petrified.”
There was something here Gary didn’t understand. He said, “Yeah, but everybody’s afraid of alligators. You’d better be. I mean it’s normal.”
The judge had turned and was gazing out the window, at deputies appearing out of the trees, poking through his plants.
“What’re they looking for?”
Gary edged up behind the judge to look over his shoulder. He said, “I think the alligator was brought here.” Then had to step back when the judge turned to face him.
“Why?”
“Well, I did notice driving in, there’s a canal over on the other side of your property where it might’ve come from…”
The judge said, “I don’t see there’s any question about it. That canal hooks into a network of canals. One or the other will take you right up to Okeechobee.”
“I know,” Gary said, “but I can’t see a gator that size climbing the spoil bank and coming all this distance through your orange grove away from water.”
“You’re an alligator expert,” the judge said. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“No sir,” Gary said, “but I do know they live in water and never go too far away from it. That’s why I think it was brought here. And if it was, its mouth would’ve been taped shut and its legs bent up behind its back and taped together. The legs hinge in a way you can do that. So I wondered, when they got here and pulled the tape off, if they might not’ve just thrown it aside.”
The judge half turned toward the window again.
“That’s what they’re looking for, tape?”
“Duct tape or electrical tape. Either one.”
“You find any?”
“Not yet.”
The judge nodded and took a sip of his drink.
Gary said, “You didn’t hear anything last night?”
“Not a sound.”
“I was thinking if they drove in with it, came past the house… Maybe your wife heard something.”
“No, she didn’t either.”
“Could I speak to her?”
“You’re asking me, can you have a conversation with her about al ligators? In her condition?”
“I wondered if she might’ve heard a truck.”
“Jesus Christ, but you keep beating on it. I just told you she didn’t hear a thing. Now we’re through here. I’m going to work.”
Gary said, “Yes sir,” and paused and said, “Can I ask you something else? It’s unrelated. Well, in a way it is.” The judge, with the glass raised to finish his drink, didn’t answer. “When I first got here,” Gary said, “I told one of the deputies to go get a car. In case the gator came out after us.” The judge lowered the glass and was looking directly at him now. “Right after I said it, I heard a voice that sounded to me like a young black female, you know, kind of a high voice? Repeating pretty much what I said.”
Gary waited.
The judge stared at him.
Gary didn’t care for his expression. Ice-cold.
The judge said, “What’s your name again?”
“It’s Sergeant Gary Hammond.”
“You like detective work?”
“Yes sir, very much.”
“Better than driving a squad car.”
“Yes sir.”
“Did you know Colonel McKenna was a buddy of mine?”
“No sir, I didn’t.”
The judge said, “Well, you do now, boy. When I tell you we’re through here, it means we’re through, you don’t ask any more questions. You understand?”
“Yes sir.”
“The alligator wasn’t brought here as a prank or otherwise, to cause anybody harm. It came out of that canal all by itself. So there’s no need of you to write up an Offense Report.”
Gary said, “I still have to tell Colonel McKenna what happened.”
“That’s all right,” the judge said, “long as you don’t color it.” He smiled then, his mouth did while his eyes remained cold. “Tell Bill for me he should’ve sent the dog-catcher.”
Gary said, “Yes sir, I will,” paused a few seconds wanting to bite his tongue, but had to ask it. “Judge, has your life ever been threatened?”
8
T here was a judge friend of Bob Gibbs, now retired from the bench, who