seven o’clock. Jenny’s already there, cooking his favorites.”
Savich told her about Griffin’s call and his own follow-up call to the bizarre woman at the sheriff’s station. “I believe this Sheriff Bodine has taken him and a woman whose name I don’t know to jail, apparently for no good reason. Griffin was worried, especially for the woman. The sheriff refused to speak to me and his dispatcher hung up on me. Before I call the Richmond Field Office, get them over to Gaffer’s Ridge, can you tell me about this sheriff?”
Aimée Rose stopped wiping the long counter in the kitchen. “This is bizarre. I can’t imagine what happened. All right, the sheriff’s name is Booker Bodine and he’s a pompous moron, and a bigot as well. But here’s the thing, he’s the sheriff because his family, the Bodines, are fixtures here, they’ve practically owned Gaffer’s Ridge for generations. The sheriff’s father, Calder Bodine, was sheriff before his son. The largest bank is owned by Quint Bodine, the sheriff’s brother. He’s the rich one, also owns a car dealership, a half dozen retail stores, and lots of land with mineral rights he leases out for big bucks.”
“What has Sheriff Bodine done to qualify as a moron and a bigot?”
“He hates that Jenny and I are gay and live together openly and don’t keep it in the closet, where he thinks such perversions belong. But he loves Jenny’s Mexican food as much as everyone else in town, so he doesn’t sneer at us when he comes to get fed. As far as I know, and I would know, he doesn’t talk trash about us around town, either. He wouldn’t dare. But I’m sure as I can be if Jenny’s Café wasn’t so popular and say instead we owned one of the antique stores, he’d be busy trying to run us out of Gaffer’s Ridge, tarred and feathered with signs around our necks. I suppose I have to give him credit for running a tight, peaceful town. Hardly anything bad happens here, no drugs, no gangs, no violent crime.
“Now, Agent Savich, you said Griffin’s in jail, with a woman? That’s crazy. He doesn’t know anyone in town other than Jenny and me. Listen, let me call Jenny, close the café, and get over to the jail, see what’s going on.”
“Another moment, Ms. Wallberger. You said nothing bad ever happens?”
“Sorry, my head’s spinning about Griffin. Something terrible happened three months ago—a young local girl named Heather Forrester disappeared without a trace. Turns out two other girls—all of them sixteen, or close, I think—have disappeared a month apart from two other towns in the area. They’re all still missing, maybe kidnapped or dead. So far as I know there are no clues as to who did it. Our customers with teenage daughters are really scared. I mentioned the missing girls to Griffin, but how could he know anything? He only just got here. So why is the sheriff pissed enough to put him in jail?”
Her voice had risen an octave. Savich said, “I don’t know yet, but the sheriff will have a reason. Call and ask if they’ll let you see Griffin and get back to me. Tell him I’m calling Bettina Kraus. I’ll try to be there tomorrow.”
He punched off his cell, looked over to see Sherlock listening to his end of the conversation, an eyebrow arched. “Dillon?”
He felt a leap of hope, she saw it and quickly shook her head, whispered, “I’m sorry. I used your first name because I heard Agent Noble call you Dillon. And since you’re my husband, I figured I did, too.”
“Yes,” he said. “You do.” And he told her what he knew about Agent Griffin Hammersmith.
He watched her take it all in. “You had a flash of memory of Griffin, that’s a good start.”
“Yes, but I didn’t recognize the agents who visited.”
“Like I said, seeing Griffin is still a good start.”
She hoped so. She found herself looking at him again, really looking. He was a big man, tall and fit, muscular, no doubt about that, with his hard face, dark eyes, and thick black hair, a little too long. If she saw him on the street she’d think he was hot, maybe turn around, slip her phone number in his pocket. And this man was her husband. She’d slept with him, had a child with him, fought with him, played with him. In her mind, such as it was at the moment, that meant she could trust him. She