Dan walked over to his desk and read the log sheet from last nights shift. Once done, he stretched while yawning, as he was still tired from a sleepless night of tossing and turning. He slowly glanced over at Mac.

“Anything I should know about before I make my run?”

“Had some excitement.”

“What, pray tell?” Dan asked. Not really wanting to know because it was sounding like one of Mac’s embellished stories.

“Maria Maxwell stopped by. She had a flat and needed help.”

Dan appeared puzzled when he heard this because he didn’t figure Maria for being an early riser.

“She’d be enough to excite you. Did you call the garage for her?” Dan asked.

“No! I changed it myself,” Mac snapped. It bothered him that Dan didn’t think him capable of doing it himself.

Dan has a concerned look on his face. “Who watched Junior?”

“I was only gone a half-hour.”

“Have you checked on him recently?” Dan asked. Suddenly he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“What for? He was okay when I got in this morning,” Mac said, not understanding Dan’s concern.

“Because he’s in protective custody. That’s what for!” Dan said irritably.

Mac jumped to his feet as Dan rushed over for the key for the cellblock.

Dan and Mac hurried into the cellblock and once inside they stood there in silent horror as Junior dangled from the shredded sheet attached to the ceiling light fixture. Dan just shook his head as he grabbed hold of the cell bars and screamed.

“Oh my God,” Mac said, looking up at Junior.

Dan quickly turned to Mac and yelled. “Get me a knife.”

* * *

Dan gently set Junior on the bunk and then turned to Mac.

“You had better get Ms. Davie over here,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Mac appeared defeated and filled with guilt. “Sheriff, I couldn’t have been gone more than twenty minutes,” he said.

“Did you see anybody on the street?”

“I don’t know.”

Dan turned to Mac and snapped. “Think!”

“There was so much going on. When I got back in, there was an accident on Old Mill Road. Conroy was on the other side of the county line. Billy Bob finally took the call. I never thought to check on Junior.”

Mac hung his head and dejectedly walked to the cellblock door. “Maybe I’m too old for this job. Maybe you should…” he said, but then stopped.

Dan looked up at Mac. “No more maybes. Just don’t let it happen again.”

Mac shook his head while looking at the sheet tied to the light fixture. He slowly turned and walked out.

“I better go tell Junior’s father what happened,” Dan said and then turned to the cellblock door as it closed and yelled to Mac. “Don’t mention this on the radio. I don’t want half the county knowing before I get there. And from now on, scramble the calls.”

Mac looked through the door and nodded as he wiped his eyes.

* * *

Dan stood on the Senator’s porch. He rang the doorbell again and lost his patience in that moment. John Youngblood had not taken the news of his son’s death very well. Although John assumed it was suicide, Dan did not volunteer his theory on Junior’s untimely demise. Dan pressed the doorbell again.

The door finally opened. Maria nervously tried to hide the bruise on her cheek, but it was useless. There was not enough makeup in the world to cover a bruise that size.

“Is the Senator in?” Dan asked.

“You just missed him,” Maria said. Gone were her usual flirtatious mannerisms.

“Damn,” Dan said staring at the bruise. “You wouldn’t happen to know if the Senator was in town this morning?”

Maria avoided looking at Dan and finally asked. “Why? What is this about?”

“A simple yes or no will suffice,” Dan snapped. He had lost all patience at that point.

Maria fidgeted a moment and then finally responded. “No.”

But in the way she said it Dan doubted she was being truthful. He also wondered how soon after Maria’s stint in town that the Senator took out his vengeance on her.

“He’ll be back before dark. Should I have him call you?” she quickly added.

Dan nodded. Maria slowly turned and walked back into the house.

“Maria, how did you get the bruise on your face?” Dan asked.

Maria turned to Dan and shrugged while trying to smile. “I guess the Senator isn’t so dumb after all.”

“Do you want to press charges? There are laws against spousal abuse.”

She looked at Dan and sighed as she smirked. “I’ll deny it. Don’t you dare bring this up to him.”

Maria slammed the door shut leaving Dan to ponder what she had just said. If Maria looked like this, he wondered how Jack Finnigan looked this morning or whether Jack still had a job. No one ever crossed the Senator without getting some pay back. He had a way of getting back at you if he ever felt you did him wrong. So in the end it didn’t pay to cross him.

CHAPTER 14

Dan drove along a lonely stretch of country road. He had on old-time rock-n-roll blaring from the radio while his finger tapped on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. As he passed farmers in their fields, he waved to them. This was the life, he thought. Through the years in law enforcement in Jefferson County he had come to know just about everyone in the county. And everyone seemed to be related to someone he knew. The radio went off suddenly, interrupting his solitude. Dan reached for the car radio and turned it off and then answered the call.

“What is it?” Dan asked.

“Got a call from Buzz Sheffield.”

“What does he want?”

“Said it was important. Something about the O’Connor boy’s disappearance.”

“How did he know?”

“Small town. Everyone’s talking.”

“You didn’t have anything to do with that, did you?” Dan asked.

There was a long pause. The silence was overwhelming as Dan waited for Mac’s answer. When no answer was given, Dan knew Mac had something to do with the word getting out about who the bones belonged to. Normally Mac’s gossiping ways didn’t bother him. This was different though. For some reason the murderer was keeping tabs on his investigation. He didn’t need Mac divulging pertinent information to anyone who would listen.

“Well…”

Dan cut Mac off. He would have to deal with Mac’s gossiping ways later. “What did Buzz say?”

“Wants you to meet him on the Bayou Drain. Where you guys used to fish.”

Dan suddenly looked at the radio. “Are you scrambling this?”

“Oh,” Mac said and then quickly added. “Sorry.”

“What did I tell you?”

“There’s been so much going on lately I can’t think straight.”

“I’ll swing over and see what Buzz wants.”

Dan was thankful that not everyone in the county knew where he and Buzz used to fish on the Bayou Drain. So he felt confident that although half the county knew he would be meeting Buzz, only a few knew the exact spot. But it still did not set well with Dan at that moment as he put the radio in its cradle and then flipped on the lights and sirens.

The squad car turned off the highway onto a dirt road. The dusty trail followed behind. In the distance Dan saw the sports utility vehicle parked off on the shoulder of the road. He quickly pulled up and parked in back of it. Dan took the radio out of its cradle.

“I’ll be out of radio contact for a little while.”

“You on the Bayou Drain?” Mac asked.

“Yeah. I don’t see Buzz, though. He’s probably down by the water. Did the medical examiner remove Junior?”

“Just left.”

“Maybe Buzz will shed some light on what’s going on.”

“You be careful,” Mac said.

Dan glanced at the radio for a moment and then laughed. “Yes, mother.”

Dan put the radio back in the cradle and then got out. He glanced down the embankment and saw Buzz sitting on a boulder at the water’s edge. Slowly Dan made his way down the steep embankment losing his footing a few times but catching himself quickly.