Stockton bit his tongue.
“Go ahead, say it.”
After another beat, he leaned in and muttered, “Between you and me, she probably overcooked the tooth. Those drills get hot. If you rush through without proper cooling, you can damage the nerve. You’ve probably got a little pulpitis. Hopefully, it’s just temporary and calms down, but you could lose the tooth. Are you taking an anti-inflammatory?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep up with that for a few days. Avoid stressing the tooth. No extreme temperatures. Stick to soft food.” Then he asked, “Who’s going to finish your crown?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Go see Dr. Tillman. That’s who I use.” He dug into a drawer, pulled out a card, and handed it to Jack. “Let him do an X-ray and make sure the nerve is still healthy. In 2-3 months, you’ll probably forget all about it, but if it still bothers you, come to me and we can talk about a root canal.”
“Thanks,” Jack said.
We shook hands again before we left, and I thanked him for his cooperation.
By the time we had stepped out of his office, Brenda had bagged the body, and her crew rolled it out atop a yellow gurney.
The sheriff had arrived, and he stepped out of Latham’s office after Brenda’s crew. He caught sight of us and didn’t look pleased. He pointed at us, then the ground by his feet, and demanded we get our asses over there.
JD and I hustled around the building to join him.
“This is your personal dentist?” Daniels said to Jack as we arrived.
“Not anymore.”
The sheriff frowned at him. “You two are off this case.”
Jack’s face wrinkled. “Why?”
“Conflict of interest. I hear you weren’t too happy with your recent procedure.”
“Hell no, I wasn’t!”
“I bet you’d like to take a dental drill to her without anesthesia.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t let her off that easy.”
The sheriff’s face crinkled. “Exactly my point.”
“He was with me at the time of the murder,” I said.
“Oh, sure. You guys would say anything to save each other’s asses.”
I scoffed at the notion of JD as a suspect. “You don’t think for a minute?—“
“No, I don’t. But someone else might.”
“Do you want the case solved or don’t you?” I said.
31
“You know I’ve got resources,” I said.
There was no denying we had certain capabilities the department didn’t have, and we got results. It was a powerful argument.
Daniels stared at me for a long moment. “I want this one by the book. Dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Don’t make me regret this.”
