“Can I help you?” said a voice from her right.
Ruby turned to see Birdie, Hank Merrow’s aunt, seated at her usual place in front of the dispatch radio.
“Hi, Birdie. Actually, I’m looking for someone. I thought he might be here with a sketch artist.”
“Sketch artist? Nope, nothing like that going on here.”
“Okay. Well, thanks.” She turned to go.
“Maybe you want to see the prisoner? That’s the only guy here now.”
“No.”Surely not.“I don’t think so. He was a witness, not a suspect.”
“Hmm. Well, sometimes things change when a person least expects it.” Birdie’s expression was set to gossip mode and her smile was mischievous.
“What do you mean?”
“The prisoner we have in custody right now used to be a witness. Pretty soon he’ll likely be headed for the big house.”
“Aunt Birdie!” The Sheriff called from across the room. “He’s not headed for the big house.” He paused. “At least not yet.”
“He’s locked up. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me he’s a suspect, not that he’s guilty.”
“Whatever.” Aunt Birdie’s gaze moved back to Ruby. “So, are you here to visit the prisoner?”
“Maybe. Depends on who it is.”
Sheriff Merrow crossed the room to join them. “Normally, I wouldn’t be obligated to tell you anything you asked for, but the man we have in custody sent me to give you a message.”
“Me? Who is it? What message?”Don’t say Max. Don’t say Max.
“Max asked me to let you know he won’t make it to dinner tonight.”
“You had a date with a prisoner?” Birdie asked and leaned eagerly forward in her seat.
Ruby ignored her question and asked one of her own. “Why would you arrest him? I asked and he told me he didn’t do it. He reallydoeshave to tell me the truth.”
The Sheriff’s brows lowered in confusion. “Be that as it may, we watched the video feed from the fountain area. It shows Max walking into the frame with the paper sack, leaving it beside the fountain and…well, he looked up directly into the camera for several seconds and then he left. Less than an hour later, the bag exploded into a contained circular pyre going straight up into the air, but with no shrapnel spray. We’re just lucky no one got hurt.”
“Max would never do that. Besides, what kind of explosion goes straight in the air without shrapnel?” Ruby truly wanted to know.
Behind her, Bubba Thorne walked into the station. “I know the answer to that question.”
Chapter Thirteen
Max paced the small jail cell, a thousand thoughts racing through his head. He could only take about three and a half steps before he had to turn around and go the other way. The familiar panic of being incarcerated yet again for something he didn’t do reared up in his mind, making him want to scream and wail and not stop until someone released him or knocked him out cold. He barely had a lid on his dread. Did the Earth colony have a gulag? Was it worse than XkR-9? Maybe he didn’t want to know.
After being shooed away from the aftermath of the fountain blast, Max had gone back to work and explained to his employers what happened at the Black and Orange Ball that led him to Ruby.
Bubba laughed out loud when he heard about the love spell and truth spell put on him by two intoxicated witches. Max understood it sounded ridiculous, but worried more about the love spell being removed than having it remain. He and Ruby planned to visit the two older women before dinner to have the spells removed. He vowed to himself he would tell her again that he loved her and wanted to marry her regardless of what happened when they removed his spellbound feelings.
He texted Ruby to let her know he was on his way and practically skipped to the mercantile building. He couldn’t wait to hang out with her.
Max passed the Sheriff’s office just as Hank Merrow exited in a hurry, heading in his direction.
