A voice said, “Pardon me, Sadie?"
Sadie grabbed the lever and the door swung open. “Sorry Lon. I'm so used to Carl pulling me over, I thought it was him."
Tipping his hat brim with his pen, Lon said, “That's quite the hairdo you've got there."
Sadie patted her hair. “Thanks. I like it, too. It goes nice with these shorts, don't you think?” She tipped her head and pointed to her glasses. “See the mustard speckles in these frames. Goes good with that, too."
The deputy raised his eyebrows. “Sure does."
Sadie's sandals slapped against her heels as she climbed out of the van. “I'm guessing you didn't pull me over for a friendly visit. But I'd be up for one if you've got the time."
"That won't be necessary.” Lon grinned. He looked down at Sadie's high-heel clogs and flipped open the cover on the citation book. “It seems you didn't bother to stop at the last three red lights. You're lucky you didn't cause an accident."
"Oh I never stop at those lights. They're there for the tourists."
"Hmmm,” Lon responded. “I thought everybody was supposed to stop when the lights turned red."
"Nope. Just the tourists. Those of us who live here know where we're going. That's why we don't have to stop."
"I didn't know that,” Lon said, biting at his lip and turning to avoid eye contact with the mustard-embellished woman.
Sadie climbed back up the van steps. “Well now you do."
"Wait a minute, Sadie. I don't think you understand. I have to issue a ticket because you ran three red lights. In all honesty, I should issue three tickets."
Frowning as she backed down the steps, Sadie said, “You're just like that good-for-nothing Carl Swanson. You're harassing me like he does. And here I thought you were a nice young man."
"I guarantee I'm nothing like Carl. I'm not harassing you. I'm doing my job."
"Picking on a helpless, old lady isn't doing your job."
"Trying to make sure no one is injured when someone runs a red light is part of my job. You could have caused a serious accident.” Lon shook his pen. “For your information, insulting me by comparing me to Carl won't help your case. That's hitting below the belt."
"I saw you going door to door campaigning for that loser yesterday. Why isn't he doing his own campaigning?” Holding a finger up and looking over the top of her glasses she said, “It's because he's busy playing the skin flute again, isn't it? I'll bet he's played every song ever written. My daughter told me he was always trying to get her to play it, too."
Smiling broadly as she observed Lon's shocked expression, Sadie said, “Why would you campaign for him if you don't like him?” The look on Lon's face answered her question. “He's got something on you, doesn't he? He's forcing you to do it?"
"Never you mind,” Lon said. He wrote on the citation tablet.
"I bet I know what it is.” Sadie's eyes darted with excitement. “My friend Elmer at the nursing home told me a rumor last summer about you roughing up an Indian and almost losing your job. Elmer knows everything. He gets the gossip from the nursing home staff."
"Carl framed me. He twisted the facts and made me take the blame for what he did. I couldn't afford to lose my job so I had to go along with it."
Sadie placed her hand on the citation pad and grabbed the pen. “I'll trade you information if you promise you won't write that ticket."
"I can't do that,” Lon said.
"What if I've got something on Carl that might keep him from harassing you? All you need to do is tell him you know about it."
The change in his expression pleased Sadie. Cricking her finger to get him to follow her into the van, she said, “I've got something unbelievable to tell you."
After listening to her detailed suspicions and hearing what she had found at the Fossums’ residence, Lon stared in disbelief.
"You got all this because one of Nan 's clients complained about their life insurance policy?"
"Well, kind of,” Sadie said. “I put two and two together…"
"But what made you think Paul was involved?"
"It's a long story, but it mostly boils down to Aanders telling me how Tim overheard Paul threaten his father."
"That's quite a stretch. They'll laugh me out of the station if I tell them I want to have Richard's car examined for gun shots."
Sadie watched a puzzled expression cross Lon's face. “The fact I could be right should be enough for you to investigate. With the evidence I saw on Richard's desk, it should prove Paul was scamming his clients. I'll bet you ten bucks Richard was going to turn him in to the authorities and Paul got scared."
"You were an idiot for breaking into Richard's house. I can't believe you did that. What if Paul had found you in the pantry? If he killed Richard, he could have killed you too."
"But he didn't. That's all that matters. Now we've got to figure out a way to get those papers from Paul."
"We?” Lon said. “You're done sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. I'll take it from here."
"But maybe I can help by making an appointment with Paul to talk about insurance. I can get Jane to stop in and distract him while I check out his desk."
"You've been watching too much television. It's not done that way. We need a search warrant, but before I can request one I need more evidence."
"Well you better hurry, because Paul will probably destroy the evidence."
Lon paused as he sorted through what Sadie had told him. “A few things that happened recently are staring to make sense. Richard missed a golf date because he said he forgot. Richard lived to golf. Something drastic had to have happened for him to forget a thing like that. Now you're telling me Aanders said Paul threatened Tim's dad. Maybe there's something to that."
"There is. Richard figure out what Paul was doing and Paul had to stop him. Now you've got to figure out a way to examine the car."
"If Carl gets wind I'm investigating his best friend, he'll run me out of the department,” Lon said. “I'll never work in law enforcement again."
"You can't let Paul get away with this. You owe it to the Fossums to at least check out their car. Something made them go off the road. It's too much of a coincidence they died just hours after Paul and Richard argued."
"I've got a friend who owns a repair shop. I know I can trust him to keep his mouth shut,” Lon said. “If we find any evidence, I'll talk to the sheriff about a search warrant for Paul's office. We need to find the papers Paul took. I'll be in touch, Sadie. Don't do anything else foolish."
29
A small rental car pulled to a stop in front of Sadie's cabin. A wire-haired terrier yipped wildly as Erma Pouliot waved a greeting to Sadie and let the dog scamper toward the porch swing. The dog resumed his high-pitched greeting, bouncing excitedly in front of Sadie.
Sadie grabbed one of the swing's support chains and pulled herself up. As she walked to meet the Pouliots, the swing continued to sway and the dog continued to bark.
Gregg Pouliot flipped his sun glasses up and peered at the swing. “Your swing must catch a breeze off the lake. I wish we'd had that breeze. It's been hotter than a honeymoon this past week."
"Quit complaining. This was the best vacation we've had in twenty years.” Turning toward Sadie, Erma said, “We had to stop before we left to thank you for the enjoyable stay. You've got a great place here. I've never been so relaxed in all my life."
"I'm glad you enjoyed your stay. We think of Witt's End as our little piece of paradise."