A Cry in the Dark (Carly Moore #1) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,45

I told the detective that Seth had asked me to tell you his goodbyes, but they don’t know that I saw him getting shot or that I saw the killers hightailing it in a red truck driven by a fourth man.”

“You kept that from them to protect yourself?” he asked.

I hesitated. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered that, but I wanted to talk to you before I told them anything else. After what Seth said about the shooter, I didn’t think the deputies would have justice in mind.” I squeezed his hand. “I was hoping you could tell me what I should do.”

His eyes widened in surprise, but sorrow quickly engulfed it. “Only you can decide that, girl.”

“Do you know what evidence he had? I think it involved drugs.”

“I’m sure it was drugs,” he said in disgust.

“Maybe we could tell the state police.”

Mr. Chalmers shook his head. “I don’t have any idea what evidence he was talkin’ about. I only know he was trying to implicate the person who sold his mother the drugs that killed her.”

“Your daughter?” I asked.

He nodded. “My Barb. She was a user back when she was a teen, but she got clean and stayed that way until a couple of years ago. Got mixed up with a man who started her usin’ again.” He shook his head. “Stopped takin’ care of her boy, so I moved him in with me. She lived there too, but she wasn’t around much since I didn’t allow her drugs in my home. Seth always thought his mother would come around, but she died of an overdose. The toxicology report said it was poisoning from some unusual drug. Nothin’ from around Drum. Folks say it was a new poison outta Atlanta, Seth was tryin’ to find out who sold it to her.”

“Do you think he found his proof?” I asked.

“Sounds like it if they shot him.” He was quiet for a moment. “If you ain’t tellin’ the sheriff, then you can’t tell no one, you hear? That deputy didn’t act alone, which means two other somebodies in that town took part in murdering my grandson. Three if you count the driver. If they figure out you know something, they’ll show up wantin’ to kill you too.”

A tingle of fear shot up my spine. “The sheriff’s department considers me a person of interest.”

His mouth parted. “Why?”

“I’m from Atlanta, and the sheriff’s department heard someone from Atlanta was doing a drug drop last night.”

His eyes narrowed. “Whatcha doin’ in Drum if you’re from Georgia?”

I explained the breakdown and the fact that Wyatt had towed me into town. I told him about Max and the temporary job at the tavern.

“You’re sure they’re lookin’ into you?” he asked.

“The detective told me not to leave town. Max was the one who told me about the Atlanta person.”

He nodded again, his lips pressed together. “They’re keepin’ a close watch on you.”

“To find out if my story changes? To find out what I know?”

“To find out if you can implicate them.”

If they’d killed a boy they knew, a local boy, just to keep their secrets, what was to stop them from killing me? Based on the story I’d told everyone, I was the kind of person who wouldn’t be missed.

I felt like I was going to be sick. “So the sheriff’s department is corrupt. Not just one deputy?”

“Not all of the deputies, but enough of them that you can’t trust any of ’em.”

“You’re right,” I whispered. “They mean to kill me.”

Mr. Chalmers squeezed my hand again, and I noticed the unshed tears lining his lower eyelids. “No. You keep tellin’ ’em that you saw nothin’ and Seth only lived long enough to give you a message for me that he loved me. Nothin’ else.”

“If I don’t tell anyone else what I know, they’ll get away with murder,” I said. “The man who killed your grandson in cold blood deserves to pay.” The need to make them pay burned through my blood. My mother had been buried years ago, and no one would ever be able to prove her accident had been anything but. But Seth had staked his life on making his mother’s killer’s pay, and according to him, he had found the evidence he needed.

Maybe I could find justice for him.

Maybe it would give me a taste of the peace that eluded me.

He leaned his head back on the bed. “Oh, to be young and idealistic.” He closed his eyes and tears streamed