Second Time's the Charm
Or the difference between being guilty and innocent. Those interrogating him in the past had had him dead to rights. They hadn’t needed to finesse one damn thing from him.
“I replaced Lillie’s sliding glass door with French doors,” Jon said. Lillie had told her friends. They all knew. He added, “I have nothing to hide, Sheriff.” He’d already hidden the only thing they could have used to manipulate a case against him. If he’d produced suction cups they could have taken a “print” of the imprint his cups made, compared it to cup imprints left on the doors during the break-ins and manipulated the results to make it look as if he’d done it.
“You also don’t have an alibi for a single one of the break-ins.”
Not unless you counted a sleeping two-year-old who’d been hard of hearing. But, for that matter, he could have taken Abe with him, left him sleeping in his car seat while he committed the crimes.
His heart lurched as he thought of his son, so he tried not to.
Abe loved Lillie. He’d be fine as long as he was with her.
“And you have very clear motive. I’ve heard from several sources that in addition to being a single parent and going to school full-time, you work any hours you can get to make ends meet.”
“I work the extra hours, Sheriff, so I can make ends meet. I don’t have to steal.”
“You have a history of breaking and entering. And stealing,” Richards said. “You were caught with the goods and confessed.”
“I did my time,” Jon added. Some things could not be changed. And some could. “I learned my lesson, Sheriff. I am a law-abiding citizen.”
Taking the seat across from him, Richards leaned in toward Jon. “I talked to the glass guy at the swap meet earlier today.”
The words running through Jon’s mind were not ones he ever wanted to hear coming out of his son’s mouth.
“He still had the glass doors you sold him. The ones from Lillie’s place. And they had suction-cup prints.”
Richards was turning up the heat.
“Did you contact Lillie about getting into my place?”
“We’re heading over there now.”
“She’s going to meet you there?”
“She’s staying there. Your son is already down for the night. I’ve promised her that we’ll be careful not to wake him.” Jon couldn’t tell if the man was being sincere or trying to get a rise out of him.
“I appreciate that,” Jon said, because he did. And because he knew that the man wouldn’t lie to Lillie.
And even if he would, she wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt Abraham.
The sheriff studied him for a moment. “I can tell you this, Swartz—I wish to God I could believe you. Lord knows it would be a hell of a lot easier.”
It was a strange thing for a cop to say. Which meant he had an angle. “Why easier?” Jon asked, because he was curious to see what card the man would play next—and to best plan his own next move.
Richards rapped his knuckles against the table a couple of times, stood and made for the door. With his hand on the knob, he turned. “Because I’m catching hell from everyone in this town from the mayor on down. My sister most of all. You’ve got them all fooled, Swartz, but then a con man like you, that’s what you excel at, isn’t it?”
Because he was certain that this was just another in a long line of tricks used on him over the years, Jon did what was expected of him. He shrugged.
“I’m surprised at Lillie’s support of you, though,” the sheriff said, watching him shrewdly as though the mention of her would break him down. If it did, Jon wasn’t going to let the other man see.
“If I find that you’ve taken any money from her...”
Lillie was like him, a working girl. She didn’t have money for him to take. Even if he was the taking kind.
“The folks in town might not know about her money, but her ex-father-in-law called me as soon as she moved back here and told me about the settlement so I’d watch out for guys like you—guys who’d steal from innocent young women, old ladies and old store clerks, too.”
The slap found its mark. The guy Jon and his foster brothers had ripped off had been close to eighty. Which was why they’d chosen him.
But...Lillie had money?