Page 34 of Trace of Doubt
Summary dismissal could be welcomed or scrape at a nerve, and I refused to cause a scene. I’d find the writer on my own. “No, sir. Thank you for your time.”
I left theValleysburg Gazettewith a repeated reminder that the same laws informing the public of my prison release had also given me a second chance at life.
22
DENTON
If I were to learn the truth about Shelby, even if I’d been wrong all these years, I needed to investigate who’d targeted her. Midafternoon, I drove into town to talk to Sheriff Wendall. Time to come clean with him.
We met in his office with the door closed at my request. “I need to explain why I’m in Valleysburg.”
Not a muscle moved on his face. “What’s going on, Denton? Aren’t you a math teacher who needed to recover from your wife’s death?”
“No.”
He moved his Stetson to the corner of his desk and folded his hands. “Whatcha hiding?”
“I’m FBI Special Agent Allen Denton McClure on assignment. Not a math teacher or a widower. I work out of the Houston office.” I showed him my ID and continued with my mission to find out where Shelby Pearce had stashed the missing money.
“After all these years?”
“I worked the case as a rookie agent when she was arrested for murder. The money came from the Stovers’ nonprofit account.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have a thing to give you. She’s been here a week, and someone is trying to run her off. Is it you?”
Second person to ask me that. “Not my style. But Randy Hughes might be behind it.”
“Nah. He wants her out of Edie’s life. Claims she made a mistake in renting Shelby a cabin.”
“Do you think he’d confess his part?”
“He’s not behind the crimes against Shelby. Hughes can be a good cop.”
“Can be?”
“He’s wading through a few tough times.”
The sheriff wasn’t going to relay anything personal to me. I couldn’t blame him when I’d lied about my FBI position. “How many incidents do you know about?”
Sheriff Wendall frowned. “Three—the shot fired into Edie’s tire, the note shoved under Shelby’s cabin door, and the attempt to run her off the road. No leads.”
“There’s more. Yesterday she accused me of making threatening calls. I have no idea what was said to her. Thought I’d ask you to check her phone records.”
“Need a warrant.”
“Not if she gave you permission.”
“And why would she?” The sheriff raised an eyebrow.
“I told you she’d received threatening calls, and they weren’t from me.”
“Why did she suspect you?”
I told him about Shelby discovering my real identity. “She’s not happy with me right now. The other thing...” I produced the suicide-sympathy card from inside my jacket and told him how I came by it.
He took the card and snorted. “Let me get this right. You brokeinto her cabin, and while you’re there, someone slides this under the door. You take out after ’em, but you lose the trail and never see the person’s face.”
“Right.” Put that way, my actions sounded worse than I intended. “Take a look at the card’s contents.” I’d just confessed to breaking and entering, and the sheriff had valid reasons to arrest me.
