Page 26 of Sadie's Guarded Harbor

The sheriff swiped a hand through the air, indicating she should sit back down.

She sat and centered her mind on the series of events that brought them here. The job was her main focus—or should be—and this was a great opportunity to let the county sheriff see that. “We had an unsettling encounter with Mitch Parson in town. We thought we’d take a second to go over things before figuring out the rest of our day. Sorry if we’re intruding.”

“We’re not intruding, right, Dad? He might not admit it, but he loves when we swing by.” Tommy winked at her then drained what was left in his mug.

“I usually prefer to be home when you stop by,” the sheriff said with a shake of his head and hint of a smile. “But my children are always welcome here. Even when they plan to steal my truck.”

Sadie aimed narrowed eyes at Tommy. “You didn’t say the truck was your dad’s, and you hadn’t asked to borrow it.”

Tommy shrugged. “What’s his is mine, right, Pops?”

“Whatever you say, Son.” Sheriff Wells rummaged through a drawer at his side and pulled out a key. Chuckling, he brought the key and his steaming mug to the head of the table and took a seat. He slid the key across the table and into Tommy’s waiting hand. “Now, tell me more about what happened with Parson. He’s a bad seed. Always has been.”

“Bad seed is an understatement. We’ve had plenty of calls to the station from concerned neighbors. And his wife was pretty clear that he’s gotten physical with her.” Tommy balled his hands into fists on the table.

Red invaded Sheriff Wells’ pale face. “He’s hitting his wife?”

The muscles in Sadie’s stomach tensed. “Sounds like it. And he’s upset we talked to her while he was at work. He seems very controlling. Lacks any respect for women.”

“And you spoke to her without her husband there on purpose because?” Sheriff Wells bounced his gaze between the two of them.

“Because she was having an affair with Shawn,” Tommy said.

Sheriff Wells whistled low. “Does Mitch know?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Sadie said. “As discreetly as possible.”

“You said Parson was always a bad seed. Did he get into trouble a lot? I don’t remember much about him.” Tommy rose to his feet and carried his mug to the sink.

“Your sister would remember him more. He got into quite a bit of trouble when he was younger. Not sure how much of it stuck to his record. But I can tell you one thing, I never expected he’d be the one with a wife, kids, and good job and Shawn the one whose life went down the shitter.”

“So Shawn didn’t get in trouble with Mitch when they were younger?” Sadie asked, rolling the information around in her head. “Trouble tends to stick together when you’re a teenager.”

Sheriff Wells scratched the white whiskers on his square jaw. “A touch of trouble here and there, but if memory serves me right, Shawn didn’t start butting heads with the law until he went to college. Mitch Parson wasn’t around then. He went away to school. Came back after he graduated.”

Sadie twisted her lips to the side. “We need to pull Shawn’s record. See if there’s any correlation between when he started making trouble and anything else he might have gotten mixed up in. Maybe something related to those papers you found. Or even something that triggered him at school.” She still needed to take a look at the drawings Tommy had told her about. There could be a picture or date that shook something loose and made sense of everything.

“Agreed.”

“Do you have any other leads besides Mitch Parson?”

Tommy nodded. “We have a few angles to dive into. Nothing concrete. Just scratching the surface.”

The sheriff folded his arms over his ample middle. “Well, you better start digging deeper.”

“We should go.” She rose and placed her half-empty mug in the sink next to Tommy’s. “Thank you for the coffee, sir.”

“Any time. Keep me posted.”

She followed Tommy toward the front door, casting one last glance at the jam-packed decorations covering the Christmas tree and the beautiful scenery out the large window. The desire to linger, to go back to the moment she’d shared with Tommy before his dad arrived, slowed each step.

But the moment had passed, the ridiculousness of her response to Tommy shoved away. A new curiosity might be brewing regarding a man she had obviously misjudged, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t have time to waste wading through his secrets. Like the sheriff said, they had a lot of digging to do. And if they wanted to figure out what happened to Shawn,they’d need a bulldozer to dig through all the wreckage they’d uncovered.

11

The sun broke through the gray clouds. Its bright rays caused the clinging snowflakes on the trees lining the sidewalk to glisten like diamonds. Sadie stopped for a beat in front of the large brick courthouse that stood proud in the middle of the town square. She loved the majestic peaks along the roof and thick columns that flanked the wide double doors. Greenery and boughs of holly lined the archways, matching the festive wreaths on the lampposts dotted around the building.

She’d called Judge Downs this time, not wanting to interrupt her mourning period or catch her off guard. Her admission she was at work today had surprised Sadie, but she couldn’t fault the woman for wanting something to take her mind off her grief.

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