“You trespassed on his property. He’s the victim here,” Ray said in answer to Troy’s insolent question, “and I didn’t want him kicking your ass.”
Troy stopped abruptly and stuck his face in Ray’s. “You think that son of a bitch can kick my ass? No way. I’ll be doing the ass kicking, by God. You should’ve let me do it tonight.”
“You mean the way you were when we pulled Austin off you?” Ray hated to rub it in, but somebody had to wake this guy up. “Austin didn’tsurvive ten years in prison without learning a few things. You’d better think about that before you start anything else with him.”
Ray ignored the rage flashing in Troy’s eyes. He’d cleaned up, but his nose was probably broken. He refused to go to the hospital. Keith, however, was almost too calm.
“Now, I’m going to ask you this one more time,” Ray warned, hoping he’d get a straight answer. “Did either of you have anything to do with that fire or the vandalism? You both swore you had nothing to do with the vandalism and we found no evidence to the contrary, but I need to know. As a friend,” he tacked on. “No use wasting resources looking for perps if I’ve got ’em right here in front of me.”
Troy’s mouth twisted with the words he no doubt wanted to hurl at Ray; then he relaxed visibly and spoke with amazing calm. “All right, I admit it. I busted up the bastard’s shit. But I didn’t start that damn fire. I’m just sorry as hell he didn’t burn in it.”
Keith rested his head in his hands. “Dammit, Troy, what the hell are you thinking?”
Ray exhaled a fraction of his frustration as he shook his head with utter exhaustion. “What about you, Keith? You have anything to do with any of this?”
“I heard about the fire on the news—”
“He’s a pussy,” Troy snarled. “He ain’t done shit. Trust me on that. What I wanna know is,” he bent down and flattened his palms on the table so he could glare directly at Ray once more, “are you gonna charge Austin for assault? We got plenty of witnesses. He went after Larry when your own deputies were attempting to load him into the squad car. Larry’s face is in worse shape than mine.”
“I figure you’re even.”
“What?” Troy’s outrage overtook his good sense again. He reared back, his hands now clenched into fists at his sides. “You’re gonna just let him get away with this shit?”
“As far as what he did to Larry, he goaded him into the incident. Larry already admitted to busting that windshield. He’ll be paying forthat and Perry will be pitching in.” Ray held up a hand when Troy would have started shouting again. “As for you two, we’ll just call it even.”
Before Troy could go off, Keith asked, “Even how?”
“Since you guys got away with running Clint off the road and trashing his place, he’ll get by with assault. Any more questions?” Did they really think he wouldn’t hear about the incident on Highway 18? Guys like Troy, good guys at heart, couldn’t keep that kind of thing a secret.
“This is not over,” Troy threatened.
Ray got up, opened the door. “It is over. Now go. Before I change my mind and keep you overnight.”
Violet was waiting to drive them both home. Ray looked each man in the eye as one then the other moved toward the door. “The law took care of the beef you have with Austin ten years ago whether he deserved it or not. Anything you do now is only going to hurt you and your families.”
Troy banged his fist against the wall before storming out. Keith glanced at Ray, his gaze steeped with regret, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
Ray had had enough. More than enough. This bullshit had to end. The fire at Clint’s house and keeping the peace was heavy on Ray’s plate just now. He didn’t need Troy and his buddies acting up. The past was history. Over. There was nothing anyone could do to change it. No amount of digging around in it or pilfering through files would bring back Heather Baker. And it sure as hell wouldn’t give Clint his life back.
What was done, was done.
32
Sunday, July 21; 8:00 a.m.
Emily was going to Ray with her suspicions.
Sidney Fairgate, if he could be trusted at all, had pretty much verified Clint Austin’s alibi. The revelation forced her to understand just how significant this secret her father carried was. Just how life altering.
Why would he let an innocent man go to prison?
Her father wasn’t like that.
Those unpleasant moments at the Austin home last night kept elbowing into her thoughts. Reminding her that her parents and everyone else she’d ever cared about around this town were disappointed in her ... had been hurt by her actions. And would only be hurt further by what she was about to do.
But she had to do the right thing. Heather’s killer was out there somewhere. If Clint Austin was innocent, and it sure looked that way just now, he deserved to have his name cleared. The whole community deserved the truth. More importantly, a killer needed to be brought to justice. For Heather.
That Clint had gone after Larry Medford last night in Emily’s defense had made her remember more of those feelings she didn’t want to recall. The way he’d made her melt with just a look ... before all the pain and tragedy. The way he moved, his smile, his voice, every single thing about him, had made her want him back then.
