Murderous Lawmen

"A friendly peck, yes. Go ahead."

He ignored that and kissed the women, who appeared to be in her mid-40s on the lips.

"You young devil," she said. "I suppose that's you true to character?"

"Yes do you have good news or are you here to arrest me?"

"We don't knowingly arrest good people."

"Those three men are in jail after a short court appearance this morning when they were charged with conspiracy to conceal evidence relating to suspected twin homicides. Other more serious charges will follow. We have got them by the balls Ash, mainly thanks to you."

Ash grinned and said Christine had a beautiful way with language.

She laughed and said she was so happy for him because when the trials were over he'd have closure if he let it happen.

"Yes and I think like that too. I take it a search of the well was productive?"

"Very much so. We recovered both murder weapons and your father's current diary in which there was a notation of the fight with the sheriff on the date it occurred and the threats the sheriff made to your father for knocking him down. Bates is suffering a bruised ego, is how your father recorded it."

"Fortunately the interior of the well was dry. We recovered clear images of your mother's prints on the gun that matched her prints we found on her wooden sewing box in the loft. Deputy Lynch's prints were found on the barrel of the handgun and also on the butt. There was one unfired cartridge in the recovered shotgun that was conclusively identified by the arms officer at the Sheriff's Department as the sheriff's missing shotgun."

"Omigod."

"We interrogated Tom Herbert and he broke down and confessed to knowledge of the conspiracy of the shootings. Both men had told him when they rushed into his house they'd shot your parents during a confrontation that went horribly wrong when your mother pulled a handgun on them and order them to leave the house. Mr Herbert said he suggested the well was a good place to get rid of the guns and watched the sheriff and deputy toss them down and then the sheriff tossed down a cattleman's diary."

"Gee that's really promising."

"Well Sheriff Bates continues to deny everything and claims his uncle is hallucinating. Fortunately our procedure is we interview suspects separately and when we played the recording to Tom Herbert's statement of the conspiracy and how the weapons were disposed of, Deputy Lynch broke down and confessed to grappling with your mother to take the handgun from her and it went off and a shotgun blasted behind him and he saw your father fall, bleeding profusely. He turned and saw the sheriff holding the shotgun, smoke still coming from one barrel and Sheriff Bates cried, 'Oh hell, I've just killed Jed Burton'. So your theory has turned out to be spot on. You won't get much joy from that but at least confirmation of what happened in that room that day should mean a very long time in jail for Bates and perhaps a shorter time for Lynch who will plead extenuating circumstances and will be given credit for assisting the with the case against Bates."

"Won't the sheriff claim credit to assisting the inquiry and the court if he changes his not guilty plea?"

"I think from the jury's point of view that would be a waste of time. Sheriff Bates called on your father to give him a bashing, probably with his shotgun, in revenge for your father knocking him down. But the plan went wrong and it is logical to believe he thought he'd have to kill your father to avoid having a hostile witness explain what had happened in that ranch house that day."

As Ash thanked Agent Oliver one more time he reached over and kissed her again and this time she kissed back as if she meant it.

"Good bye for the time being, you lovely man, and get a first-class claims attorney because when this case reaches its conclusion you will be in line for a very big claim against the State for compensation because one of its senior lawmen gunned down your father."

Ash called Clara's school but not unexpectedly her phone was switched off. He called admin and gave his phone number and asked for Clara to call him urgently.

"Hi is everything okay?"

"Clara this morning Bates, Lynch and Herbert appeared on court on a charge of conspiracy in respect of a homicide with other serious charges to be laid later. They are in jail with application for bail denied."

"Omigod how wonderful. Did the leader of that investigation team call you with the news?"

"She's just left. She drove all that way to tell me in person. It turns out my theory of what happened in the ranch house that day is absolutely correct. Lynch has admitted that and the investigators recovered both guns and dad's missing diary from a deep well on Herbert's ranch. He and Lynch admit to being involved in a conspiracy. At present Bates is denying any involvement in a killing cover-up. It's unlikely he knows the other two have confessed their involvement. He'll crumble when he finds out they've bleated and the weapons have been found. The diary records dad knocked down Bates that day when Bates told the Coroner that was untrue. I'm no expert but I reckon Bates is a goner."

"I do too."

"Great. Well get back to your class. I'll be waiting at your place for when you come home from school. Fortunately I don't have soccer coaching this afternoon. God I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from me."

That night Clara asked Ash if he were interested in marrying her.

"Oh for sure."

"Soon?"

"Um not until that sheriff and cohorts are put behind bars for a very long time."

"But that could take a year."

Ash said grimly or longer.

"Then can we move in together somewhere?"

"Yes. Let's begin to look around the city for an apartment or house this weekend, something you really like, something good. I have money, we could buy rather than rent."

"Omigod, I'd like that. You know when we do that we can have sex all night, every night."

Ash grinned and thought he was glad he hadn't put a dampener on their cohabitation. Jeeze, all night and every night ... who was she kidding?

THE END