Page 108 of The Killing Plains

“I reckon you can imagine what happened next. My old man didn’t ask questions. He just scooped me up and carried me straight to Willis’s folks. He told them what he saw—what hethoughthe saw. I think he threatened to call the cops. I was scared and confused. I couldn’t understand why he was so mad.

“That night, Mr. Newland called my father. He made some kind of settlement offer if we’d keep things quiet and leave the courts out of it.” Carroway looked up. “I found this out years later.”

“Your parents never asked you what happened?”

“Sure they did. But I thought they were mad at me, so I didn’t tell the truth for a while. When I finally did, my old man didn’t believe me, just said, ‘I know what I saw.’ And he told me to keep quiet.” Carroway sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know what my folks really thought. But after they died, I found out that the money from the Newlands kept the farm from going bust that year.”

Carroway fell silent, turning the water glass in his hand.

“Why didn’t you clear things up when you got older?” Colly asked.

“I wanted to. But I was afraid the Newlands might sue my folks. Then, after Willis killed that kid and went to prison, I told myself my story didn’t really matter no more.”

He had gotten into drugs to numb the guilt of the lie, he told them, but he was clean now. “I been seeing a shrink in Sweetwater the past couple years. He says I gotta tell the truth to Willis’s family if I want to get free of the past. Today when you knocked, I figured it was a sign. Now or never.”

Carroway gestured towards the envelope on the coffee table. “I’ve had that written a long time.” He met Colly’s eyes. “I heard you were staying out here. Since you ain’t a Newland by birth, I thought...”

“You thought I’d take it better than the rest of the family.”

Carroway blushed. “I figured I could stick that letter in the door and you wouldn’t see it till tomorrow.”

Colly stared hard at him. “How do I know all this is true? Everyone who could corroborate your story is dead.”

Carroway’s eyes flashed. “I got nothing to gain by lying. If you don’t believe me, ask my shrink.”

“I think I will, if you’ll authorize it. What’s his name and address?”

“You serious?”

For answer, Colly pushed the white envelope across the table, along with a pencil. “Write it down.”

Scowling, Carroway consulted the address book on his phone and did as she asked.

When he was done, Colly took back the envelope. “I want you to call him in the morning and give him permission to talk to us.He’ll want you to sign release forms, I’m sure, but hopefully it can be done electronically. Tell him I’d like a face-to-face.”

After Carroway left, Colly checked her watch. It was just past one a.m. She turned to Avery. “What do you think?”

Avery studied her uncertainly. “Does this mean you’re not reporting me or—or having me arrested? I’m still on the case?”

Excellent question, Colly thought. Avery had lied to her from the beginning, which was reason enough to drop her. But Colly had already sidelined Russ for the same reason. There was no one else she could turn to, and the job was too big for one person.I suppose it’s not fair to report Avery and keep quiet about Russ,she thought. Besides, nothing about this is by the book—it’s an informal review.I only need to gather enough to convince the Rangers to reopen the case.

Aloud, she said, “You’ve told me everything? No more surprises?”

“No more surprises, I swear.”

Russ said the same, Colly thought grimly. Hopefully, with Avery, it was true. “I haven’t decided what to do,” she said finally. “Let’s finish the investigation, and we’ll see. Consider yourself on probation, for now. One more screwup and you’re out.”

Avery’s shoulders sagged with relief. She nodded. “What next? You gonna tell Russ about Carroway?”

Colly shook her head. “I’m not tossing that grenade into the family till I verify it.”

“Does it matter now if Willis groped the kid or not? He didn’t kill Adam, and he’s got an alibi for Denny. Once we find the real killer, Willis is in the clear.”

“As long as people around here think he was a pervert, he’ll be suspected, no matter what evidence we bring. Let’s do what we can for him—he deserves that much.”

That night, Colly was reluctant to sleep in her own bedroom after the events of the afternoon. She lay down on the living room sofa, her gun by her side, but couldn’t fall asleep. It wasn’t the fear of an intruder that kept her awake. Her brain churned with the flood of new information in the case, and she couldn’t switch it off.

In a day filled with remarkable revelations, Dave Carroway’s had hit her the hardest. For as long as Colly had been part of the Newland family, Willis had been its most shameful secret—a sexually deviant convicted murderer. Colly herself had only seen him a few times, and not at all since his murder conviction two decades earlier. She remembered him as a podgy, rather quiet young man with straight, flaxen hair and large, very pale blue eyes. Only Iris had wholeheartedly believed in his innocence. After his release, he’d been barred by law from meeting his nieces and nephews or joining in family events. Instead, he’d been banished to the cabin, where his only companion, a monstrous snake, repaid his love by killing him. The town, and most of his family, had been relieved at his death. Colly remembered her own callous reaction—Willis was a pedophile, and the world was better off without him.

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