Chapter 11

12:30 PM Saturday: I was coming out of the court house, where the records were kept, having just bribed the teenaged clerk working there to forget he'd even seen me, when I ran into the sheriff. He seemed so lost in thought that he almost passed me without saying a word. Instead, he stopped suddenly and looked up into my face.

"What, still here?"

I patted myself. "Yeah, I guess I am," I admitted sadly. His sense of humor was badly in need of repair: he just scowled. So, the honeymoon was really over. He turned to walk on.

"Oh, sheriff!" He stopped. "I just wanted to apologize." He turned to face me again. "When I saw all those footprints around Mary Cole’s body in the picture, and read how you said that there had been no struggle, and she hadn’t been moved, I had my doubts about your sincerity as an officer of the law; but after seeing you in action last night…" I let it drop and watched him walk away. I laughed at what I saw sticking from his back pocket: it was the morning paper from Knoxville. He must have just gone over to the general store for a copy. "Don’t work too hard," I called after him.

It was funny how much younger he looked out in the daylight.