Chapter 12 Purposeful Gossip
PURPOSEFUL GOSSIP
“What do I owe this pleasure to?” Ford asked her two days later.
“Got a few minutes to talk in your office?”
“Always. Come in.”
Gale walked in and shut the door. “It’s about Rory.”
“What about him?”
“I was going to see if Mom would have dinner on Sunday if you can come and talk to him. I could cook and do it, but I know he’d like to talk to Mom and Dad too.”
“I should be around. Did you check to see if there are any events?”
“Nothing on Sunday.” She debated a minute. “I’ve spent a few nights with him this week.”
“Nights? As in spending the night?”
She laughed and put her hands on her hips. “Ford, I wouldn’t answer that any more than you would if it was asked of you.”
“But I’m your big brother and he’s a stranger.”
“Is he really? We know who he is. I’m positive you and Clay looked into him once you found out that I was helping him.”
It was the look on her brother’s face. Guilt.
“I didn’t.” But the smirk was telling her the guilty party was Clay. She’d deal with that brother another day.
“Either way,” she said, drawing it out. “Tuesday and last night, I was at his place and we were going over the court records of the trial. We aren’t really getting as far as we’d like.
Or nothing that is standing out. One thing he noticed was the ankle bracelet I told you about. It wasn’t brought up.”
“And he feels that’s important?”
“Yes. I told you why and he’ll explain more.” No way she was telling her brother that Rory dreamed of his sister. She didn’t think Ford would laugh at it, but she didn’t want to take that risk.
“I’m willing to talk to him. You know I always felt things didn’t go the way they should have for that. Not just because of Cooper.”
“I know. Because of who you are. You know they rushed to arrest and convict. It shouldn’t have gone that far if the deputies and detective had done their jobs. He talked to Austin Robinson on Monday when he was walking by where they found her body.”
“Okay,” Ford said.
“Austin said he gave more than one statement to the police, but Rory doesn’t have that. I can’t ask to get a copy unless I represent him and I’m not.”
“Do you think he needs an attorney?” Ford asked, then typed into his computer.
“No. He’ll ask for it. I’m giving you a heads up to see if it’s even there. Or why he wasn’t given what he should have been. He’ll want to go through the detective on the case.”
“It’s a cold case now,” Ford said. “Detective Miller retired six months ago.”
“So then who gets it?”
“I’ll assign it,” Ford said. “But for now, let’s just wait until Rory talks to me. I can’t do it because of our conversation.”
“But you want to,” she said, grinning. “You know it. It’s under your skin as much as it is mine.”
“It’s hard for it not to be. And I don’t see any statements here from Austin.”
Her shoulders dropped. “Anyone else?”
“There are several, but none from him. I doubt he’s making it up, but he could be confusing who he talked to.”
“I don’t like this,” she said. “Think about it. The whole thing was jacked up with Cooper and no one checking his alibi even when he said he had one. They didn’t interview enough people. This isn’t just rushed or sloppy, it’s like something was being hidden.”
“That’s a big accusation,” Ford said. “Be careful what you say and you know it.”
“It’s no representation of you,” she said. “You weren’t here. You were a kid yourself. Is anyone still around that was working the case back then?”
“Gale.” She knew that tone. He was warning her not to push, but she didn’t care.
“I get it. You’re the by-the-book guy. Sometimes I wish you were more like Clay.”
“Hey,” Ford said. “Don’t insult me.”
“Sorry. But in this instance, I wish it were the case. There is already talk that Rory is here.”
“What kind of talk? I’ve heard nothing.”
“I stopped to get dinner for us the other night and it came up in conversation. Like purposeful gossip hoping I’d reply.”
“Which means it’s getting around you’re talking with Rory. Gale, you need to watch your back.”
“All the more reason to do this, Ford. Don’t be that way. My job is always going to put me in the frontline of criminals. I’m not helpless.”
“You still have that gun in your purse, right?”
“I do. Except when I go into the courthouse. Then it’s in my car, because you know, I won’t be able to get through.”
She loved that her brothers worried about her, but she wasn’t going to live her life afraid of dark shadows in corners.
She had a job to do just as he did.
“Good girl.”
“Now, now, don’t be that way. You’re only going to get my back up.”
“I’m not trying to. But keep out of trouble and this conversation between us is private.”
“I can’t even tell Rory?”
“What’s going on with you two?”
“I’m helping him.”
“There is more. You’re nosy and helpful, even have more curiosity than is good for you, but you don’t have a lot of time on your hands to volunteer for these things.”
“I don’t know. I feel for him.”
“What do you feel?”
“I think he’s hot. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Gale,” Ford said, his expression painful. “Don’t do that to me.”
“You asked, I answered.”
“You’re just joking, right?”
“Sure, we’ll go with that,” she said, standing up. “Ford. Something isn’t right with this. I feel it in my gut. I’m having all these memories from when I was a kid. Dad and Mom talking with Cooper. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought of it either.”
“I have since you told me about Rory being in town. I’ve done some searching on the quiet.”
“And?”
“And it’s nothing I can tell you right now,” he said. “Unless you are here as his attorney.”
“Jerk,” she said, smiling. She walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “But I still love you. I’m going to call Rory now and see if he can do dinner on Sunday. I’m positive he can.”
“Just watch yourself. Not just with this case, but him. He’s here for a reason and he might not care who gets hurt if he finds the answers he’s after.”
“I don’t believe that any more than you’d do it.”
Ford shook his head, but she left the sheriff’s office, went to her car and hit the button on her steering wheel while she started it to call Rory.
“Hey,” he said. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there fighting for the little guy or doing someone’s will?”
“All those things and more. I’m a jack-of-all-trades.”
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I just talked to Ford. I’m going to call my mother next. How about Sunday dinner at my parents’ house and you can talk to my parents and brother? Off the record.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” She should guard her words more carefully, but she really felt as if she could trust Rory. “Make sure you ask for copies of everything. It has to come from you unless I represent you.”
“You found something out, didn’t you?”
“Not necessarily a fact or help,” she said. “But ask. Ford is good. He annoyingly plays by the rules, but he’s fair. He’ll get you what you ask for and he’ll get it faster. I can share this, the detective that had your sister’s case retired six months ago. It’s a cold case now.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes and no. Right now, it’s up to Ford to assign it to someone else, or look into things himself. Depends on how you want to look at it.”
“Does he not trust someone in his own office?”
“I don’t know the answer to that, but what I know is he will do what is right regardless of the person.”
“Okay. I’ll gather what I’ve got and need before Sunday. I’ve got a long way to go to get through it all.”
“You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t take breaks,” she said. “You don’t want to miss anything.”
“I thought of that. There is only so much walking around I can do. I don’t want to make the neighbors nervous.”
“How about we go out to dinner on Friday night? Then you can bounce some things off of me.”
“I really appreciate this, Gale. Don’t you have work to do? I feel as if I should pay you.”
“Don’t insult me. I don’t want you to be my client.”
Because then she’d lock herself away from all the feelings deep inside.
The ones that always attracted her to a guy and then blew up in her face.
She was older and smarter this time.
She could approach this maturely and keep her heart and emotions in check.
They were two people with a common goal and if blowing off some steam while they figured it out happened, she was going to be okay with it.
She was positive he’d be too.
“Sorry. I just don’t want to be taking time away from your career.”
“It’s my time to manage. I’m going to call my mother to set up dinner, then I’ll talk to you later or tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I know I’m saying that a lot, but I mean it. No one else has made me feel I was getting close.”
“Not even Rene?”
“You don’t want to know the dreams I’m having now.”
“Oh, I do,” she said, sitting up straighter. “Have you had one since you met me?”
He laughed and the sound sent waves of erotic sensations crashing in her body. She was sooo in trouble. Where did all her control go?
“Tuesday night I woke up in a sweat. Thought it had to do with that parting kiss, but it was Rene’s sign that I was hot. Like getting close. I know it. Every other time I wake up cold, but not now.”
“I feel it too, Rory. But I don’t want to get your hopes up. Maybe I don’t want to get my own up either.”
What a coup this would be if she could help solve this crime.
Not to be that way, but if she could do this, it’d prove to all those naysayers in this town that she had what it took.
That she wasn’t getting by on her looks. Or family connections.
That might be worse than the comments on how she looked.
“It’s not the first it’s happened to me,” he said. “I feel as if I’m immune to it now, but appreciate everything you’re doing.”
“Don’t be immune. Don’t do that. You have to feel. You are. Don’t block it.”
“You’re sounding like my sister now,” he said.
There was laughter in his voice, maybe even some hope.
“Good. Maybe you are here for more than one reason. You need closure, but you could need something else opened up.”
When there was silence to that statement, she wondered where all her measured responses went.
Right out the window since the day she met Rory Connors.