“You and I need to have a chat.” Sully sat down in the sheriff's desk chair and stared hard into the face of the man who was sitting across from him in handcuffs.
Sully had been in Possum Creek for almost six months, the last two of which he'd been working for the sheriff's department as a temporary deputy. He'd never been assigned to partner with Deputy Kerry Longwood. He'd worked a burglary with the sheriff. He'd worked several drug cases with J.B. Mooney. He'd worked a dozen cases with Addy Malone. He had a pretty solid feel for everyone who worked for the Callahan County Sheriff's Department except for Kerry.
“Why bother?” Kerry asked. He was staring straight down at his handcuffed wrists in his lap. He hadn't looked at Sully once since he'd been deposited in the chair by a very annoyed Addison. Addy had bolted out the door immediately after officially placing Kerry in Sully's custody. He'd muttered something about his sister's wedding and a screwed up flower order and then disappeared as fast as his boots would carry him.
“Talk to me,” Sully tried his best to sound encouraging.
“You're going to pin this murder on me. It doesn't matter whether I'm innocent or guilty.”
“It matters to me,” Sully said.
“Why?” Kerry looked up at him for the first time. “And don't even try to give me any crap about how I'm a fellow law enforcement officer or your friend. We both know that you're just like the rest of them.”
“The rest of them?”
“Addison. Ian. David Breedlove.”
“That's unfair. I like Addison well enough as a person and I think he's a decent cop, but it's not a secret the two of you don't get along. Ian and I don't belong in the same category. With all due respect for the man, I'm a solid and honest cop while he's currently under investigation with the state due to illegal actions he's taken. As for Breedlove, I only know him by reputation.”
“He's a jackass.”
“He's Addison Malone's best friend. Y'all seem to have a lot of hard feelings between you.” Sully couldn't help noticing how sad and shrunken Kerry looked in his rumpled business clothes. “I've never intentionally wrongly convicted anyone for so much as a traffic violation. Maybe you should give a me a chance?”
Kerry wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. “Addison put that head in the trunk of my car. I know he did.”
“How can you know that?”
“Who else would have done it?” Kerry countered.
“Where would Addison have gotten the skull?” Sully didn't believe Addy was responsible for Beverly Jones's murder, but he needed to get a fix on Kerry's personality and thought processes. He couldn't do that unless the other man was talking.
“I don't know. Maybe David robbed a grave for him. Or maybe it's Casey's skull and Ian finally remembered where he hid her body.” The anger was clear in Kerry's voice as he spat the last few words out through clenched teeth.
“It bothers you that Ian can't tell anyone where Casey's body is.” Sully made it a statement rather than a question.
“Everything about Casey's murder bothers me,” Kerry replied. “It bothered me eight years ago when she went missing without a trace and was never heard from again. It bothered me even more that she was last seen in the woods behind David's house. David is a scary son of a bitch. Let Addison and Cal Walker say what they want about David, he's not a good guy.”
“You still think he's guilty?” Sully figured he already knew the answer to his own question. “Ian McIntyre confessed to accidentally hitting Casey with his truck when he was in high school.”
“Spare me. I've heard Ian's story. He went out in the woods all by himself and accidentally hit Casey while she was walking down one of the trails. He didn't see her until it was too late. Blah, blah, blah. I've never seen Ian McIntyre have the motivation to so much as go eat lunch by himself, but everyone is willing to believe he hid a body without any help?”
“Why would Ian confess to a murder he didn't commit?” Sully was curious but highly skeptical.
“Ian and David are cousins. They've always been close.”
“I love Tate. He's my best friend as well as my brother. I wouldn't take a murder rap for him.”
“Not even if you knew you'd never face any consequences?” Kerry countered.
Sully intentionally left that one alone. “You think Ian has gotten away with killing Casey?”
“David has gotten away with killing Casey. Ian has gotten away with making a false confession.” Kerry shot Sully a cold glare. “No one has ever been able to find any physical evidence to confirm or deny what Ian said in his official statement. No one can find Casey's body, including Ian. Do the math,” Kerry said. “Trish is an attorney. She arranged Ian's plea deal with the Sheriff and the district attorney before Ian ever confessed. He's not on probation and he won't serve any time. The state agreed not to press charges in exchange for his confession. He's temporarily suspended from the department but everyone knows that isn't going to last. Frank's said as much. Ian has been temporarily inconvenienced by his murder confession. Nothing more.”
“Hmm.” It was something for Sully to consider, but it wasn't putting him any closer to finding out what had happened to Beverly Jones or how her head had wound up in the trunk of Kerry's Audi.
“Addison knows I'll never accept Ian's confession as the truth. I won't let Casey's death drop until she gets real justice and her body can be laid to rest with a proper burial.”
“You think he put the head in your trunk to frame you?” Sully had a suspicion as to where this was headed.
“Yes. I do.”
“What would you say if I told you that my DNA sample came back and the head wasn't Casey's head?” Sully watched Kerry's reaction carefully.
Kerry scoffed at him. “I'd wonder who Addison was sleeping with at the Baker County crime lab.”
“I didn't take the skull to Baker County. I wanted to make sure I got a completely clean and unbiased assessment. I went all the way to Silver City,” Sully explained his own actions. “It's not Casey's head.”
“Whose head is it?” Kerry asked. He looked curious for the first time since he'd been brought in for the interrogation.
“A woman by the name of Beverly Jones. She lives roughly 30 minutes outside Beauton.”
“I don't recognize the name,” Kerry said. His blue eyes were puzzled.
Sully took a picture out of the file he'd brought in with him. It was a candid shot of Beverly laughing next to a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Billy Jones had taken it off the wall and given it to Sully before he'd left Rockdale. He held the picture up for Kerry. “She look familiar?”
“Not really. No.”
“You ever seen her before in your life?”
“I don't know,” Kerry said. “I don't think so. Maybe once at a gas station or something. There's something vaguely familiar about her.”
“She was missing for two months before I found her head in the trunk of your car.”
“I don't know her. I have no idea how her head would have wound up my car.”
“Neither do I,” Sully said. He took a deep breath and then propped both of his elbows on the desk. “Kerry, this is an active murder investigation. Beverly Jones is a real victim with a very real family, just like Casey Black. I need your help and cooperation to solve her case and bring her family some closure.”
“Addison-.”
“Addison didn't put a complete stranger's head in the trunk of your car,” Sully cut him off. “I know you want to blame him, but I don't think he has anything to do with Beverly Jones's murder.”
“Maybe David killed her and they decided to use the opportunity to frame me.”
“Humor me for a minute. Let's take David and Addison off the board of potential players. If neither David or Addison had anything to do with the head in your trunk, then how do you think it could have gotten there?”
“I was taken hostage by a murderer two months ago. I suppose its always possible that Curtis killed that woman and put her head in my trunk right before he died. He did have full access to my car. I don't exactly go through the trunk very often. Did Beverly Jones disappear before or after Curtis died?”
“After,” Sully said.
“Oh. I guess that theory won't hold water then, will it?” Kerry looked troubled. “Can you take these cuffs off of me? They're digging into my wrists.”
“Can you give me anything that might help me solve this murder?” Sully countered.
“I'm trying to,” Kerry said. He held out his wrists for Sully to remove the cuffs. “I'd be able to think more clearly if I could move comfortably.”
Sully used his own handcuff key to remove the metal bracelets. “Better?”
“Yes. Thank you.” Kerry stretched his arms as far apart as he could and then popped each of his shoulders by rolling it in the joint. “I've never heard of Beverly Jones. I don't know how her head wound up in my car.”
“Someone knew her skull was in your car,” Sully told him. “And they also knew you would be driving through town yesterday. That strikes me as being a bit suspicious.”
“Addison-.”
“In a world where there is no Addison, who would have done this to you?”
“I don't know,” Kerry admitted reluctantly. “If Addison didn't do this then I don't know who did.”
Sully decided it was time to play his last card. He reached into the breast pocket of his uniform bag and pulled out the Ziploc baggie that held the diamond ring Lora had found in Beverly Jones's mouth. Her husband hadn't recognized and said it hadn't been a personal belonging of Beverly's. That meant it was likely tied to the crime itself. Sully dropped the baggie in front of Kerry. “Have you ever seen this ring before?”
Kerry blanched and then turned a sickly shade of green. He stared at the baggie without picking it up. The ring was clearly visible through the plastic.
“Have you ever seen that ring before?”
Kerry looked at Sully with an expression of total horror on his face. “Where did you get that?”
“It was found in Beverly Jones's mouth. Want to tell me about it?” Sully did his best to keep his face completely expressionless. It was obvious Kerry recognized the giant diamond ring.
“I can't... I don't...”
“Kerry, talk to me.”
“Addison and David did this.”
“No, I don't think-.”
“You don't understand.”
“Why don't you explain the situation to me,” Sully suggested.
“I can't.” Kerry looked like he was about to throw up.
“Kerry, we're talking about a murder. An innocent woman is dead. I need to know anything you can tell me.”
Kerry took a deep breath. “Addison and David are responsible for putting the head in my trunk and the break-in at the jail last night.”
“Help me prove it,” Sully said. “Give me some evidence.”
“I can't.”
“You've seen this ring before?”
Kerry opened his mouth and then appeared to choke on his tongue. “I...I...I just... I can't. No.”
“No?”
“I've never seen that ring before.” Kerry's cheeks were flushed and he was fidgeting nervously with the hem of his sleeve. He started to stand up. “Are we done now?”
“Not yet.” Sully was nowhere near ready to release Kerry. He'd finally gotten a real reaction out of the other man. Kerry knew something about that diamond. The small man had started to sweat even though the temperature in the office was a very comfortable seventy two degrees. “You're a bad liar, Kerry.”
“I'm not...I'm not lying.”
Sully shot him a skeptical look, but decided to let Kerry get away with thinking he'd gotten him to drop the issue. “Fine. I believe you. Tell me about the break-in last night.”
Kerry didn't look as relieved as Sully had expected him to. “Addison was trying to scare me.”
“Frank says Addison has an alibi.”
“Addison's alibi is worthless. He could get half a dozen people to swear he was at Leon's last night just by asking them to do him a favor. People lie.”
Sully considered Kerry for a long moment. “Frank said you were babbling about jewelry last night when you gave your original statement.”
Kerry met Sully's eyes for only the second time during the entire conversation. “I want my lawyer.”
“You don't have a lawyer,” Sully reminded him.
“Doesn't matter. I'm not talking to you.”
Sully shrugged his shoulders at Kerry. “I'd say it's your funeral if this goes bad, but didn't you already have one this year?”
Kerry involuntarily let out a short hiss. “I was kidnapped and buried alive.”
“At a funeral,” Sully pointed out.
“At a funeral,” Kerry admitted.
“Talk to me, Kerry. Please. I can't help you, or Beverly Jones, if you won't talk to me.”
“I don't have anything to tell you,” Kerry lied.