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Deputy Howard Bixby rolled his eyes. Edward groaned. He clanked the tin drinking cup they'd given him against the bars of his cell the way he'd heard prisoners sometimes did, making a racket that was as annoying to himself as much as it must have been to Bixby.
"Stop that," Bixby snapped.
Edward shot him a reproachful look. "I demand to know how Lily is doing. You have no right to keep that information from me."
Bixby sighed and moved away from his desk where he'd been sitting. He was young and gaunt. If you'd seen him coming from a distance, you'd have thought he was a walking, talking string bean. But he was a good man.
"I'm not hiding anything from you," Bixby said, a little more gently than he'd sounded when Sheriff Chambers had first brought him in. "As far as I know, Mrs. Dickinson's just fine."
Edward nodded, his breath a light grunt more than an exhale.
"Can you send a messenger to Dr. Shannon's for me, so that I might officially inquire and gain the knowledge I'm after from the source?"
Bixby paused. "I don't know about that. We don't have stewards and footmen here to go about delivering messages for us, you know. I'd have to send one of the other deputies."
"Of course," Edward said, studying Bixby. He was Sheriff Chambers' head deputy and could easily send another on his errand if he so chose. Then again, it wasn't fair of Edward to presume anything. For all he knew, the deputies were employed elsewhere at this very moment. Perhaps they were looking for Ray's body. He'd have preferred they were looking for Ray's killer.
Finally, Bixby returned to his desk and said, "Sheriff Chamber said he'd be back soon. He might have information for you then. Let's just wait and see."
Edward took a seat in his cell, dropping his head into his hands. When Lily had fainted, his very soul had run cold. For a moment, he'd been certain that his arrest had somehow ended her. As if her body had suddenly given out. It had been a ridiculous thought; even women who were prone to hysterics did not die from shock. Well, not mild shock, anyway. Perhaps if the shock was great enough...
He rose from his seat again and clanked against the bars once more, the cold sound of metal on metal.
Bixby looked up. "Stop that. It's irritating."
"I need to speak with Dr. Shannon or his wife."
Bixby sighed and looked at the clock. "If Sheriff Chambers isn't back in fifteen minutes, I'll send one of the deputies." He looked at Edward with his eyebrows raised, and Edward nodded. He didn't have much choice right now, so he would take what he could get.
Footsteps sounded from outside the holding area, and Bixby jumped to attention. Edward looked curiously toward the hall as voices began to rise.
"I will not have my son jailed like some common thief," shouted Charles Saunders.
Sheriff Chambers was attempting to calm him down. "I understand, sir, but under the circumstances—"
"Circumstances are irrelevant to me," continued Edward's father. "My son is innocent of the crime of which he's been accused. Those are the only circumstances I need to know."
Edward's heart warmed at his father's defense of him. He hadn't been at all certain what his father would think when the sheriff informed him of his arrest. He'd been worried his father might think him guilty, especially considering the rumors regarding him and Lily that had spread around the factory. His father already thought the two were having an affair, though Charles Saunders had never been so tactless as to accuse him of it outright.
"Mr. Saunders," Sheriff Chambers said, trying again to calm his father, "just because you believe your son to be innocent does not make him so."
Charles Saunders stepped out of the hall and into the area with the holding cells. His face was tired and heavily lined with the marks of a man who was more than displeased with the service he'd received. His eyes widened when he saw Edward.
"They've really put you in a cell," he said, unbelieving.
Edward nodded.
Bixby laughed and said, "Where else would we put him?"
Edward's father shot him a reproachful look equal to the one Edward had given him earlier.
"You might have set him down at a desk or perhaps a... a..." He looked around, searching for a place Edward could be sat other than a cell and finally gave up. The sheriff's station was not large. There were two or three interview rooms, just as many holding cells, and the main room, which contained a few desks and some typewriters.
Charles looked at Edward and attempted a smile. "There's nothing to worry about."
Edward nodded. "I know. I'm innocent of this crime."
His father slapped his knee and looked at the sheriff, his eyes lit with a wide smile as if to say, "See, I told you so."
Sheriff Chambers sighed.
Edward asked, "Have you any word on Lily Dickinson? Has she recovered from her fainting spell?"
Sheriff Chambers paused, thought it over, then said with an undertone of irritation no doubt brought on by his father, "She's fine. A mild shock, nothing more. I was just coming from the doctor's when I ran into your father's housekeeper."
His father stepped closer to the bars, a look of distaste on his face. He touched the cold metal and the look turned from distaste to disgust.
"Myra was on her way to Dr. Shannon's for me to obtain some more pills for my gastric ulcer, when she saw you being led away from the house," his father said by way of explanation. "She came and fetched me at once." He paused, his eyes brightening ever so slightly. "You know how she's always looking out for me, even though I'm sure I'm not easy to manage." He shook his head, clearing it. "Anyway, when I confronted the sheriff, he immediately confessed his guilt in arresting you."
The sheriff's obvious irritation trebled. "I have no guilt in doing my duty, sir," he said through clenched teeth.
Charles stared at Edward. "Are you all right?" he asked, his voice lowering a pitch.
Edward nodded. "I am. Bixby does not make for the best of company, but at least he's attempted to be kind."
His father returned the nod and rolled his shoulders back. He put on a face that Edward recognized well. It was the mask he wore right before a big business meeting. A look of determination and cunning not many men possessed. Something about seeing it now worried Edward. Slowly, his father turned to the sheriff.
"Sheriff Chambers," he paused and his smile widened, "may I call you Theodore?"
Sheriff Chambers stared at him with hard eyes. "I think Sheriff Chambers will do."
His father laughed as if the sheriff had just told him a joke. He stepped up to him and swung an arm around his shoulders, drawing him close.
Oh, no.
Edward groaned inwardly, realizing with sudden clarity what his father was attempting to do. "Father," he hissed. "No."
Charles Saunders waved him off.
"Now then, Theodore," his father continued, leaning closer in toward a shocked sheriff. "We both know that my son is innocent of this crime." He laughed to demonstrate the absurdity of it. "What can I do to help speed things along and get him released?"
"Father..." Edward warned, but his father paid him no mind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather large billfold.
"I have here," said Charles, "a little something I've been thinking of contributing to your station."
Sheriff Chambers frowned and brushed his father's arm from around his shoulder, stepping out of his reach. Bixby stared uncertainly at the two men.
"Contributing?" the sheriff asked.
"Yes. I understand that your station needs new desks and chairs."
"Our desks and chairs are fine," Sheriff Chambers said.
"Well then, new bars for the cells, perhaps. Or..." He leaned forward, overtaking the sheriff's personal space. The sheriff attempted to take a step back but hit the wall. "Perhaps you'd simply like to give yourself a raise. I've no doubt that you've earned one. Bixburn here as well," he said jovially.
"Bixby," corrected the deputy.
"Whatever," said Edward's father.
Edward was rubbing his temples with his hands.
Charles said, "Now then, if you let my son out and go in search of the real killer, I can guarantee you an increase in your salary, starting today." He handed the billfold to the sheriff, who looked at it with confusion.
"And I assure you there's more where that came from," added Charles with a wink.
Sheriff Chambers looked up from his hand. "You're trying to bribe me," he said, shock leeching out of his voice.
"No, no," said Edward's father. "I'm only trying to pay you what you're worth."
"I see. Well... thank you." Sheriff Chambers set the money on his desk and went over to the cell Edward occupied. He opened the doors.
Charles Saunders looked at his son triumphantly. "Come out of there quickly," he said, but Edward knew better than to move. Exasperated, his father entered the cell and grabbed hold of him. The sheriff shut the door behind him, and his father turned swiftly around.
"What are you doing?" his father demanded.
"Charles Saunders," Sheriff Chambers began, "you're under arrest for attempting to bribe an officer of the law."
His father's eyes bulged from their sockets. "You can't be serious."
The sheriff walked to the desk, picked up the billfold, and handed it to Bixby. "Put this into evidence," he said, and Bixby hurried from the room.
"I'll have your job for this," Charles Saunders shouted.
Sheriff Chambers smiled. "If you can get it, it's yours."
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