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they’d won the motion to compel. She
was just about to call her mother to get some ideas for a birthday present for
her dad, when Russell reappeared.
    He was alone and holding a
blank, signed check, which he folded in half and handed to her. “With Danny’s
sincere apologies.”
    She stuck it in her jacket
pocket. “No sign of Jay, I take it?”
    They stepped off the porch
together.
    “Nope. He did leave behind a
duffel bag in the room he was using, but it had no identification or other
items of interest. Just a tie dye t-shirt and a pair of jeans that probably
could have stood up by themselves they were so dirty.”
    “No one else knows anything
about him?”
    Russell shook his head.
“Danny’s the only one who has any kind of focus. I don’t know if the rest of
them are high or lazy or what, but they couldn’t agree on where this guy was
from, how long he’d been here, nothing. They did say he didn’t have a car. He
claimed to have hitched his way in from somewhere. They were hazy as to where
that was. I find that hard to believe. Not too many folks around here would
stop and give a ride to a stranger. Not these days. But, if he doesn’t have a
ride, he won’t get too far.”
    Russell held the passenger door
open for her. “Speaking of rides, let’s go see if Bricker’s has yours ready
yet.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 7
     
    Carl Stickley was irritated. He
was the sheriff , dammit. He didn’t need to be running all over
the county serving eviction notices and warrants. For one thing, it was beneath
him. For another, his knees were bad.
    But of his two useless
deputies, one had gone missing. Russell had better have a watertight excuse for
this nonsense, he thought.
    He’d just returned from serving
a domestic relations warrant on a dirtball out in Copper Bend, and the squalor
of the man’s shack still clung to him. He was going to ream Russell but good
when he turned up.
    A light rapping at his door
interrupted his musing about what he’d say to his errant deputy.
    The door swung open, and
Russell’s flushed face peered in at him.
    “Claudine said you wanted to see
me, sir?”
    Stickley waved a hand. “Get in
here.”
    The deputy hurried around the
door and pulled it shut behind him. He hung there, right by the door. Everyone
on Stickley’s staff did that: they’d just barely creep into the office and then
hang back by the door. He liked it. Figured it meant they were intimidated.
    He narrowed his eyes and glared
at the deputy. “Where you been, son?”
    Russell cleared his throat.
“There was an attack on a lawyer, sir.”
    Stickley leaned forward. “In
the courtroom?  Why wasn’t I notified, deputy?”
    “No sir. A female attorney who
parked in the municipal lot interrupted some vandals who were slashing her
tires. Most of them ran off, but one of them stayed and attacked her with a
tree branch. She called the state police and Maxwell dumped her in our lap. You
were at lunch when he brought her in.”
    Stickley shook his head and
gave a low whistle. “She hurt bad?”
    Russell chuckled. “No sir, she
gave the guy a whooping, to hear her tell it. She’s just a tiny thing, but she
knows some kinda self-defense that the Israeli Army uses.”
    “Krav Maga?”
    “Yeah, that’s it.”
    Stickley nodded. “Good on her.
Any id on the attacker?”
    “One of Danny Trees’s people.
Goes by the name of Jay. He’s not local. The attorney and I took a drive over
to Danny’s place while Bricker’s Auto worked on her car. Danny claims not to
have seen him since the attack. I took a look around. He left a duffel bag
there, so maybe he’ll be back.”
    Russell finished his report and
stood there at attention, waiting for Stickley to dismiss him.
    Stickley waved his hand again.
“Go on, get out. Make sure you write it up and send a copy to Dogwood Station.
I swear those troopers get lazier by the day.”
    Russell grabbed the doorknob
and raced out of the room. Stickley watched