A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [76]
“That’s not true!” Deputy Ferguson protested heatedly.
“Pete,” Tom said, very quietly.
“But Carter already had that black eye when I approached him,” Pete insisted. Color pulsed in his neck and his round, earnest face.
“I guess it’s his word against mine,” Nathan said, his tone dejected.
“Or not,” Steven said mildly.
Melissa ignored him. “Were there any witnesses?” she asked, looking at Nathan.
Tom gave a derisive snort.
Melissa flashed him a look, which he returned in kind.
“Unless specific charges are being brought against Mr. Carter,” Steven interjected, “I would suggest releasing him.”
Melissa held her temper, while Tom made a production of jingling his keys, crossing to the cell and unlocking the door.
“You’re free to go,” he told the erstwhile prisoner.
“Whoop-de-do,” Nathan mocked, waltzing through the opening and crossing the room to stand next to Steven. “How about locking up the deputy, there?” Again, he indicated his shiner. “I’m accusing him of police brutality.”
Pete turned crimson.
Tom shut the cell door with a clang.
“Be quiet,” Steven told Nathan, who remained in the sheriff’s office.
Melissa turned to Pete. “What’s your story?” she asked him. He was an old friend, like Tom, but if he had struck Carter without adequate provocation, there would be repercussions.
Miserably, Pete recounted the events of the night before. He’d been on routine patrol, he said, and spotted somebody skulking around the bandstand in the town park. He’d gotten out of his car and walked over, with a flashlight, to investigate.
Carter had flipped him some attitude, but it was nothing serious. The boy had ridden in the front seat of the squad car, without cuffs, and they’d both had burgers and fries from the drive-through at McDonald’s. Pete added that he’d thought about taking Nathan home with him, letting him sleep on the couch, instead of parking him in a cell, but he’d decided against that because of the wife and kids.
“Are you going to arrest him or not?” Nathan barked, when the tale ended.
“No,” Melissa said. “Not without a credible witness to verify that Deputy Ferguson actually struck you.”
“Then I want to sue the Stone Creek County Sheriff’s Office,” Nathan said. “I want to sue the whole damn town! My rights have been violated here!”
Melissa didn’t look at Nathan Carter, but at Steven. “Have at it,” she said.
“Just go,” Steven told the younger man, holding Melissa’s gaze with no problem at all. He produced a wallet from the inside pocket of his spiffy suit coat and handed Carter some money.
Nathan hesitated, then snatched the bills from Steven’s hand and stormed out of the sheriff’s office.
Over by the water cooler, Elvis yawned loudly, making his presence known for the first time, and then shook himself hard, so that his ears made a loud flapping sound.
That broke the silence that had descended after Nathan’s outburst.
“Go on home,” Tom said to Pete Ferguson.
“I’m not suspended, pending some kind of investigation?” Pete asked, turning to the sheriff.
Tom shook his head. “No,” he said.
Pete left, giving Melissa a wounded glance as he passed her.
Tom, meanwhile, focused on Steven. “I guess your work here is done, counselor, for the moment, anyway,”
In other words, Melissa thought, Get the hell out of my office. She was inclined to agree.
Steven smiled, nodded politely and headed for the door.
Melissa would have waited until she was sure he was gone to duck out, but the fact was, she wasn’t any more eager to deal with Tom than with Steven at the moment.
Steven was waiting in the hall. Melissa ignored him, walking on by. He stopped her by reaching out and taking a light but firm hold on her elbow.
Her temper flared. “I can’t believe you would actually consider representing that scumbag!” she whispered, her fury at such a fever pitch that the words just formed themselves, seemingly independent of her brain, and came tumbling out of her mouth. “Pete Ferguson would step off the sidewalk and into the street before he’d squash a bug