can observe. If he really believes I did this, Lee, Darby could get caught in the cross fire. She nearly did already.”
“All right. All right, I’ll take you back.”
Lee led him back, unlocked the steel door to the trio of cells. Stu, his back to the doors, snored like a freight train on the cot in the far right cell.
Draper sat on the cot in the far left, and leaped up the instant he saw Zane.
“You sumbitch.” He shot an arm through the bars, trying to grab Zane. “I’ll kill you first chance.”
“Making a credible threat in front of a police officer’s only going to keep you from making bail.”
“Fuck you, fuck your bail. I got other sons.”
“Yeah, you do,” Zane agreed, eyes steady. “Maybe you’d like to keep the rest of your family out of a cell. Here’s how it is. I had people, dozens at my house last night, some of them up to about midnight. I’m with Darby McCray—”
“That whore help you kill my boy?”
His years in the DA’s office had that sliding off his back. “I’d say we settled in to sleep about one this morning. About four—eight after, actually, as I looked at the clock when I rolled Darby to the floor—I was wakened by the sound of gunfire and breaking glass. The exterior doors to my bedroom shattered.”
“Did that yourself, that’s what I say. Trying to fuck with my boy.”
Calmly laying out the facts, Zane continued, “I told Darby to stay down, got over to my closet, got my ball bat in case whoever was shooting broke in. We called nine-one-one. What time did the call log in, Chief?”
“Four-eleven.”
“Sounds right. I stepped on some glass. I expect there are police photos of my bloody footprints. I was pissed, going to go out with the damn bat, but Darby talked me out of it. She cleaned up my foot, and the cops came. Arrival time, Chief?”
“Four-sixteen.”
“You stop and think. How the hell did I get to Clint, get his rifle? Why the hell would I take him to my place, into the woods, bash him with a rock if I had his rifle and meant him harm? And how the hell did I manage to get him into the lake when I had a houseful of cops?”
“You wanted him dead!”
“No, I wanted him to face charges, to face a jury of his peers. And somebody robbed me of the chance to see to that. I want to know who.”
“You was probably screwing that useless whore he married.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, when? You and I know your family kept eyes on her pretty much around the clock. I’ve got my own woman. I’ll make you a promise right now. If anything happens to her, I’ll come for you.”
“Zane.”
He shook Lee off. “That’s the language he understands. Traci’s my client, nothing more, nothing less. I’ll do my best by her. But when it comes to my woman, I’ll do a hell of a lot more. Stay away from me and mine, Mr. Draper, and use your head. Whatever you think of me, you’re smart enough to know I couldn’t be in two places at the same time.”
He walked out, waited while Lee locked the steel door.
“Probably didn’t convince him.”
Lee puffed out his cheeks. “He’s thinking about it, which is more than he did before. It’s a big stretch to try to twist you into it, and he’s starting to see it. It might not matter to him. You’re part of the why in his head. So be careful.”
“You, too, Chief. Same reason.”
“Comes with the job. Go on home.” Lee gave him a slap on the back. “Get some food in you.”
He did head home, thinking he needed to board up the bedroom doors, call his insurance company, see when he could get the doors replaced.
Boarding up meant getting some plywood, which meant borrowing a truck.
Maybe he should buy a truck. He wouldn’t be driving the Porsche through the winter anyway.
Just one more thing to think about.
He detoured to Darby’s, tried not to panic when he didn’t see her, the crew, the trucks. All he saw were the obscenities scrawled on her house.
The cops, he assumed, had taken the befouled doormat. One small blessing.
He pulled out his phone, texted:
Where are you?
On the job. The Marsh house. Lee cleared us to work. Where r u?
At your place. Can I borrow your truck?
Sure.?
I need to go buy some plywood to board up the doors. Custom doors, may take a while