Free Deadliest of Sins by Sallie Bissell

here? His YouTube video advocates an internment camp for gay people. Last night I heard him advise parents to use corporal punishment should their children show any homosexual tendencies.”
    Drake shook his head. “Ms. Crow, you know as well as I do that I can’t charge Trull with anything. A sermon is protected speech, and the current hate crime statute doesn’t even include sexual orientation. Even the great Ann Chandler can’t regulate what people say in church.”
    Mary sighed. This is exactly what she’d told the governor—Trull hadn’t broken any law, the way the current law was written. Shifting in her chair, she switched the subject from the theoretical to the reality at hand. “Then what’s the status of the Taylor case?”
    â€œIt’s a priority. We are moving with due diligence.”
    â€œAny arrests?”
    â€œNo. I advised Chief Ramsey that I’d need a totally airtight case, so he and his staff are going slowly.”
    Mary frowned. “Why would you need a totally airtight case?”
    â€œLike I just told you—the folks who put me in this office believe homosexuality is a sin. If I go to trial without a smoking gun, they won’t convict. They didn’t in Sligo County, and they won’t here. It’s time to walk softly, Ms. Crow. Tempers are hot. Everybody hates all these outsiders with their picketing and their YouTube videos and, frankly, they’re not real crazy about Ann Chandler sending you to whip us into shape.”
    â€œI’m sure Governor Chandler would have preferred sending me elsewhere,” said Mary, “except Reverend Trull is about to cost this county hundreds of new jobs. Ecotron is a Dutch company that doesn’t discriminate against gays. They won’t come here if their gay and lesbian employees might be in jeopardy.”
    â€œCorporate bucks get the governor’s attention right fast, don’t they?” Drake gave a tight smile.
    â€œThis county’s twelve percent unemployment rate gets it faster,” Mary snapped back.
    â€œTell your boss to get Raleigh to add sexual orientation to the hate crimes statute and I’ll go to town down here. Until then, I can’t prosecute people for breaking laws that aren’t on the books.”
    Drake pulled a sheet of stationary from his lap drawer, scribbled something on it. “I’ve told you all I know, Ms. Crow. I suggest you go down to the police department and talk to Victor Galloway. He’s a new hire, working undercover on the Taylor case. Maybe he can convince you and the governor that even here, in Bible-thumping Campbell County, we still believe in equal protection under the law.”

Eight
    Detective Victor Galloway was law enforcement’s yang to District Attorney Drake’s cool, intellectual yin. Galloway wore a tattered Atlanta Falcons T-shirt instead of a suit, red Asics running shoes instead of leather brogans, and kept his police badge fastened on his belt rather than pinned over his heart. When Mary knocked at the entrance of his cubicle, he had his feet up on his desk, sipping a bottle of orange Jarritos soda.
    â€œVictor Galloway?” she asked, not seeing any name plates or name tags or name anything.
    â€œ Sí, senorita .” He grinned and winked. “ Que pasa? ”
    She smiled. Away from the mountains of Western North Carolina, people often mistook her Cherokee black hair and olive skin for Latina. “I’m Mary Crow,” she said, stepping into his office. “From the governor’s judicial task force.”
    Gulping his soda, Galloway whipped his long legs off the desk and stood up. “I’m sorry,” he sputtered, his face turning red. “I haven’t worked here long enough to know who to salute yet.”
    â€œWell, you don’t have to salute me.” Mary handed him the carte blanche letter the DA had written for her. “I’m looking