“We need to know what the cops found at Appleton’s. Maybe one of the neighbors would open up to a couple of bible-toting evangelists, especially if one of them was blind. So unless you have a better idea, I think I need to start looking for one of those harnesses guide dogs wear.”

“How would they know what the sheriff found in the cabin? It seems to me that if the cops found anything they’d keep it to themselves.” She looked at me like I’d lost it.

“True, but bear with me for a minute. What if the cops went around interviewing the neighbors after searching the cabin? It’s possible they might have said something about what they found.”

Bonnie’s vacant stare answered my question without her having to say a word.

“Yeah, you’re right, Bon. Dumb idea. Besides, I doubt if Fred could pull it off anyway. They’d know he wasn’t a service dog the first time he saw a cat or squirrel.”

“Well, you did have one good idea today. I’m glad you changed your mind about confessing. Margot would have been madder than a horny hornet if I confessed without her lawyer present.” She absentmindedly turned her phone over and over again. “What really made you change your mind anyway? I’m not buying that it was because they don’t have the manpower to waste on us.”

“Who were we going to tell? The only one in the office was the clerk. I really need to talk to Deputy White before I go confessing to breaking and entering.”

She looked at her phone like she’d just realized what it was. “What about Margot? Should I call her back and ask her to send Harvey with us when we talk to White?”

“You can call her if you want, but tell her you won’t need her lawyer because there’s no need to involve you in this. I’ll tell White it was just me and Fred at the cabin. I’m pretty sure his paw prints are the only prints the CBI will find. I’m positive they will never know you were there.”

Bonnie had put the phone away and replaced it with a pack of cigarettes as I pulled into her driveway. “I can’t let you take all the blame. No jury in the world is going to convict an old widow pushing seventy. Please let me go with you when you talk to White. I promise not to tell Margot until afterwards.”

She got out of the Jeep, lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. “I’d like to meet your mama someday, Jake, and tell her what a great job she did raising you.” The smoke must have gotten in her eyes, for I thought I saw her wipe a tear from her face.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Deputy White was waiting at the substation for us Thursday morning. He had returned my call the previous night and agreed to meet us. This time I left Fred home so if we did get arrested, he wouldn’t get lost in some animal shelter.

His truck was parked next to the car we had seen when we gave our statements earlier. “I wonder if they have a jail cell here?” I asked Bonnie after shutting off my engine.

She was playing with her cigarette pack again, a sure sign she was nervous. “Do you think they’ll arrest us?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. I noticed his truck isn’t set up to transport prisoners, so I was wondering where they kept them until they could send them to Fairplay.”

Bonnie lit a cigarette once she was out of my Jeep. “I need a minute before we go in there, Jake. You should have let Harvey come with us.”

“All the more reason you need to stay here and let me go in alone.”

She dropped her cigarette and stomped on it. “No, I’m just as guilty as you. The Lord would never forgive me if I didn’t own up to my sins.” She didn’t wait for a response and headed toward the building.

It was all I could do to catch up with her at the door. “Okay, Bon, but let me do the talking,” I said, opening the door for her.

***

We were led to a back office by the clerk where Deputy White was waiting for us.

“So what is so important that I had to drive all the way in from Fairplay?” he asked after the preliminary greetings were over and we’d taken two chairs in front of his desk.

“We saw your CSI team yesterday, or whatever you call it.”

White had a smile that would put Bozo the Clown to shame. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“You knew we were there?” Bonnie asked.

“I thought I recognized that Cherokee from the time I was at your place, so I ran a check on it and guess who got a ticket not a mile away?”

Evidently it was a rhetorical question, as he didn’t wait for an answer. “So what were you doing there?”

Bonnie answered for me. “Jake wanted to check for power-steering fluid in the driveway.”

He looked briefly at her before turning to me. “Is that why I had to drive all the way from Fairplay, Jake?” I knew the tone in his voice from when I was a kid. My father had used that tone after I’d been caught smoking in the boy’s restroom at school. When I got home, he asked me how was school. He never asked before, so I confessed thinking he already knew.

“It’s true. I wanted to see if Cory’s Datsun had been there, but it’s not the first time. We were at Appleton’s cabin before he was found dead, and I took a shotgun he had stolen from me.” I wanted to add that Bonnie had not gone inside, but didn’t want to be caught in a lie if they had found her prints.

“So you’re telling me you two committed a felony breaking and entering, and decided to come clean after driving by Appleton’s cabin yesterday when you saw the forensics truck?”

“No, sir, Bonnie was just an innocent bystander, and I didn’t break in. The door was wide open and when I saw my gun on his kitchen table…well it did belong to me, so I wasn’t really stealing.”

I expected the deputy to act surprised, but he only smiled. “You should have called me before taking anything. But I suppose I would have done the same under the circumstances.”

“Then you’re not upset that we entered a crime scene?”

“I would be if it was a crime scene,” White answered.

“Tell him about the blood on the deck, and the shirt Fred found, Jake.”

I bumped her knee in a futile attempt to shut her up.

“Jake thinks you should run a DNA test on the blood samples to see if they match. He thinks those kids killed Appleton, don’t you, Jake?”

White was no longer smiling. “I know about the blood on the deck. What’s this about a bloody shirt? Did you remove evidence we should have found?”

“Not at the cabin, silly. Fred found it at the kids’ house,” Bonnie said.

White’s mood changed for the worse. “Who the hell is Fred?”

“He’s Jake’s dog,” she answered, then followed it with an Ow when I bumped her knee a little too hard.

I ignored Bonnie’s cry and tried my best to stay focused on White. “I’m sorry, Deputy, I think I better start from the beginning and tell you everything.”

***

White was all smiles again after I explained my adventure at Cory and Jennifer’s house, and how Fred had found Appleton’s shirt after rolling in the trash. I didn’t mention Bonnie’s manicure kit, but I did tell him how scared I was when I saw the Lakewood cop giving the car next to my Jeep a ticket. I think that’s what made him grin. Then I told him about our trip to Three Sisters Park.

“We saw the same oil spot next to where he supposedly shot himself. That’s why we went back to his cabin. We wanted to see if the kids had left their calling card in his driveway, too.”

“That they did. A rather large spot indicating they had been there for some time, but what makes you think Appleton was shot?” White asked rather smugly.

“He wasn’t shot?” Bonnie asked, placeing a hand on her knee and leaning forward before asking the question.

Now I was the one with big eyes. “But you said you found power-steering fluid in the driveway. That proves Cory was there and if the blood on the deck matches the shirt, he must have shot Appleton at the cabin and moved the body to Three Sisters to make it look like a suicide.”