Were leaving tomorrow, I think, Lucas said. But well be available down in Minneapolis. Im gonna talk to a couple of friends over at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, maybe a guy in the attorney generals office. About coming up here and deposing you people on the murder of George Lamb: to ask you why youve been covering it up all these years. Why youd send a couple of cops to roust us, in the middle of a murder investigation that youd been reading about in theStar-Trib.
The sheriff shook his head: We didnt send anybody to roust you. These idiots thought of it themselves. He tippedhis head toward the lanky man, who shrugged and looked at the curtains covering the single window.
The thing is, we can take care of Larry, the older deputy drawled. Cops get beat up from time to time. The real question I gotnot the sheriff, just meis whether you can be talked to. Or if youre just some big-city asshole up here to kick the rubes.
Ive got a cabin outside a town half this size, in Wisconsin. The sheriffs a friend of mine, and hes been bullshitting me about moving up to run for the office when he quits, and Ive thought about it. Ive worked with a halfdozen sheriffs all over this state and Wisconsin, and this is the first time Ive had trouble, Lucas said. You want some references?
Already made some calls, the older man said. After a few seconds silence, he said, You want to talk, or do we do this all legal?
Talk, Lucas said.
The sheriff looked at the older deputy and said, You think?
Yeah, I think.
The sheriff nodded and said, The thing is, we dont know whether or not George Lamb was murdered. But he might have been.
There were some problems at the time, with the way the death happened, the older man said. Happened way too early in the morning. He got up early, for his job, but not in the middle of the night. It looked to us like hed gotten sick the evening before, and theyd let him lay there until he died.
He came to see me twice in the month before he died. He was feeling sicker and sicker, and at first I thought it was the flu. Hed had some diarrhea, hed had some episodes of vomiting, dizzy spells, and so on. Wed had some flu going around at the time, and it fit, Landis said. He pulled a chair out from the dresser/desk and sat down. I gave him some antibiotics for a lung infection hed developednothing serious, he was coughing up some phlegmwith pus in it. And we had an argument the second time he came in, and he never came back. Then he dropped dead. Couldhave been a heart attack.
But you dont really think so, Lucas said.
Landis shook his head. I think maybe it was rat poison. Arsenic. The thing is, when I went out and looked at this body, he had a rash, a particular kind of rash that flakes off the skin when youve been taking in arsenic for a while.
You didnt take any tissue samples?
If wed taken tissue samples, and sent them to a lab, then the fat would be in the fire, Landis said. Other people would know about it. ..
You didnt want other people to know? Sherrill asked. The sheriff took off his hat, smoothed his hair back, and said, My daughter went to high school with the Lamb girls. And the older Lamb girl had a reputation as knowing way too much about sex for a girl her age. Then, a couple of months before George died…
Landis picked it up. The mother brought in the older girl, Audrey, to the clinic. Said shed been fooling around with one of the boys at school, wanted me to keep it quiet, but wanted her tested to see if she was pregnant. She wasnt. But I gave her a little standard lecture that I gave back then, about staying out of trouble, about saying no to boys, about using some protection… She sort of went along with the lecture until she got tired of it, then she got up and left, Landis said. As she was going out the door, she turned andlookedat me. The look was like ninety-five percent hate and fear. And she said, Thats all fine and good, but not relevant in my case.
Not relevant in my case, the sheriff quoted. Hell of a line for a kid that age. The fact is, George had been f He glanced at Sherrill. Having sex with her.
When I told you that his wife had some bruises, Landis said, I was telling you the truth. But not all of it. The woman had been beaten from head to foot.
The whole goddamn house was a reign of terror, the sheriff said. Steve told me what he thought was going on. I talked to the sheriff at the time, Johnny James, and he told me that there was nothing to do, unless somebody complained. So I caught up with George on his mail route one day and said if I ever heard of him screwing that little girl, Id kill him.
Did he believe you?
I dont know, but he should of, cause I would of, the sheriff said. But it never came up, because he dropped dead.
He was lying there on the floor, looking okay, except for this rash, Landis said. We knew hed been screwing at least the older girl, and maybe the younger one too; we knew hed been beating the bejesus out of his wife. So the question was, do we do tissue samples? Didnt have to. No requirement.
Steve came and talked to me, and we said screw it. Leave it alone. And we did. Shipped George off to the funeral home. And that was the end of it, until you showed up this morning.
They all thought about that for a moment; then Lucas rubbed his chin and changed the subject: That fat kid I beat up, he said to the sheriff. Hes gonna be nothing but a pain in the ass for you. Hes gonna be in trouble for the rest of his career.
Hes had a couple problems, the sheriff said.
You oughta get rid of him before its too late. And this guy, Lucas said, nodding at the lanky man. He rode along a little too easily. Hes gotta learn to stand up. He wanted to stop the whole thing, but he couldnt get the job done.
I learned something, the lanky man said.
I hope the hell you have, the sheriff said. To Lucas: What do you think?
I think if you recast exactly what you told me here tonight, youd have a perfectly good story if you ever had to go to court to testify. You know, that you thought it was a heart attack at the timestill think it was possiblebut sometime later worked out that it might have been a poisoning. But by then it was too late, the body had been cremated. That kind of thing happens all the time. Thats why we have exhumations.
You think we might have to testify?
Lucas stood up, yawned, stretched. Were putting together a circumstantial case. So you might have to. But weve got a way to go, before we get anything together.
But her husband… The papers say he was beating her, just like her father beat her mother. It seems to me there might be some justification.
Were looking at eight murders and several ag assaults over the last ten years, including a couple of out-and-out executions of absolutely innocent people, Lucas said.
After a moment of stunned silence, the sheriff said, Eight?
Lucas nodded.
God in heaven.
And Landis stood up and looked at the sheriff and said, Old George did a lot more damage than we knew about. You shoulda killed him.
The older man pushed himself away from the wall. So whatre we going to do about tonight?
Lucas shrugged. Nothing happened to me. If you guys want to say nothing happened, nothing happened.
The sheriff took a quick eye-poll, then nodded to Lucas: Nothing happened.
If we need to talk to you again, an assistant county attorneyll be calling, Lucas said. Ill give you a warning call ahead of time.
I appreciate it, the sheriff said. Id also appreciate it if youd get the hell out of my town.
Were going tomorrow morning, Lucas said.
And I surely wish you hadnt taken Larry out in the parking lot. Im always shorthanded when the snow starts to fly.