Night Trouble: A King & Midnight K-9 Mystery (The King & Midnight K-9 Mysteries Book 1) by D. L. Keur

Author:D. L. Keur [Keur, D. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: D. L. Keur
Published: 2024-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

28 – Never Win Situation

“THE COUNTY attorney?” Hank said, his manner disbelieving as he trailed after into Mike’s office. Looked around. Muttered something about barren and the need for at least a picture, maybe a plant.

Looking at the room, Mike realized that, yeah. It was a bit stark in here. He liked it that way. “I’ll dress it up with something.”

“Do. Maybe several somethings, Mike. Take money from petty cash. Ask Rankin. She’d be glad to help.”

No, thank you.

Hank stepped over to his crime-map wall. Studied what Mike had there. Grunted. Came back and plopped down in one of the steel chairs. Said, “I thought I told you to get these swapped out for the ones in the storeroom that used to be in here. There are at least another four, maybe eight, nice leather ones in there like in my office. Maybe even more. You need to have this just a bit more invitin’, okay?”

“Yes, Hank.”

“So, why would the county attorney tap Bowman and Nolan?” Hank persisted.

“And why use a prepaid phone for contact?” Mike acknowledged. “A burner.”

“We all got burners along with our personal phones and swap ‘em out real regular. But the call from and to, it don’t make no sense at all! All the county attorney had to do was ask for notification through official channels, even from the chief deputy himself as he headed out. Why involve Randy Bowman and Jay Nolan?”

Mike agreed. It didn’t make any sense. According to several articles he’d read in various local and regional news organizations, Richie Keeler ran the Office of the Mogollon County Attorney like his personal campaign reelection machine. Facts showed that the man would pick and choose which cases he would try based on whether or not it was slam-dunk winnable and whether the resulting guilty verdict would bring him good favor among the electorate.

Oh, sure. Rock solid evidence of culpability in criminal cases got tried, but, if those cases involved sullying the reputation of someone locals supported, either a quiet plea deal was reached or the trial was postponed until most all the furor was over. On those, follow-ups by the local press were discouraged.

His first and hopefully last visit to Keeler’s office had shown Mike that Hank thought very little of the man, either. What Hank said next reinforced it. “He supplanted a good man by using looks, schmoozin’, and slander-talkin’ his opponent, and the stupids out there voted him in. He’s nothin’ but a scaly scallywag—worthless. Worse than worthless. He’s got no integrity at all. Typical lawyer. Typical politico! And nobody much to rein him in. The AG certainly won’t. She’s cut from the same cloth.”

And this was why Mike didn’t want to have anything at all to do with any elected officials, including the county supervisors, who were due to arrive in minutes.

He mentioned as much, and Hank groaned. “Yeah. You’re right. Best get myself prepped to do my own bit of schmoozin’ it up.”

“Are you keeping Bowman and Nolan?” Mike asked.

“Not Bowman, but I need to hire in before letting him go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.