“He wouldn’t lie to me about this.”

Charlie met Miles’s gaze. “And why not? Because it’s too personal? Because it means too much? Because it’s too important? Did you ever stop to think that he knew what it would take to get you to let him out of here? He’s not stupid, despite his boozing habit. He’d say anything to get himself out of trouble, and from the looks of it, that’s exactly what happened.”

“You weren’t there when he told me. You didn’t see his face.” “No? To tell you the truth, I don’t think I had to be there. I can imagine exactly how it went. But let’s just say you’re right, okay? Say Sims was telling you the truth-and let’s totally disregard the fact that you were wrong in letting him go without talking to me or to Harvey, okay? Then what? You said that he overheard people talking. That he wasn’t even a witness.” “He doesn’t have to be.”

“Oh, come on, Miles. You know the rules. In court, that’s nothing more than hearsay. You don’t have a case.”

“Earl Getlin can testify.”

“Earl Getlin? Who’s gonna believe him? One look at his tattoos and his rap sheet and there goes half the jury. Throw in the deal I’m sure he’ll want, and there goes the other half.” He paused. “But you’re forgetting something important, Miles.”

“What’s that?”

“What if Earl doesn’t back it up?”

“He will.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“Then we’ll have to get Otis to confess.”

“And you think he’ll do that?”

“He’ll confess.”

“You mean if you lean on him hard enough…”

Miles stood up, not wanting to listen anymore. “Look, Charlie-Otis killed Missy, it’s as simple as that. You might not want to believe it, but maybe you guys did overlook something back then, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it go now.” He reached for the door. “I’ve got a prisoner to interrogate-” With a swing, Charlie caught the door, closing it.

“I don’t think so, Miles. Right now, I think it would be best if you stay out of this for a little while.”

“Stay out of it?”

“Yeah.Stay. Out. Of. It. That’s an order. I’ll take it from here.”

“We’re talking about Missy, Charlie.”

“No. We’re talking about a deputy who overstepped his bounds and shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place.”

They stood eye to eye for a long moment before Charlie finally shook his head.

“Look, Miles, I understand what you’re going through, but you’re out of it now. I’ll talk to Otis, I’ll find Sims and talk to him, too. And I’ll make a trip up to see Earl. And as for you, I think you should probably head on home. Take the rest of the day off.”

“I just started my shift-”

“And now you’re finished.” Charlie reached for the doorknob. “Now go on, go home. Let me handle this, okay?”

He still didn’t like it.

Twenty minutes later, sitting in his office, Charlie wasn’t convinced. He’d been a sheriff for almost thirty years, and he’d learned to trust his instincts. And his instincts now were flashing like strobe lights, cautioning him to be careful.

Right now, he wasn’t even sure quite where to start. Otis Timson, probably, since he was downstairs, but he really wanted to talk to Sims first. Miles said he was certain that Sims was telling the truth, but for Charlie, that wasn’t quite enough.

Not now. Not in these circumstances.

Not when it was about Missy.

Charlie had witnessed firsthand the struggle that Miles went through after Missy died. God, they’d been in love. Like two young kids, they couldn’t keep their eyes and hands off each other. Hugging and kissing, holding hands, flirty looks-it was like no one ever bothered to tell them that marriage was supposed to be hard. It hadn’t even changed when Jonah came along, for God’s sake. Brenda used to joke that Miles and Missy would probably be making out in a nursing home, fifty years from now.

And when she died? If it wasn’t for Jonah, Miles probably would have joined her. As it was, he practically killed himself anyway. Drinking too much, smoking, losing sleep, losing weight. For a long time, all he could think about was the crime.

The crime. Not an accident. Not in Miles’s mind. Always thecrime.

Charlie tapped a pencil on the desk.

Here we go again.

He knew all about Miles’s investigation, and despite his better judgment, he’d looked the other way. Harvey Wellman had cursed up and down when he’d learned about it, but so what? They both knew Miles wouldn’t have stopped his search, no matter what Charlie had said; if it had come right down to it, Miles would have turned in his badge and kept investigating on his own.

He had, though, been able to keep him away from Otis Timson. Thank God for that. There was something between those two, something more than the normal tension between good guys and bad guys. All those stunts the Timsons had pulled-Charlie didn’t need proof to know who’d done it-were a big part of it. But combine it with Miles’s tendency to arrest the Timsons first and figure the rest out later, and it became a combustible mix.

Could Otis have run down Missy Ryan?

Charlie pondered that. Possible… but though Otis had something of a chip on his shoulder and got into a few fights, he had never crossed the line. So far. At least that they could prove. Besides, they’d quietly checked him out. Miles had insisted on it, but Charlie was already a step ahead of him. Was it possible they’d missed something?

He grabbed a pad and, as was his habit, started jotting down his thoughts, trying to keep them straight.

Sims Addison. Was he lying?

He’d given good information in the past. In fact, it had always been good. But this was different. He wasn’t doing this for money now, and the stakes were a lot higher. He was doing it to save himself. Did that make him more likely to tell the truth? Or less?

Charlie had to have a talk with him. Today, if possible. Tomorrow at the latest.

Back to the pad. He jotted the next name.

Earl Getlin. What was he going to say?

If he didn’t corroborate, end of subject. Let Otis out of jail and spend the next year convincing Miles that Otis was innocent-at least of this particular crime. But if he did corroborate, then what? With his record, he wasn’t exactly the most believable witness in the world. And he’d no doubt want something in return, which never played well to the jury.

Either way, Charlie had to talk to him right away.

Charlie moved Earl to the top of the list and jotted another name.

Otis Timson. Guilty or not?

If he’d killed Missy, Sims’s story made sense, but then what? Hold him while they investigated openly this time, looking for additional evidence? Let him go and do the same thing? No matter what, Harvey wouldn’t look too kindly on a case that relied solely on Sims Addison and Earl Getlin. But after two years, what could they hope to find?

He had to look into it, no doubt about it. As much as he didn’t think they’d find anything, he’d have to start the investigation again. For Miles. For himself.

Charlie shook his head.

Okay, assuming Sims was telling the truth and Earl backed him up-a big assumption, but possible-why would Otis have said it? The obvious answer was that he’d said it because he’d done it. If so, it was back to the problems of building a case again. But…

It took a moment for the thought to coalesce into the form of a question.

But what if Sims was telling the truth? And what if Otis was lying that night?

Is that possible?

Charlie closed his eyes, thinking.

If so, why?

For his reputation?Look what I did and got away with…

To scare Earl into getting the money?This will happen to you, unless… Or had he meant to say that he’d simply arranged it but hadn’t done the dirty work himself?

His thoughts circled and zigzagged from one extreme to the next as he considered them.