Free 'Til Death (A Rebel Ridge Novel) by Sharon Sala Page A

picked up his cell phone and,
after digging up the card Marlow had given him, made a quick call.
    “Sheriff’s department,” the dispatcher said.
    “I need to speak to Marlow,” Linc said.
    “He’s working a fender-bender down by the bar. Is this an
emergency?”
    “No, just passing on some information he needed.”
    “Oh. Well, if it’s confidential info, then call his cell phone.
I’ll give you the number.”
    “I have it,” Linc said, then disconnected and called the other
number on the card.
    Marlow sounded preoccupied when he finally answered.
    “Sheriff, this Lincoln Fox. I know who your stalker is.”
    Marlow froze. “And how do you know that?”
    “I heard him ride up on his bike again tonight, and I went out
and confronted him. Told him he was trespassing on private property and not to
do it again. Even though I recognized him, I wasn’t sure he was the one who’d
been threatening the Lewis woman until I threw out a warning. I told him if his
intent on crossing my property was to go mess with her again, then I advised him
against it. The moment I said that he turned tail and ran. I fired a shot up in
the air just to punctuate the suggestion and waited until I heard him ride
away.”
    “Well, I’ll be damned,” Marlow said. “Who was it?”
    “Prince White.”
    “Prince White. I’ll be a... Uh, wait, that’s your stepmother’s
younger brother, isn’t it?”
    “Lucy is no longer my stepmother, and so what?”
    “So are you sure it was him? You know if I arrest him you’ll
have to identify him, which is going to reveal your presence. You also know that
there will be some who’ll say you just named him because of your history with
the family.”
    “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t have a past with
the Whites.”
    “They are your stepmother’s
brothers, and she testified against you at the trial.”
    Linc was getting angry. “Well hell, Sheriff, everyone who got
on the stand testified against me at the trial, despite my grandpa Fox’s claim
that I couldn’t have set the fire because I was at his house all afternoon, and
I didn’t accuse any of them of stalking Mrs. Lewis.”
    “Well, a body could understand Wayne Fox’s need to alibi you,”
Marlow said. “You were his grandson.”
    “And my father was his son,” Linc snapped. “Are you actually
implying that Grandpa lied to protect his own son’s killer?”
    “Well, I—”
    Linc was furious. “So you’re saying that no matter what I saw,
you’re going to ignore the fact and let that Lewis woman continue to live in
fear for her life?”
    “Hell no, I wasn’t saying that, I was just—”
    The line went dead in Marlow’s ear.
    “Son of a bitch,” he muttered, and then glared at Bo and Pete,
the two drunks who’d caused the wreck he was working, and hauled both of them to
jail.
    Once he got the men booked and back in his office, he began
making notes regarding the phone call from Fox. Of course he would follow up on
the accusation, but he had to be careful how he did it. If Fox was right, then
Meg Lewis could be in serious trouble. He didn’t know two more worthless men on
Rebel Ridge than Prince and Fagan White.
    The thing was, Marlow knew he’d handled that call from Lincoln
Fox all wrong. He could have kept his doubts to himself without confronting the
man like that, at least until he’d talked to Prince White, but he hadn’t, and it
was too late to take it back.
    What he could do was call Meg and
feel her out about the White family, see if there was any bad blood between
them, or if she’d had a run-in with Prince that could have been the start to all
of this. But not tonight.
    Tonight was, however, the optimal
time to interview a suspect. As soon as the sun rose, he was going up Rebel
Ridge to talk to Prince. Maybe Lincoln Fox was on the up-and-up. If he was, it
would be interesting to hear what Prince had to say once Marlow told him he had
a witness.
    * * *
    Prince White was in a panic. He