disappeared and, a minute later, she heard the front door close behind him.
“God! What a mess.” Saige turned to Alex. “What do you think is going on?”
“I have no idea, but I agree with Coulter’s assessment. If this killer is the one who let Quinten take the fall, then why is he back now? It doesn’t make sense. For years he’s let Quinten sit on death row, which allowed him to be free...so why would he start again unless he couldn’t help himself.
“I just hope that I’m not on his target list.” Saige met Alex’s gaze. “I’m the one that got away, and I also have a connection to you and Quinten.”
“Let’s not go there, Saige. But I guess it won’t hurt for you to have someone with you if you leave the house.”
Saige shivered and felt cold right down to her toes.
* * *
10:30am
* * *
Coulter observed the sheriff while he spoke with a couple of officers.
Every encounter he’d had with Sheriff Hodges, including last night, Hodges had been professional and had never given Coulter reason to doubt him...until now.
Saige’s statement that held the sheriff’s signature gave him reason to question the man, and he knew it wouldn’t go down too well. Questioning someone in law enforcement about something that they may have screwed up just wasn’t done. But Coulter wanted answers and he’d get them.
“You wanted to talk. Follow me.” The sheriff led him into his office. “Take a seat.”
Once comfortable, Coulter waited and watched, just like Hodges did him.
“I’m too tired for this.” Coulter rested his arms on his knees. He wasn’t up to playing the game…he had too much to do and very little time left…for the next victim or for Quinten. “What do you remember about Saige when you took her statement?”
The sheriff’s eyes widened as he sat back in his chair. “That has to be the last thing I expected.” He shifted forward again.
Coulter didn’t have long to wait for his answer.
“What I remember is that Saige was a very lucky young woman. She spent hours in surgery and it took forever for the plastic surgeon her father had called in to stitch her back together. As I took her statement, some of the words made me think they came out of her stepmother’s mouth.”
“As though she’d been coached?” Coulter interrupted and cursed himself for making the sheriff lose his flow.
“Yeah,” Hodges sighed. “Her statement was flawless, and no matter how many times I asked her if it was a true statement of events, she constantly said yes.”
“Was her father in the room when she gave the statement?”
The sheriff rubbed at his brow. “I don’t think so. He was busy arranging the private hospital if memory serves me right. He stayed with Saige for just over a week while she was in the hospital and would only leave when his wife visited, and only for a short while. After that, he went back to work, but he would always be there in the evenings. Out of the two of them, I’d have said her father was the more caring. But that’s an assessment that probably goes back years before Saige was taken.”
That was the impression Coulter had gotten back then. Christina had always come across as self-centered, and he felt that what had happened to Saige was an inconvenience to the woman.
“Just to clarify—Saige was the one who told you what was written in that statement?”
The sheriff’s gaze hardened. “I don’t like your insinuation, Detective.”