Page 55 of Every Deadly Suspicion

“I hear you’re getting out.”

“Maybe. Not sure a final decision’s been made.” The eyes on the other side of the glass were hard, the glare meant to intimidate. Funny thing about knowing that you were dying, Joe thought. You didn’t intimidate easily. As Joe held the man’s glare, he thought he saw something else there, maybe fear.

“I think it has. You’d better tread lightly, Joe. You’d better be careful.”

“I don’t have anything to lose anymore.”

“Not true. Police officers are killed every day in this country. It happens. I’d hate for anything to happen to your daughter.”

Joe swallowed. This was his Achilles’ heel, he knew it. But he also knew that he had to trust God for Hanna.

“You’re afraid of the truth coming out. I won’t spill it. I gave my word a long time ago. I keep my word. But the funny thing about truth, it wants to be heard. And it always has a way of bursting forth.”

“You better hope it doesn’t in this case.” He shoved the chair back and left the room.

While Joe waited for the jailer to come for him, he prayed. For Hanna, for the man who’d just left, and for the truth.

Hanna sat in her kitchen and reread the letter from Joe. The shock of how much it affected her had faded.

What did she expect? He’d be here, in this house. She’d have to talk to him. The reality of the situation sunk in like a heavy stone.

After all this time, what am I supposed to feel? Say? Do?

The doctor gave him less than a month. An eternity. If he was the man her mother described, Hanna would hate him.

She refused to think of the other alternative—her mother’s view was skewed, and Joe was a good man. That couldn’t be true—he brutally murdered two people.

She was hardly ever home. She’d rarely see him. And when he died, it would simply be the end of an unpleasant chapter. There was no comfort in that thought, and Hanna was happy when the shrill sound of an emergency call blared from her radio.

“All units, 999—officer needs assistance—all available units, respond to the Gold Dust Bar, all available units...” The dispatcher’s voice was calm and clear, but it still set Hanna’s heart pumping. She never wanted to hear a 999 code. One of her people was in a bad way and needed all the help he could get right away.

Hanna roared to the parking lot of the bar, code 3. All the units on duty this time of day were already on-scene, and a large crowd milled about, some people still spilling out of the bar. One of her officers had a bloody lip. She notified dispatch she was on-scene and got out to help. She strode to Asa, who was struggling with a large man he’d just handcuffed.

“Asa, what’s going on?” Hanna grabbed the man to lend a hand. The pungent smell of alcohol radiated from the man’s sweat.

“Bar fight that spilled out into the street. Jenna got clocked by this guy.”

“It was an accident! She got in the way,” the drunk man protested. “I don’t hit girls. I was trying to hit someone else.” Despite his protestations, Drunk Guy was securely handcuffed. Hanna helped put the man in the patrol car.

“Yeah,” Asa said when he closed the door. “He was. Trying to hit Jude Carver, he’s the one who started this mess.” He then got on the radio and called code 4 on the situation. Everything was under control.

Hanna shook her head. Jude Carver was bad news from start to finish. She turned to Jenna, the officer with a bloody lip. She held her left hand protectively. “You okay?”

Jenna nodded. “Mostly. When he hit me, I went down, and there were several groups of people fighting. That’s when Carver split.” She held up her hand. “Someone stepped on my hand. I think it’s broken. Everything was out of control, so I hit the emergency button.”

“You needed backup, that was a good call. Carver is at the root of all this. You didn’t see where he went?”

Jenna looked around. “No. And I don’t see him now. At one point he was with Chase Buckley.”

“Chase Buckley was here?”

That was a surprise. Chase was rarely seen around town, and when he was, he was low-key. Hanna did a quick crowd survey; she didn’t see him. She saw her people interviewing witnesses and the crowd rapidly dispersing. Jock, the owner of the Gold Dust Bar, waved his arms around in an animated conversation with someone. It was probably about the damage to his establishment. She’d have to calm him down.

Hanna turned back to Jenna. “I’ll take you to urgent care. Asa, are you going to book the assailant?”

“Yeah, he’s in my car. I’ve got enough of an idea about what went on to book him.”

“How did Carver start all this?”

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