Part 2 (1/2)
”I don't need one, not if you're here with me.”
Put that way, Sheriff Armstrong had little choice but to let Alex stay. They'd worked together often enough in the past, albeit reluctantly at times.
Alex felt strange seeing Sheriff Armstrong sitting behind his desk, Shantara across from him. There was no room for a third chair in the small s.p.a.ce, so Alex leaned against the rich, honeyed pine wall.
The sheriff pulled out a small notebook and said, ”First of all, where were you last night?”
Shantara looked surprised by the question. ”I was home asleep. Where were you?”
Armstrong frowned. ”Now, Ms. Robinson, you won't do yourself any good by having an att.i.tude with me.”
Alex said, ”Sheriff, where else would you expect her to be? And why should it matter where she was last night?”
”My investigator just informed me that the time of death was most likely sometime between midnight and four a.m.” The sheriff added, ”Alex, I've agreed to let you sit in, but you're going to have to keep your comments and questions to yourself if you want to stay.”
”Sorry,” Alex said contritely. He didn't believe for one second that Shantara was guilty of murdering Jefferson Lee. She had too much to lose, even granting the wildly remote possibility that anything could push her to such a desperate act.
Armstrong nodded once, then said, ”Ms. Robinson, can anyone verify that you were home last night?”
Shantara said, ”Are you asking me if I'm sleeping with anybody at the moment, Sheriff?”
Armstrong bl.u.s.tered, ”Now, ordinarily, that would be none of my business. I don't much care what grown, consenting folks do behind closed doors, but I'm trying to see if you've got any kind of alibi for the murder.”
Shantara shook her head. ”I'm sorry to say that I sleep alone these days, Sheriff.”
Armstrong pushed on. ”Did you make any calls or get any during those hours? Can anybody verify you were home?”
”I turned off the ringer on my phone and put the answering machine on last night. I was whipped from moving the fair yesterday at the last minute, and to be honest with you, I'd just about had my share of people for the day.”
Armstrong wrote something else in his notebook, then said, ”Okay, let's move on. Did you have any reason to kill Jefferson Lee?”
Alex had a tough time keeping his mouth shut. The very nature of the crime most likely cleared Shantara in his mind. He doubted she'd have the physical strength to skewer the blacksmith, even if she had motive enough to do it.
Shantara said calmly, ”I knew him, but I had no reason to want him dead. Even if I were going to kill him, why would I do it at my own fair? I've got everything riding on this, Sheriff.”
That was a point Alex had wondered about himself.
Armstrong said evenly, ”Maybe you weren't thinking clearly. He goaded you into a rage, and you killed him. If it was self-defense, I'm sure we can work something out.”
”I work out at Tracy's Gym sometimes, but I'm not that strong.” Shantara turned to Alex. ”You saw how he was pinned to that post. Do you think I could possibly do that?”
Remembering Armstrong's warning, Alex merely shook his head.
”Alex, I warned you-”
Shantara interrupted. ”He didn't say a word, just like you told him.”
Armstrong studied Alex a second, then turned back to Shantara. ”Have you ever seen the metal rod that was used to kill Jefferson Lee?”
”I've seen a dozen of them, Sheriff.”
”Where?” Armstrong asked as he sat up abruptly in the chair.
Shantara said reluctantly, ”If I don't tell you, I'm sure somebody else will. That shaft had Bill Yadkin's swooping curlicue on the end. It's one of his. There's no doubt about it.”
It was amazing how fast the sheriff wrapped up the rest of his interview with Shantara. As Armstrong hurried out the door, he said, ”You're free to go for now, Ms. Robinson, but don't leave town.”
After the sheriff rushed out, Shantara said wearily, ”I hate sending him after Bill Yadkin, but he was bound to find out sooner or later.”
”It's not your fault, Shantara.” Alex had recognized the distinctive pattern on the shaft as well, but he'd refrained from telling Armstrong about it until he had a chance to talk more with the young blacksmith himself. Knowing Yadkin's gruff nature, it would be all too easy for the sheriff to take his responses as hostility, and Armstrong did not respond well to att.i.tude from anyone.
In less than two minutes, Armstrong was towing the young blacksmith into Alex's office.
”I need some privacy for this interview,” Armstrong said. ”You're both going to have to clear out.”
Alex tried to protect Yadkin as best he could. ”Do you want me to get you a lawyer?” he asked before the door could close. Alex's former girlfriend Sandra Beckett was the only lawyer in Elkton Falls he knew well enough to call, but he didn't want the young blacksmith intimidated into saying something he shouldn't.
Yadkin snapped, ”I've got nothing to hide. I hated the snake, and everybody knows it.”
Armstrong's eyes lit up as he pushed Alex and Shantara out of the office.
”This is not good,” Shantara said plaintively. ”What are we going to do?”
There was only one real choice in Alex's mind.
He had to call Sandra, whether Yadkin wanted her or not.
Sandra's secretary put him through immediately. The lawyer said, ”What's up, Alex? I'm buried under a mountain of paperwork at the moment.”
Alex said, ”I wouldn't bother you if it weren't important. Bill Yadkin's in trouble. Sheriff Armstrong is interviewing him right now about the murder of Jefferson Lee, and I'm afraid he's going to say something he shouldn't.”
Sandra s.h.i.+fted gears quickly. ”I heard about the murder a few minutes ago.” It always amazed Alex how fast news traveled in the small town on the kudzu vine, faster than any gossip's grapevine in the world.
Sandra asked pointedly, ”Why does the sheriff think he's guilty?”
”A shaft of iron with Yadkin's trademark on it was used to kill Lee, and I just heard Yadkin tell the sheriff that he hated the man's guts.”
”Don't let him say another word, Alex. I'll be out there in seven minutes.”
Rachel burst into the inn as Alex was hanging up the telephone. ”Where are they? I just heard the sheriff hauled Bill away.”
”Take it easy, Rachel. They're in my office. I just spoke with Sandra. She's agreed to talk to your boyfriend, but he's refusing his right to a lawyer.”
”We'll just see about that,” Rachel said as she pounded on Alex's office door.
As the door opened, Rachel tried to push past Armstrong, but the sheriff wouldn't budge.