Page 41 of The Sheriff's Baby

Duncan continued to fix his hard stare on the man. “When was this?”

Hamlin certainly wasn’t quick to answer. “I officially fired him about two months ago, but he hasn’t actually worked for me in nearly a year. I just quit giving him assignments.” He paused a heartbeat, and some more anger flared through his eyes. “Mr. Prescott wasnothappy about me terminating his employment so I’m sure anything he told you is to get back at me for firing him.”

Duncan made a sound to indicate he was giving that some thought and he shook his head. “He didn’t mention anything about you firing him.” And Duncan left it at that, letting Hamlin squirm.

He squirmed all right and did more cursing. “Look, I don’t know what Willie Jay said about me, but I’ve done nothing illegal. Nothing illegal since that incident when I was a teenager,” he amended when Duncan lifted an eyebrow. “The person you should be looking at is Kate Moreland. She’s behind these attacks.”

“So you’ve said,” Duncan commented. “But I’m not seeing a whole lot of proof that she’s guilty. You, on the other hand, have a strong connection to a hired thug, Willie Jay, who we caught red-handed. He’s going down, and he’s going down hard. It’ll be interesting to see who he takes with him.”

The anger came again, like a burst of red-hot heat, but it faded just as quickly. “The person he should be taking down with him is Kate because I didn’t hire Willie Jay to go after Deputy McCullough or your dispatcher.”

Joelle leaned in. “Why are you so sure it’s Kate? There has to be more to this vendetta of yours—”

“She was the one who contacted me when I was seventeen and Erica was pregnant,” Hamlin blurted. “I’d been asking around, and she got in touch with me. She called herself a middleman in the process. Afacilitatorwas the word she used.”

Interesting. Because Kate hadn’t mentioned anything about that. Then again, this might all be Hamlin blowing smoke.

“Kate contacted you personally?” Duncan asked.

Hamlin nodded. “With a phone call. I’d left my number around in case anyone was interested. I spelled out that Erica and I wanted some money to cover the expenses of her pregnancy and the upcoming delivery.”

Duncan raised his eyebrow again.

“All right.” Hamlin huffed. “I wanted more than expenses covered. I wanted to be able to give Erica and me a fresh start. And she had already said she was giving up the baby. It wasn’t as if I pressured her to do that.”

Maybe. Duncan figured some pressure was involved once Hamlin realized he could get money for the baby. Still, Duncan didn’t want to muddy this line of questioning.

“So, did you actually meet with Kate when you were trying to arrange for the sale of your child?” Duncan asked.

The wording clearly riled Hamlin, but Duncan wasn’t planning on sugarcoating anything. “No,” Hamlin snarled.

“Then you can’t know for certain it was Kate Moreland,” Joelle was quick to point out. She obviously wasn’t sugarcoating, either.

“It was her,” Hamlin insisted, but then he paused and seemed to have a lightbulb over the head moment. “It was her voice. I’ve heard recordings of her speaking at various social events, and I’m positive it was Kate.”

“Maybe,” Duncan repeated.

“There’s no maybe to it. It was Kate, and after that initial call, I dealt with one of her employees.”

That got Duncan’s attention. “Who?”

“A man named Arlo Dennison,” Hamlin said without hesitation. “I’ve researched him, and he used to manage one of her gyms. He doesn’t any longer. In fact, he’s not officially on her payroll that I can find, but she’s probably paying him under the table for more black market baby deals.”

“That’s possible,” Duncan admitted. “But other things fall into the area of possibilities, too. For instance, you’re the one doing the baby-brokering deals, and you want to toss some bad light on Kate so she’ll take the heat for something you’re doing.”

Yeah, it was a hard push, but Duncan had wanted to see how Hamlin would react. And he saw all right. Hamlin got to his feet.

“I’m going to terminate this interview right now and come back with a lawyer,” Hamlin insisted. He glared at Duncan. “Unless you plan on arresting me simply because I once employed a man you now have in custody.”

Duncan wished he could arrest Hamlin. It’d take one of their prime suspects off the street. But there was no way he could get an arrest warrant much less a conviction with what he had.

“Come back first thing in the morning with your lawyer,” Duncan told Hamlin. “By first thing, I mean eight o’clock. Be here or I’ll send someone to bring you in.”

Of course, that riled Hamlin even more, and the man stormed out. Duncan immediately took out his phone to look up this Arlo Dennison, but Joelle had already done it.

“Arlo Dennison,” she relayed, “is forty-two and did, indeed, manage one of Kate’s gyms. He’s got a sheet, an old one for assault and extortion. That was eleven years ago, so he either learned his lesson or he’s gotten better at covering up his crimes. I’m texting you his number now,” she added.

The moment Duncan’s phone dinged with the text, he clicked on the number to call Arlo Dennison. There was a single ring before the call went to voice mail. The greeting was automated and simply told the caller to leave a message. Duncan didn’t, though if Arlo checked his phone, he’d be able to figure out that the sheriff of Saddle Ridge was calling him.

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