Always Something Sings by Roger Lynn Howell

Author:Roger Lynn Howell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

10 July – 7:50 a.m., Releasing Mr. Barr today, then suspect

interview in Custer. One week since Rose Braden’s body was recovered.

WHEN SHE GOT TO WORK TUESDAY morning, Ada walked straight down to the holding cells, made sure Lonnie Barr got a good breakfast, then released him on his own recognizance.

Apparently, Barr had no one to call for a ride, as he was still hanging around when she returned from the recorder’s office at ten o’clock. Ada was heading out anyway, so she ended up buying him a Coca Cola and driving him back to Sunbeam. At the last minute she remembered the boy’s journal, found it still in her jockey box, and returned it to him. It just never occurred to her, until much later, that she might ought to have looked through it.

12:15 p.m. – Custer jailhouse. Reviewing case again

with Sergeant Blevins of the State Patrol

BLEVINS AGAIN. THE STATE TROOPER STEPPED out of the Custer jailhouse as Ada was pinning on her badge. She tried to sidestep him, but Munson was on his heels with a pot of coffee, effectively trapping her on the boardwalk. She took the cup Munson offered, but only nodded to Blevins’ “Good morning, Sheriff.”

Munson swept a bench clean with his hat and he and Blevins sat. Munson said, “I thought we could meet out here. It’s better if we talk out of earshot.” He jerked his head in the direction of the jail.

Ada leaned and then sat on the railing, hooking her boot around the lower rail for balance. “Talk about what?” To Blevins she said, “Are you still saying I’m not up to the job?”

Blevins said, “Not at all, Sheriff, and I’m sorry it came out like that last time. I wanted to see if we could step back and get on a better footing.”

“Talk about the Braden case,” Munson said. “Maybe run back through the evidence.”

She sipped her coffee, eyeing them both.

“We looked for you yesterday; no one had seen you. The truck was in front of your house all day, but no one answered the door.”

“I took the Buick. I had to do some undercover work.”

Blevins turned to face down the street, so she didn’t see his smirk. He said, “As far as this dredge pond case goes, it looks like we have the Marine sergeant’s tracks down by the water. And we have the stick that struck the girl, and we have a belief she was cheating on her husband that night.”

“There’s no evidence she was cheating that night, and in fact . . .”

“Actually, it doesn’t matter if she was or wasn’t.” He waited through Ada’s look of annoyance. “The boy thought it true, and that by itself is motive. So that right there is means, motive, and opportunity.”

She turned from the Chief and the State cop at the sound of a truck rumbling by on the street behind her. A load of cattle was being taken to summer pasture up around the pass. The smell of the animals hung in the air, and Ada watched the truck until it disappeared around the first bend.

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