Free Justice for Sara by Erica Spindler Page B

money right away. She inherited it all. The entire pot of gold.”
    “But I could have also been charged with murder and ended up rotting in jail. It makes no sense. All I had to do was wait a few months and get what I wanted without any heat.”
    “Ten months.”
    He shrugged. “To me, a year was no time to wait. For her, a week was too long.”
    “Her sister had found you out. She would have broken you up.”
    “She couldn’t have. Kat was too far gone on me. She might have kept us apart awhile, but the minute that girl turned eighteen, she’d be back.”
    Arrogant jerk.
    “Did you contact her when she was in jail?”
    “I told you before, never.”
    “And never after?”
    “That’s right.”
    Luke shook his head. “I still don’t get that. She’d been acquitted. And she had all the money. That’s what you wanted.”
    “Again, would you want to sleep with a woman you thought capable of beating you to death? I didn’t want anything to do with her.”
    “I’d like to provide another scenario, if I may?”
    Ryan glanced at his watch, then nodded. “The floor’s yours, dude.”
    “You’re here today for damage control. Katherine’s back, she knows something we don’t—or didn’t ten years ago—and you’re covering your ass.”
    “That would make me smart. Not a killer.”
    “Let’s say you did do it. You’re under our radar, all these years. Now you’re threatened.”
    “But I didn’t kill her.”
    “How do I know that?”
    He leaned toward him. “What would be the friggin’ point? Kill her, then not collect?”
    He had a point.
    “Besides, I’m not that guy.”
    “That guy?”
    “I’m a lover, not a fighter. A baseball bat?” He shook his head. “Who does that? Intense, man. It’s not normal.”
    “As if murder ever is.”
    “Of course.” He laced his fingers together. “We about done here?”
    “You came to see me, right?”
    He laughed. “You’ve got me there. Are we good?”
    “For now.” He stood. “Thanks for coming in.”
    Ryan followed him to his feet. They shook hands and Luke walked him out. When they reached the sidewalk, Luke stopped him.
    “Did you know Officer Wally Clark?”
    Ryan looked surprised by the question. “Who?
    “Officer Wally Clark. He was killed the same night Sara McCall was.”
    “Oh yeah, I remember that.” Ryan narrowed his eyes as if in thought. “Somebody shot him, right?”
    “Right.”
    “But the two murders didn’t have anything to do with each other.”
    “We didn’t think so at the time.”
    Ryan waited for an explanation, but Luke let it hang out there. “But you knew Officer Clark?”
    “Sure.” For the first time he looked truly uncomfortable. “I knew all the Liberty officers. That was just the way I rolled.”
    Luke laughed. “True that, man.”
    Ryan drew his eyebrows together. “Weird, but I hardly remember Wally getting killed. What happened with that? You guys ever figure out who did it?”
    “The sheriff’s department investigated that one. But no, they never got the guy.” He held out his hand. “Again, glad you came in.”
    They shook hands again. “No problem.”
    Luke watched as he strolled to his car, a sleek Audi sedan. “Tell Bitsy I said hello,” he called.
    Ryan looked back, expression strange. “I will.”
    He smiled. “And I’ll tell my dad you said hello.”
    Ryan laughed, slid into the sedan and a moment later drove off.
    Funny, Luke thought, watching him. Benton had gotten his rich girl, it just hadn’t been the one he’d started out with.
    Chief Stephen Tanner
2003

    The morning after the murder

    Tanner pulled his cruiser to a stop in front of the McCall place. Officer Guidry parked directly behind him. His hands shook; his heart raced. Most cops dealt with violent death on a daily basis. Shootings, stabbings and suicides, overdoses and gang wars. But not Tanner. In his twenty-five years on the force, he’d investigated five.
    Until now. Two murders in one night. That didn’t