Billy Don was making his way toward the counter when the front door opened and Kitty Katz, the TV reporter, walked in. Behind her was Darrell Bridges, the sheriff’s dispatcher. They were giggling about something. Billy Don instinctively turned and strolled casually to the far side of the store.
Kitty and Darrell walked in Billy Don’s direction but stopped at the soda fountain, where they began to fill some cups. Billy Don could tell from the way they were standing, brushing hips on occasion, that they had the hots for each other. It was quiet in the store, so Billy Don couldn’t help but overhear what they were saying.
“Aw, come on, Darrell. Just between you and me,” Kitty cooed.
Darrell glanced around the store and Billy Don pretended to be studying a quart of motor oil.
“All right,” Darrell whispered. “But off the record, okay?”
Billy Don couldn’t see, but Kitty must have batted her long lashes at the dispatcher.
“It was Emmett Slaton’s body in that car,” Darrell said.
Billy Don wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.
“And there were a couple of guns in there with him,” Darrell went on to say. “A forty-five and a thirty-five. They’re running ballistics down at the lab.”
Billy Don quietly set his basket on the floor, took the long way around the store, and walked out the front door as quickly as he could.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
At precisely eight-thirty, Marlin watched Bobby Garza escort Sal Mameli, who was on crutches, his son Vinnie, and a third man-presumably Sal’s lawyer-into the interview room at the Sheriff’s Department. Marlin was sitting in an adjoining room, watching through a one-way mirror. Beside him were two deputies: Bill Tatum and Rachel Cowan. The lawyer, Kramer, had insisted that Garza conduct the interview alone. (But, Garza had said, he didn’t say anything about spectators.)
“I hear you had quite a commotion out here,” Kramer said, making small talk to break the uncomfortable silence.
“Word travels fast,” Garza replied.
All four men took a seat around the lone table, Sal and Vinnie surveying the room as if they expected cops to be hiding in the corners.
“Before we begin, I would like to lay down a few ground rules,” Kramer said.
Garza nodded.
“Mr. Mameli tells me that you paid him a visit yesterday on an unrelated matter. Considering that my clients are coming forth out of their own concern for the community, I will ask that you restrict your questions to the Slaton case alone. If any questions should stray from that topic, I will advise my clients not to answer. Are we clear on that?”
Marlin knew the lawyer was discouraging Garza from fishing for details about the bribery case. And possibly the attempted rape case, if Vinnie was involved.
Garza kept a poker face. “Agreed.”
“Well, then….” The lawyer gestured toward Vinnie, who looked as if he was about to vomit.
“I saw the news this morning,” Vinnie said. “I saw T.J.’s car gettin’ pulled outta the lake and everything. And, uh, the thing is…I kinda think T.J. killed that old man.”
Red was sitting on the couch, keeping an eye on Smedley, flipping through a copy of Juggs magazine, when he heard Billy Don come roaring up to the trailer. A few seconds later, he felt the entire structure shake as Billy Don thundered up the steps and came bustling through the front door.
“Red!” he said. “Turn on the news! They found Emmett Slaton!”
Garza sat quietly for a couple of beats, his eyes boring into Vinnie’s. “And why do you think that?”
Vinnie leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. Then he changed his mind and removed them. “See, me and T.J. was out four-wheeling once, and we kinda wandered onto Slaton’s place. We wasn’t doing nothin’, just riding through a coupla his pastures. But he came ridin’ up in his truck and started screamin’ at us, tellin’ us we was trespassin’. Guy was pissed off, too. I thought he was gonna drop dead right then from a heart attack, he was so worked up.”
Vinnie went on to say that Slaton and T.J. had been enemies ever since. Anytime they saw each other, they would exchange harsh words.
Garza asked when and where the incidents had taken place, and he took notes as Vinnie answered. Most of them, Vinnie said, had happened outside of various businesses in Johnson City. Apparently, T.J. and Vinnie had nothing better to do than park along Main Street and “just hang out.”
“Did anyone else ever see these arguments?” Garza asked.
Vinnie glanced at the lawyer, who nodded. Vinnie continued:
“Well, they wasn’t really arguments, more like the two of them just cussing each other. T.J. would make engine sounds, you know, like four-wheeling noises, when Slaton would walk by. Slaton would glare at us and tell us to stay the hell off his land.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Garza said quietly. “Were there any other witnesses to these exchanges?”
Vinnie scratched his head. “None that I can remember.”
The room was silent as Garza wrote something on the pad. “So,” the sheriff said, “if you think T.J. killed Slaton because of this bad blood, do you have any idea how T.J. ended up dead himself?”
Vinnie lowered his eyes to the table. “Yeah, I heard about that this afternoon. I got no idea how that happened. Musta drowned somehow. He was always out on the lake, just fuckin’ around.”
Garza nodded abruptly, and it was obvious to Marlin that the sheriff thought everything Vinnie had just told him was worthless. “Anything else?”
The lawyer glanced at Sal, who finally spoke up. “Yeah, dere is one other thing. I think the kid was stealing from us.”
“T.J.?”
“Yeah, T.J. We had a coupla things go missing after the kid had been at our house. My wristwatch, some cash on the kitchen counter, some of my wife’s diamond earrings.” Marlin could tell from Sal’s facial expression that he hoped Garza would find that information very interesting.
Garza didn’t. “Did you report it?” he asked.
“Naw. Didn’t figger it was wort’ the hassle.” Sal laughed. “Figgered youse guys was busy enough already.”
Garza slid his chair back. “All right, then. Thanks for coming in.”
The deputies filed into the interview room, Marlin bringing up the rear. Garza had sat back down again, drumming his pencil on the table.
“What do you think?” Tatum asked.
“Total bullshit,” Garza said.
Out in the parking lot, Sal rested on his crutches and shook hands with Eugene Kramer. He gave Vinnie a big smile. These small-town cops were so much easier than the Feds. And he had played them just right. Now they had a good reason to look at T.J. for the death of Slaton. And if they ever managed to trace Sal’s.35-caliber back to him, he could simply say that T.J. must have stolen it. Why didn’t you mention the handgun in the interview? they would ask. I hadn’t noticed it was missing yet, Sal would say. It was perfect. He felt much better now, not so angry at Vinnie. “Well, dat went pretty well,” Sal said.
Smedley liked the big guy, Billy Don, much more than Red. Billy Don was nicer, doing things like turning down the headphones and cutting Smedley loose to go to the bathroom when he needed to. But now, if Smedley could have freed himself from the chair, he would have jumped up and kissed Billy Don. Because he had just said the magical words: They found Emmett Slaton!
It was all over now. Red would have no reason to hold him anymore.
He listened as Billy Don told Red a story about being at a convenience store. Billy Don had overheard a cop talking to a reporter about Slaton’s body. Oh, thank God there were still a few loose-lipped officers around!
Red turned off the DVD and switched the TV over to KHIL. Sure enough, there was Kitty Katz, giving a live report. She was saying that a reliable source had confirmed that the body found in the car pulled from Pedernales Reservoir was Emmett Slaton, as rumored. She went on to say that the police had also found two handguns in the car-a.45-caliber and a.35-caliber.