Only by Death by Herman Kathy;

Author:Herman, Kathy;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Kathy Herman;Christian Fiction;Religious Fiction;Suspense;Ozark Mountains;Ozark Mountain Trilogy;Arkansas;Alzheimer's;Fiction;Beaver Lake;Forgiveness;christian book;mystery
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2018-02-22T01:04:37+00:00

Chapter 22

Virgil sat at his desk, sipping his first cup of coffee.

It had been seven days since Billy Gene and Jason began the covert assignment to keep a close eye on Jesse Cummings. So far, they had not noticed anything out of the ordinary. Kate said there were no unidentified calls on Jesse’s cell phone or emails on his computer. And that he seemed more relaxed. His schoolwork wasn’t suffering.

Virgil questioned how long he could afford to invest valuable manpower this way when nothing supported his gut feeling that Jesse might have been coerced into recanting his story.

Kevin knocked on his open door. “You said you wanted to talk to me before the morning briefing.”

“Come in and have a seat,” Virgil said.

Kevin sat in the vinyl chair next to Virgil’s desk, his navy uniform shirt clean and pressed, his wavy red hair neatly combed.

Virgil mused. “I’ve done some soul searching since you posed your poignant question asking whether I would have gone to this extreme had the situation not involved Kate’s son.”

“Listen, Sheriff, I’m really sorry about that. I was out of line.”

Virgil held up his palm. “No, you weren’t. You’re the one person who has earned the right to ask it. The answer is yes. I honestly think I’m treating this case as I would any case, given these same circumstances. But I need your opinion about something. I’m aware that it’s putting pressure on the whole department for me to keep Billy Gene and Jason out on covert assignment. The practical side of me says it’s time to stop wasting manpower on a dead end. But my gut instinct tells me Jesse isn’t telling us everything. What’s your take on it?”

“Truthfully?” Kevin leaned forward, his hands folded between his knees. “I think we can make better use of Billy Gene and Jason right now. We’ve got a string of assaults, thefts, domestic violence cases, some gang-related vandalism, and a dog-fighting ring that aren’t getting enough attention. We’re doing the best we can to pick up the slack, but things are getting missed. I know the relationship you have with the Cummings family. And if we knew for certain that Jesse was a witness, I’d agree to do whatever it took to protect him. But at some point, without any evidence to the contrary, we have to accept his admission that he made the whole thing up.”

“So you think we should shut it down and get Billy Gene and Jason back working other cases?”

“I would.”

Virgil took a sip of coffee. “All right. Suspend the operation effective immediately.”

“But you think it’s a mistake?”

“I don’t know, Kevin. My gut is right more times than it’s wrong. But maybe I’m too close to it.”

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