Page 73 of Silver-Tongued Devil
“It’s a gift.” She handed him the paper bag. “I put a few numbers on your phone already. Mine, mainly. If you need anything else, or to reach anyone else, call me.”
“Thanks.” He tried to think, to focus. “About you getting home. I said I’d fix that.”
He started over to the nurse’s desk, but Jennifer said, “I’ve got it. My mom’s waiting for me. One second, though.” She went over to talk to the nurse herself, engaged in some lively conversation, and two minutes later, came back with an icepack and handed it to him. “Go get changed before the sheriff gets here. You’re freezing. And put this on your knee and sit down, for Pete’s sake. You look like you’re about to collapse. Call me and tell me what the sheriff says. Otherwise, I’ll be going nuts finding out from my sources.”
Despite everything, Blake had to smile. “I can tell I’m going to have to give you a raise, too.”
“Don’t get carried away. You’re already overpaying me. I don’t want you to regret it.”
She left, Blake got himself changed, and he felt better, or at least warmer. When he came out to the waiting room again, Milo Sawyer, the sheriff himself, was sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs beside his deputy, tapping a pen against his knee in arat-a-a-tat-tatthat said he was already wasting his time.
Same blonde hair, same athletic build as his relatives. Probably the same arrogance, too. Blake’s antagonism flared up a notch, and he hadn’t even talked to the guy yet. He was ready to take this out on somebody, though, and it could start now.
No, it couldn’t.Dial it back, or you’ll get nowhere.“Hi, Sheriff,” he said, limping across the room—Jennifer was right again, damn it—and putting out a hand. “Thanks for coming. We’ve got a problem.”
Sawyer shook hands, but he didn’t look happy about it. “That’s what you said. My deputies are fully empowered to act, and around here, we don’t treat people different just because they have a few dollars.”
Yeah, right,Blakedidn’tsay.Tell that to Dakota.
“Maybe you’ll tell me what went on out there,” Sawyer said. “All I heard was, Dakota Savage was on your boat, and she ended up half-drowned. Which is what Deputy Johnson is here to talk to you about.”
Blake stared at him, for once lost for words. It seemed Evan wasn’t the only one who could put a different spin on this. “Maybe you’d better ask Dakota what happened,” he finally said.
“Uh-huh. Could be we’ve thought of that already. Could be we’re doing it, too. This is law enforcement, and it’s our job.”
“You’ve got somebody up there with her, harassing her. She wasdrowning.”
Blake went to stand, and his stupid leg wouldn’t do it. He grabbed hold of it to haul it up, but Sawyer snapped, “Sit down. You got me out here because you had something to say. That’s good, because I’ve got something to ask. If Dakota’s story matches yours, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Blake sank back down and held the ice pack onto his knee, forcing himself not to grit his teeth. It wasn’t from the pain. It was from the frustration, but Sawyer wouldn’t know that. “Good,” he said. “Go.”
Sawyer asked, and he answered. The sheriff ran him through the sequence of events one way, and then he did it another. Over and over, trying to trip him up. The deputy took notes, and Blake knew it was to check his version against Dakota’s. None of it was welcome. This wasn’t what he needed the sheriff to be focusing on.
Sawyer finally said, “I’ll get back to you if I have any more questions. That’s it for now.”
Blake said, “No. It’s not. I did it your way, and now I need you to listen. Dakota got caught on something under those logs that shouldn’t have been there. I need to know what it was. I need it out of there, obviously, but I also need to know how it got there.”
“That’s why you brought me out here?” the sheriff asked. “Because there’s something on the lakebed that hung her up, and that’s a criminal act?”
“Those logs were only put in place a month ago,” Blake said, holding onto his temper. “There was nothing on the lakebed then. Nothing that could grab somebody the way she was grabbed. I had to pull hard to get her out of there. How would that happen, right under the logs at the edge of my swimming area? That’s too big a coincidence.”
“Uh-huh.” Sawyer didn’t sound convinced. “We’ll take a look.”
Blake wasn’t going to be able to stifle his impatience much longer. “I’d appreciate it mightily if you’d take that look right now. As inrightnow. I’ve got a resort opening up in about ten days. It’s going to bring a whole lot of money to this town, and we’ve already hired a whole lot of folks, too. If somebody gets hurt, they’re going to sue. If it’s bad enough, it could even close us down, and that’s a lot of households losing their jobs. A lot of voters.”
Sawyer’s stare was hard. “So this is about you not getting your ass sued. I should’ve known. I’m surprised you haven’t taken it on yourself to find out what happened, since you’re so ready to think it’s a conspiracy.”
“I hear there’s a thing called chain of evidence,” Blake said. “Whoever did this—I don’t want anything getting in the way of sending his ass to jail. Excuse my language,” he added belatedly to the deputy.
She said, “I’ve heard the word.”
“But that’s why,” Blake continued, “I’ve had a guy watching that shoreline since it happened. Making sure nobody tampers with whatever’s out there. I’ve noticed news spreads fast around here.”
“Or coveringyourass,” Sawyer said as if Blake hadn’t spoken. “Making sure we’ll think something out theredidcatch Dakota up, and you didn’t try to drown her yourself.”
Blake breathed out the steam. “You go on and think that if you want. Dakota’s up there telling your guy what happened to her. Not sure how you’ll get around that. Meanwhile, I want somebody out there investigating, and I want them now. I want video. I want analysis. If I don’t get it, I’ll do my own investigating, and I’ll spread it around that it’s because you wouldn’t. I don’t think that’ll go over big.”
“You don’t threaten me,” Sawyer said. “I’ve been sheriff here for seven years. I’ve got a reputation. I’ve got history. You’ve got nothing but a big mouth and too much money.”
