Don't Look Back (Detectives Kane and Alton)

anced over her shoulder at him. “Not at all. I was a detective. I left because of some personal problems. I wanted a fresh start and figured Black Rock Falls looked like an ideal place to live.” She smiled at him. “I arrived in town yesterday and purchased a ranch. This morning I became a deputy and made my first arrest.”

“Holy cow!” Rowley laughed. “And now you’ve had a promotion.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s not even noon yet. You sure don’t let the grass grow under your feet, ma’am.”

After speaking with Father Derry’s housekeeper and mentioning Carol Dean, she discovered the priest was very proactive when it came to caring for his parishioners. He ran a soup kitchen and used a building in town to give temporary accommodation to anyone in trouble. A place would be available to Carol Dean when she came out of the hospital. The volunteers who ran everything came mainly from his congregation, and he rarely turned anyone away from Our Lady’s Sanctuary, but it had its limits. The overflow had to be housed elsewhere but the homeless didn’t get the same automatic pass into the municipal shelters. It had only been in the last year, after the long winter had caused great hardship that the town council decided to convert the abandoned sawmill into two facilities: New Start for men and New Hope for women.

She headed back to the cruiser with Rowley by her side and glanced up at him. “Can you start today? I don’t figure Walters is well enough to be showing me around.”

“Sure.” He headed for his truck. “I’ll meet you at the office.”

She gave him a wave and headed back to the cruiser. As she climbed inside, she looked at Walters. “How many vehicles do we have?”

“Two cruisers and a truck.” Walters eased his bulk behind the wheel. “I figure the cruisers are useless for Black Rock Falls. The truck is a little more up to date. Maybe now you’re here, you’ll be able to loosen the town council’s purse strings. We need updated vehicles. The truck belonged to the sheriff. It’s the newest vehicle we have and the only one that would make it safely up the mountain.”

Jenna nodded. “Have they been maintained regularly?”

“Sure, at George’s Garage here in town.” Walters smiled. “But you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” He started the engine and they headed back into town.

“Hey. You know darn well Carol won’t press charges. Might as well let me out now.” Errol Dean’s voice came from behind them, slightly muffled by the acrylic screen.

“Not this time.” Walters glanced in his rearview mirror.

“Aw, come on. You won’t stand up for this stupid woman.” Dean’s voice sounded confident. “She provoked me, and you darn well know it.”

“That’s not what I saw, and we have another witness.” Walters cleared his throat. “Deputy Alton will press charges.”

“So, I’m sorry, okay?” Dean leaned forward and pressed his nose on the acrylic divider. “Where are you taking me?”

Jenna turned in her seat to stare at him. “To jail. Where you belong.”

Fifteen

Temper rising, Errol Dean clenched his fists so tight his knuckles ached. He stared at his lawyer, James Stone. “First up, I didn’t hit Carol. I came down to the church to talk to her is all. That deputy, the smart-mouthed woman, got between me and my wife. She was arresting her and I was trying to save her.”

“The deputy’s made a complaint against you for striking her.” Stone looked up from his paperwork. “I’d say Deputy Walters will bear witness and then there’s Father Derry.”

Snorting, Dean shook his head. “Well, Deputy Walters was facing the other way and talking to Carol at the time, so I’d say he’s telling lies. What happened is I got to the church and there was Carol all banged up. I went toward her to comfort her, and she ran away screaming, knocking over Father Derry, and running out the door. The priest was out cold and I went after Carol. I wanted to find out who had hit her, for as sure as hell it wasn’t me. What did I see? The new deputy, pushing her toward a cruiser.” He stared at James Stone. “What would you do?”

“I’d ask why she was being arrested, but apparently that isn’t the case here.” Stone held up a statement. “Deputy Alton states she sent Carol around the other side of the cruiser with Deputy Walters to protect her from you.”

Unable to believe what he was saying, Dean shook his head. “She hadn’t even seen me at the time. Like I said, when I came out the church, Deputy Alton was leading Carol to the cruiser. They need to get their facts straight. She had her back turned. It would have been impossible to have seen me.”

“Okay, but Father Derry made a complaint saying there was a problem at the church.” Stone cleared his throat. “You saying you didn’t hit the priest?”

Dean met his gaze. “I didn’t hit the priest.” He thought for a beat. “This is confidential isn’t it—between you and me? You ain’t going to rat me out to the cops?”

“No, we have attorney-client privilege. Nothing you say to me leaves this room.” Stone leaned forward resting his hands on the table. “I can only defend you if you tell me the truth. Lies come undone under cross-examination, and we don’t want that now, do we?”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Dean nodded. “I have hit Carol in the past but not today. That’s why she divorced me, but it isn’t final yet and I want her back.”

“So, you’re saying, you didn’t hit Deputy Alton, Carol, or Father Derry?” Stone picked up his pen and made notes on a legal pad.

“Nope or that woman. Deputy Alton was arresting me without reading me my rights. She didn’t as much as tell me I was being arrested. She just hit me with her nightstick and cuffed me.” Dean spread his hands on the table. “Look here, if I’d punched Carol in the mouth, my knuckles would be damaged, same with the priest. I don’t have a mark on me. I do admit to knocking the deputy over. She got in my way when I was getting out the back of the cruiser. She’s a little thing and I clipped her with my shoulder is all.”

“Okay. Now a recap. Are you one hundred percent sure Deputy Walters and Carol had their backs turned when Deputy Alton hit you with her nightstick?” Stone held the pen just above the paper and raised both eyebrows.

Getting at the angle his lawyer was taking, Dean smiled on the inside. He liked this guy’s style. “No, they didn’t witness her police brutality and, like I said, during the time she said I hit her, they had their backs turned.”

“And Father Derry won’t testify that you hit him?” Stone made copious notes.