Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [55]
“Not without evidence. Not without just cause. Not unless he confesses. Or says something stupid like he hated the son of a bitch and he deserved to die.”
Trish clammed up.
“Shit. Please tell me I’m off base.”
“I-I don’t know. There’s lots I don’t know, Julie. Doug never told me he’d fired Melvin.”
Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he just killed him. Not helping this situation.
“Melvin didn’t show up for work last week. Doug shrugged it off. Then Don Anderson informed me Doug and Melvin were in a fistfight at the feed store. And everyone in the county knew about it except me? I don’t know what to believe, and Doug won’t talk to me. He always talks to me. It’s like he’s shut me out.”
“When did Dad leave?”
“About ten minutes ago. I-I just . . .”
190
“Tell you what. I was on my way home. I’ll swing by the sheriff ’s office first and see what’s going on.”
“Thank you. I didn’t know if you would . . . I mean, I prayed for it, even when things have always been strained between you and Doug—”
“Trish, my other line is beeping. Sit tight.” I shut the phone. Big fat lie; I didn’t have another call coming in. I just couldn’t listen to her doubts about my father when I had plenty of my own.
I’d returned to my alma mater, aka the Bear Butte County Sheriff ’s Department, a couple of times in the eleven months since I’d quit working as a secretary. A new woman manned the front desk. Midforties, thick glasses, thick around the middle. No smile distorted the lines of her female mustache. “May I help you?”
Since she didn’t call me by name, ergo, she didn’t know me, I could lie my ass off about who I was. “Yes. I’m Doug Collins’s counsel. Which room is he in?”
“I wasn’t aware he’d asked for counsel to be present.”
“I’m aware of it and that’s all that matters. Which room?”
She debated and reached for the phone, but ultimately dropped her hand. “Room B. Before you get to stairs 191
leading down to booking.”
“Thanks.” I hustled down the hallway, another savvy businesswoman keeping to a tight schedule. I rapped twice and opened the door.
Three people sat at the conference table. Sheriff Richards, my father, and a buxom woman I didn’t know. They all looked at me with surprise.
“Collins, how did you get back here?”
“Told the TAR I was Doug Collins’s counsel,
which I am. Excuse us a minute.” I leaned down to speak in Dad’s ear. “I don’t know what you’ve said. If you haven’t been arrested, you don’t have to stay. Had enough?”
Doug Collins didn’t snap or glare at me or tell me to mind my own beeswax. He nodded. His uneasiness with the situation was apparent, if only to me. I straightened up. “Sheriff Richards, are you finished with your preliminary questions? If not, we’ll need to confer with our attorney before you continue.”
The sheriff excelled at the vapid stare. “I have enough for now. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Collins. You’re free to go. I’ll be in touch.”
Dad stood off to the side of the door, black hat in hand, waiting for me. I lowered my voice, keeping my back to the conference table. “Go home. I’ll see you later.”
He clapped his hat on his head and left.
Richards told the young woman to leave and she bounced out. He gestured for me to sit.
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“Before you start in on me, Sheriff, I’ll remind you I know procedure.”
“Well, so do I. Can’t fault me for doing my job, Collins.”
“No. But I doubt you told him he had no obligation to be here. Especially without a legal rep.”
“He shouldn’t be reluctant to talk to me if he has nothing to hide.”
“That’s crap and you know it.”
Sheriff Richards set his elbows on the table. His meaty forearms nearly reached the other side. At six feet eight, his size intimidated and he used it to his advantage. “Why are you here?”
I don’t know.
“Why do you care what happens to him? After everything he did to you?”
“Let’s get one thing straight. He shouldn’t have gotten away with beating on me for all those years. The system failed us both. But that has no bearing on this case.”
“Oh. The case where his hired man was found dead on his land? That case? He had a physical confrontation