Every Deadly Suspicion

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

T HE BALLED-UP PIECE of paper hit Jared square in the forehead.

“Hodges! I was talking to you,” Bryce Fallow said.

“What?” He hadn’t been listening to the firehouse banter. He knew Scott Buckley’s fiancée was the topic, but that was it.

“What’s your vote? Is she the prettiest or the second prettiest?” Bryce was Jared’s training partner and ten years younger than Jared. At thirty-five, Jared was the oldest rookie at the station. After junior college, he’d wandered the country for ten years before coming home and settling down to a career.

“Uh.” Jared’s mind was on Hanna, not Valerie Fox. Hanna was pretty; she looked like her mother. Paula Keyes had been beautiful in a Las Vegas showgirl way, but there had been a hardness in her. Hanna had the beauty without the hardness. Compared to Hanna any other woman was the second prettiest. “I didn’t get that good a look at her.”

“Ah, you’re no help.” Bryce waved his hand dismissively and went back to talking to the other guys. They weren’t being salacious. The dangerous weather conditions put everyone on edge, and they were just passing the time.

California was in the throes of a wicked drought, for years now with no end in sight. The land around Dry Oaks fit the name: it was all tinder dry. One spark in this heat with the wind as strong as it was right now would start a conflagration. Something none of them wanted to see.

“You’re a thousand miles away, Hodges.” Paul Stokes pulled up a chair, swung it around backward and straddled it, facing Jared. “Did you know Scott Buckley?”

Jared shook his head. “Not personally, but I grew up here and the Buckleys are a fixture in Dry Oaks.”

“That’s true. They sure seem to attract tragedy.”

“Are you thinking about the murders?”

“Yeah, I just bought this.” Stokes held up a book Jared recognized immediately. Murders at Beecher’s Mine Cabin by Marcus Marshall. “I’ve been assigned to Dry Oaks for two years. It was time I read the book.”

“I can’t believe you bought that.” Jared rolled his eyes. He’d heard that Marcus had set books out to sell at the memorial service.

“I’ve heard so many stories about what happened back then. This isn’t a good source?”

“I’m sure it’s an exaggeration.” Jared didn’t want to go into how much pain the book had caused for Hanna and her mother. Marshall had self-published the tome about eight years after the incident. Hanna hated that book.

“I don’t know,” Stokes said. “Maybe the facts don’t need exaggeration. I mean, a guy kills two people, cuts them up in small pieces so they’ll never be found, and throws acid on a third man, maiming him for life. Sounds like something Hollywood would dream up. You grew up here and never read the book?”

“I read bits of it. It’s not very well written. Hanna thinks it’s all rubbish.”

“Chief Keyes?” Stokes chuckled. “See what I mean? Her dad is the killer, in prison for life, and she grows up to be the police chief. Remarkable. Hollywood stuff.” He got up, put the chair back, and walked into the other room with the book.

Remarkable. Yeah, that was Hanna. Jared thought back to the first time he had the courage to approach her in junior high, but he’d known her his whole life. She was so different from other girls their age. She’d had to be. She was always being teased about her father. One afternoon he’d caught Jude Carver and his friends tormenting her.

“Jail baby, jail baby.”

“Daddy’s a murderer. Are you a daddy’s girl?”

“Spawn of Satan!”

Jude Carver was two years older and the local bully. He led the pack. Jared came up behind them as Hanna turned on them.

“Shut up! I’ve never even seen him in person.”

“Ooh, got you mad,” Carver taunted.

“Why don’t you idiots find something else to do?”

The boys howled. “We like what we’re doing.”

“I don’t like it.” Jared stepped up.

The three boys turned and faced him.

“Who asked you, Hodges? Wittle Hanna need a bodyguard?” Carver sneered. Jude had a few pounds on Jared, but Jared was tall for his age and had a couple inches on Carver. Carver was the key. Take out the lead bully and the rest would flee, so Jared concentrated on him.

“I think she can take care of herself. I also think you guys need to find another hobby.”

“I don’t care what you think.” Carver dropped his book bag and started to get chicken chested. Hands balled into fists, he scowled and stepped toward Jared.

Jared didn’t hesitate. He brought his right fist around and hit Jude in the nose.

The bully went down, and his friends stepped back. “Hodges, that was uncalled for.”

“You guys are bullies, plain and simple. Knock it off.”

Carver got to his feet slowly, blood flowing from his nose. “I’ll tell your dad.”

“So will I. He tells me to stand up to bullies. What you are doing to Hanna is uncalled for. Tease her, tease me.”

That was the day Hanna’s and Jared’s friendship started.

Warm memories flooded his mind. He went to her softball games; she came to his track meets. Every free minute they were together. They learned to drive, to rock climb, and took junior college classes together.

It was perfect until Jared had ruined it. Now that he was back for good, he prayed that he’d find a way to fix it.