Read Online Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter - Free Book Online Page B

jail that were larger than this.
    Sara obviously wanted to stay outside, but he indicated she should go in ahead of him. Jeffrey followed and Valentine brought up the rear, closing the door. The closet got even smaller.
    ‘So,’ the sheriff began, flashing a smile. He was talking in a normal voice now, and he leaned against one of the shelves, acting as if they were just a group of pals chatting before a football game. ‘About eleven o’clock last night I was sitting around watching the TV and I see these flames shooting up over by the high school. First thing I do is call the fire department, thinking the building’s on fire again – we’ve had some kids try it before but the sprinklers stopped them in their tracks, which is a good thing because the fire department’s all volunteer and it like to took forever to get them all there. Anyway, I got dressed and walked over to the school to see what was going on. It was faster to walk. Like I told you, I live right across the street.’
    The story was so embellished Jeffrey wondered how many times it had been repeated. He tried to get to the important part. ‘So you saw the car burning on the field?’
    ‘Right,’ Valentine confirmed. ‘Last night was dark as pitch, but the flames were high, and I could see somebody sitting on the bleachers. I walked over, thinking it’d be some stupid kid gone out for a joyride, and I see Miss Adams – your detective. She was sitting on the bottom bleacher, soot and stuff all over her. Had her foot propped up on a gas can.’
    ‘Was she burned?’
    ‘Nah, but she was beat something awful,’ the man answered. ‘Bruised down the side of her face like she’d been punched, blood coming out of her mouth, wheezing something horrible. Me, I’ve never seen anything like that before, but maybe I’ve been watching too many Lifetime movies with the wife, because the first thing that pops into my mind is, “this woman just torched her husband.” You know, like he’d hauled off and hit her one too many times and she just snapped’ – he snapped his fingers – ‘and so I sat beside her, tried to get her to talk.’
    Jeffrey asked, ‘What did she say?’
    ‘Nothing,’ the man admitted. ‘I tried every trick I could think of to draw her out, but she wouldn’t speak.’
    Jeffrey could imagine what Lena ‘s reaction would have been to Valentine’s various ‘tricks.’ The man was lucky she hadn’t laughed in his face.
    Valentine continued, ‘Wasn’t until this morning when we did a search of the school parking lot and found her Celica that we got her name. I found her badge in the glove compartment and figured, hey -what’s it hurt to give ‘em a call?’
    Jeffrey skipped over the fact that the sheriff had waited until daylight to search the parking lot. ‘She wasn’t carrying any ID on her?’
    ‘No, sir. Didn’t find anything on her except a tube of ChapStick – the license was in the Celica and the badge was in the glove box like I told you. Nothing else in her pockets, nothing hidden in her…’ His voice trailed off, and he blushed as he finished, ‘places.’
    ‘No weapon?’ In addition to her Glock, Lena sometimes carried a large folding knife in her back pocket, but Jeffrey wasn’t going to share that with the sheriff right now.
    ‘No, sir. No weapons of any kind.’
    ‘Was anyone else injured or on the scene?’
    ‘Nope. Just the victim in the Caddy and her on the bleachers.’
    ‘Did she have gasoline on her? Any kind of accelerant on her shoes or clothes?’
    ‘Nope. But the gasoline can was empty.’
    ‘Did she have matches or a lighter?’
    ‘Nothing except the ChapStick, and I cranked it all the way up to make sure what it was and it was ChapStick all the way through.’
    ‘Were her fingerprints on the gas can?’
    ‘Can’t really tell. It’s an old can – lots of rust. We sent it to the GBI lab in Macon, but I can guess you’re familiar with their time frame.’
    Jeffrey nodded. Unless