Stranger in Town - By Cheryl Bradshaw Page 0,25

“I’m sure you’re aware of why Mr. Tate came to see me.”

Detective McCoy removed his hat and placed it on the cushion beside him. “I am.”

“Then what you’re really asking me is whether I know something you don’t.”

He sighed.

“S’pose so.” He leaned back, tugging on a bit of chin hair. “Well, do you?”

“There is one thing,” I said.

Detective McCoy’s eyes electrified, almost changing color. “What did he tell you?”

“I can’t say right now,” I said. “Not yet.”

Detective McCoy contemplated my statement like he was trying to decide what he should do next, which was fine with me. I wasn’t going to tell him either way.

“In all my years of police work, I’ve never had a case like this,” he said. “Sure, there have been a few murders now and again, but not more than I can count on one hand, and none I couldn’t solve. The responsible party has always been obvious. I thought that’s how I’d retire. I’d go out like all the others before me, quiet and unnoticed, without ever having the kind of case that keeps a man up all night wonderin’ if he’d missed something.”

He hung his head and continued.

“Do you want to know somethin’? For a while, I actually felt a little like I’d been robbed, not havin’ a case like this, until I got it. Now I’d do anything to go out as the quiet guy. I feel incapable of doing the job I was sworn in to do. I can’t go anywhere in this town without feelin’ like I’ve let everyone down. I can see it in their eyes every time they look at me. I’ve gotten to know Savannah Tate so well over the months, I feel like she’s my own child.”

The emotions of others had always been hard for me to endure. As a child, the verbal tongue-lashing my sister and I received from our father, combined with the physical abuse he unleashed on my mother, shut me down almost completely, and I never felt like I’d fully restarted. I wasn’t devoid of feelings—I’d always felt an iota of something—but it seemed like it wasn’t ever the same thing other people felt.

“Detective McCoy, I don’t mind sharing what I know. In fact, I want you to know. I just need to speak with Mr. Tate first.”

“When do you plan on seeing him next?” he said.

“I’ll be stopping by his house today. Can we meet up again this evening?”

He grabbed his hat and stood up, pleased with the progress he’d made. He took out his wallet and handed me his card. “My home number is there,” he said, pointing. “It’s the best way to reach me. I’m not much for cell phones. I have one, but I forget to charge the damn thing.”

I nodded and accepted the card.

Detective McCoy hesitated a moment.

“Is there anything else?” I said.

“You’ll have to forgive my boy,” he said. “Cade’s having a hard time seeing me go through all of this. But he doesn’t mean you any harm. He’s just trying to help his old man.”

“Cade said he’ll be taking over your position.”

“Looks like it,” he said.

“Have you worked together long?”

He shook his head.

“Cade went into law enforcement right out of high school, but then he got married and decided to move away.”

“Why?”

“His wife,” he said. “She was determined to live by her family. She didn’t want much to do with ours. I never understood why. But back then, Cade didn’t deny her anything. He would have moved anywhere just to make her happy.”

How very codependent of him.

“And now? How does she feel about living here?”

“Cade’s wife walked out on him a couple years back. Took off with some guy she’d met at work. Left Cade to raise their daughter on his own. That woman just walked out. No note, no warning. She didn’t even bother taking her things. Not that I’m complaining. Finally gives his mother and me the chance to get to know our granddaughter. I’m not gonna lie, we’re glad he’s home.”

The world had changed in a profound way since my grandparents were young. Back then people fought for their marriage, worked things out, didn’t give up on each other so easily. People respected each other. They worked hard, and it wasn’t easy, but they were happy. Most of the time, anyway. That’s what my grandpa had always said.

But things had changed. The world had changed. Men and women were impatient and selfish and rushed. They didn’t like it when things didn’t “feel” right.