Free A Shred of Evidence by Kathy Herman

frustrated you must be. But I assure you that if you’re innocent of any wrongdoing, you have nothing to fear from the Seaport police.”
    “If?”
Ross leaned his head on the back of the couch. “I’d like to rip those two letters out of the alphabet.”

    Julie stood at the front door until the chief’s squad car pulled away from the curb. She cracked the door to Sarah Beth’s room and peeked inside, then went back into the living room.
    Ross sat on the couch, his arms folded. “She still asleep?”
    Julie nodded. “I think the police chief believes you.”
    “Yeah, well, let’s see how long that lasts once the media puts their own spin on it. It’s gonna be the same wherever we go.”
    Julie sat next to Ross and wished he would hold her hand. “Sarah Beth and I love you. We’re in this together.”
    “I miss Nathaniel so much. I don’t think I can handle anything else …”
    She blinked the stinging from her eyes. “I know.”
    There was a long stretch of silence.
    “Julie, you believe me, don’t you?”
    “Of course, I believe you. You’d never be inappropriate with Sarah Beth.”
    “Well, after the way you reacted this morning, I got the uneasy feeling you were doubting me.”
    “It’s just beyond me how Eddie came up with such a gross accusation based on anything Hank would’ve said. Why would he just make up something like that out of the clear blue?”
    “Because he’s a moron.”
    “Obviously.”
    Julie sat in silence, her hands folded in her lap, all-too-aware of the oppressive, impenetrable wall between Ross and her. She felt a twinge of doubt and quickly dismissed it. He wasn’t capable of such a thing. He just wasn’t.

9

    L ate Monday afternoon, Will Seevers sat in his office, the ceiling fan rustling the papers on his desk, and perused a FAX that had just come in from the Biloxi police department.
    Nothing on file indicated Ross Hamilton had ever been accused of child molestation. But the department had kept an eye on him after Valerie Mink Hodges from the
Biloxi Telegraph
wrote an article summarizing Hamilton’s questionable history and insinuating that the police were sleeping on the job.
    The chief read through several pages, which essentially outlined what he already knew. His eyes dropped to the final paragraph:
    Over a twenty-six year span, Ross Hamilton has been the sole witness of three accidental deaths. And was the last person to see two young women alive before each mysteriously disappeared in two separate incidents. But there has been no evidence whatsoever linking him to a crime
.
    Will removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The phone rang and he picked it up. “Seevers.”
    “Will, it’s Gordy. I’m not askin’ for a special favor, but can you tell me
anything
about Ross Hamilton?”
    “Yeah, the Biloxi police have nothing on him. But listen to this.” Will picked up Valerie Mink Hodges’s article and read it aloud. “How uncanny is that? Hamilton’s either one slick operator or the unluckiest chump on the planet. The media ought to have a heyday with this.”
    “It’s hard to blame Eddie for bein’ rattled after overhearin’ Hank say the guy’s a child molester.”
    “Yeah, but Hank says your buddy Eddie interpreted the phone conversation all wrong. He insists that Ross is a victim of cruel circumstances.”
    “Come on, Will. Hank’s his uncle, whaddya expect him to say? I’ll tell you one thing: Billy Lewis is sure uncomfortable around Hamilton.”
    Will leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head. “Yeah, that’s what he told my officers. Think he knows something he’s not saying?”
    “Nah, Billy wears his feelings on his sleeve,” Gordy said. “But it’s worth notin’ that he doesn’t want anything to do with Ross Hamilton.”
    “Hear anything down at your place?”
    “I’m startin’ to. But wait’ll that garage door is shown on the news. That oughta set off a chain reaction.”
    The chief picked up a pencil and