Two Weeks Gone

"No problem." Eric got up and went out the office door. A minute later, Sammi could hear Eric's voice at the booth. "Hey, Lee. What's going on? Let me get you a beer."

"Uh, yeah," said Andy, "I gotta get home."

Eric was able to keep Lee at the booth for another 45 minutes and 4 beers before Lee finally said he had to get home. Eric went back around to the office entrance and went in, but Sammi was gone. He pulled out his phone and called her and got an automated text reply that said 'sorry, can't talk right now'. 10 seconds later he got another text that said stay there, be out in a minute'. He knew how to follow orders. 25 minutes later, Sammi came back into the office.

**********^**********

When Lee left the bar, he knew what he had to do. He drove the five minutes to his house and got his dad's old 22calibre revolver.

He started walking through the woods to Andy's house, trying to be as quiet as he could. He was gonna kill Andy, and maybe Seth. That must be why Jolene left town and hadn't called him. She knew she was found out and left. Bitch!

The trail from Web's merged with the one Lee was walking on and suddenly the ground got soft. Lee saw some footprints that were obviously Andy's, and some that were too small for Andy, but didn't think about it. He just hoped that there wasn't anyone else around. He realized that the smaller tracks were going in both directions, so whoever they belonged to had come and gone. The ground got hard again and the tracks disappeared.

Lee came to the fork in the trail and stayed to the left. A few minutes later he came to the edge of Andy's property and, as far as he knew, snuck across the yard. In reality, he stumbled across the yard. He had had a few beers and a couple shots at Web's and they were starting to hit him.

He snuck up to the back porch door and when he looked through, almost puked all over the deck. Andy was lying on the floor with a huge puddle of blood around his head. From what Lee could see, it looked like half his head was missing.

Lee didn't know what to do. He backed away front the house and them ran off the deck and around to the front of the house. He saw a sheriffs car driving by and fired off a shot from the 22 to flag him down.

The sheriff pulled into the driveway to a frantic Lee.

"Sheriff, come quick, Andy's in the kitchen!"

Sheriff Amos wasn't going anywhere quick. His 340 lb frame made sure of that. "What is it, boy? Slow down. Ain't you Jolene's husband?"

"Sheriff, Andy's in his kitchen, I think he's dead!"

"Slow down, son. Give me that there gun. Here, have a seat in the back seat, I'll go have a look."

Sheriff Amos walked, slowly, around the back of the house and up onto the deck. He went through the back door and looked at Andy's body. There was no doubt he was dead. On the kitchen table were copies of the pictures that Andy had given Lee of Seth wearing the women's undergarments.

He picked up the pictures and looked through them and saw other pictures of his son and Jolene having sex, and others with Jolene sitting on Seth's face. He put all the pictures in his pocket.

The Sheriff knew a couple things just from a quick look. First, Lee didn't kill Andy. Second, there was a possibility that Seth did. The Sheriff actually yelled out "FUCK!! That fuckin' boy! What the fuck has he got himself into?! I oughta go over and whip that boy's ass myself! FUCK!"

In reality, the Sheriff didn't care that Seth was fucking Lee's wife. That was Lee's problem, and Jolene was a hot little piece of ass. It was the pictures of his stupid kid in a garter belt and heels that was the problem. If those got out, he would be a laughingstock. He couldn't twist enough arms to get re-elected if that came out.

He'd have a little talk with Seth and Jolene both. He'd set Seth straight, and maybe take a crack at Jolene too. He could probably use these pictures to make her do anything he wanted, especially if her husband was in prison.

The Sheriff walked back to his car and squeezed into the front seat, his belly touching the steering wheel. He looked at Lee in the rearview mirror. "Why'd ya do it, Lee?"

"I didn't do it Sheriff."

The Sheriff picked up his radio and called into headquarters. "Base, gonna need a forensics team at the Wolow place. Gonna need the county medical examiner."

"Received," came the reply.

"Send over the new deputy, Johnson. Soon as he gets here, I'll be enroute to HQ with one suspect."

"Received, Sheriff."

Half a minute later another Sheriff's vehicle pulled up and stopped alongside Sheriff Amos' vehicle. "Listen up, boy. Andy's inside his kitchen, he's dead. Tell the M E he got shot in the back of the head and I already got the suspect, even had the gun with him. He don't have to go crazy with reports, already figured it out."

"OK, Sheriff."

"Base, I'll be enroute to headquarters with Lee Cooper. Is the Judge in his office?"

"I can see his car in the lot, so I assume he is, Sheriff."

"OK."

Lee sat silently in the back of the police car. He wanted Andy dead, and was glad he was, but wished he hadn't panicked and flagged down the Sheriff.

Sammi and Eric were still in the office at Web's. Web had a police scanner and the two could hear all the conversations. Neither panicked. "Well, Eric, looks like we gotta get a lawyer for Lee."

"My cousin's a para-legal in an Atlanta law firm, let me call him and see if he can get a local referral."

"We may as well head over to the police department."

Sammi and Eric pulled into the police department lot and Sammi started to get out. "Sammi, go ahead in, I'm gonna keep calling my cousin and try to get a local name."

"OK, I've got my phone with me."

Sammi walked into the building and heard voices to her right. To her left was the police department lobby, to her right were the hallways that led to the administrative offices for the township including the judges chambers. The voices she heard were around a corner but were unmistakeable.

One was the voice of the judge, who had a deep baritone voice and sounded like the judge in the movie 'My Cousin Vinnie'. The other voice was that of the Sheriff. Sammi hit the 'record' app on her phone and stood by the corner of the hallway.

"I got him in a holding cell right now."

"So charge him and finish getting the evidence together."

"Yeah...well...this is a tricky one."

"You made it sound pretty cut and dry."

"Yeah...well...it isn't, but it needs to be."

"What are ya gettin at Sheriff?"

"Look...Judge...it's kinda complicated. The Cooper boy killed Andy, and I need you to make sure everyone sees it that way."

"Sounds to me like maybe he didn't."

"Look Judge, let me lay this out for you. I found some pictures at Andy's house that show that my boy may be having an affair with Coopers wife. The pictures were...ummm...potentially embarrassing. I don't know if my boy was involved in the shooting or not. Hell, I haven't spoken to him in two weeks. Anyway, involved or not, things would be a whole lot better if the Cooper boy was the killer."

"Why don't you tell your kid to stop fuckin his wife?"

"Too late for that, Judge, the pictures are really bad. Look, Judge, I really need you to do this. The Cooper boy goes down for this, we'll be even."

"Even? You ain't never done anything for me."

"Sure I have, you just didn't know it. I kept my mouth shut about Stacy White."

There was a long silence before the Judge responded. "What about Stacy?"

"Well, you fucking a 15 year old girl...could be...umm...detrimental to your legal career."

"That girl's 21, Sheriff."

"She wasn't 21 the first time you fucked her, Judge. That girl's best friends with my niece, Judge. Let's just say that I got her to get me insurance a long time ago. I got pictures, Judge, and recordings. You didn't honestly think you could fuck around with a 15 year old kid and never have to pay for it, did you?"

"Look, Sheriff..."

"Judge, I don't care if you fuck around with half the kids in Pleasant Valley, not my problem. You do this for me and I'll lose every picture and every recording I've got. Even the video of the time you were out at her house when her parents went away for the weekend when she was 16 and they trusted her."

After another half minute of silence the Judge responded. "Fuck! This can't go bad. How we gonna do this?"

"I got a Lawyer friend on his way down. He's gonna talk the Cooper boy into letting him represent him, then talk him into a plea deal. I need you to impress upon the Cooper boy how bad it'll be if he doesn't plead out. This lawyer is so good that by the time he's done, Cooper will think he actually killed Andy."

"What are you gonna do about your boy."

"I'll set him straight Judge, you just worry about making sure the Cooper boy...well, you know."

Sammi turned and walked away and turned off her recorder. She went back out to her car and got in and listened to Eric on the phone. He was giving someone directions to where they were. After a minute he hung up.

"This gets better and better. The Sheriff and the Judge are colluding to frame Lee for the murder. The Sheriff found some pictures that Andy took when we saw him and knows what was going on. He's blackmailing the Judge into railroading Lee because he has evidence that the Judge is a pedophile and was fucking at least one 15 year old girl."

"Wow. OK, I got a referral for a defense lawyer that can be down here in a few hours. We just have to get Lee to keep quiet. We both know that as soon as they look at actual evidence, it's case closed, but we need to make sure he doesn't give a false confession. See if you can get in and talk to Lee and just get him to keep quiet."

"OK." Sammi went back inside and went to the left and into the Police Department lobby. She picked up the phone that went to to dispatcher and when it was answered, asked to see her brother. Sammi was told that the Sheriff would be out to see her in a minute.

Sammi sat on the bench in the lobby and waited for the Sheriff to come out. After about 10 minutes the Sheriff came into the he lobby with a smirk on his face. "Well, pretty lady, seems like your brother got himself into quite the situation. How'd you know he was here, He hasn't made a phone call yet?"

"I was over at Web's and heard it on the scanner. I need to talk to him."

"Well, if you were listenin', you know what he did. This could be really bad for him, Sammi."

"I know a lot more than you think, Sheriff."

"Look, Sammi, I like your brother. He ain't a bad guy. Now I don't know why he killed Andy, but I know what could happen to him for doin it. I'm willin to help him out with.the Judge, but I'm gonna need somethin in return."

Sammi leaned forward toward the Sheriff so he could see down her shirt, and in as a seductive voice as she could muster said "I'd do anything to keep my brother out of prison, Sheriff."

"I'll keep that in mind, Sammi. There's a lot I can do to help your brother. Maybe we can work something out. We'll see."

"Sheriff, i need to see Lee. I need to talk to him and make sure he's OK. You want me to 'be nice' to you, I need you to be on my side too." It was all she could do to not spit in his face.

"We don't normally let this kind of thing happen, but I guess I can make an exception. Follow me."

Sammi got up and followed the Sheriff from the lobby and through a door with a push button combination lock on the door handle, and into the administrative part of the department. She followed him down a couple hallways and into a small interrogation room. Lee was seated on the other side of a small table. On the close side was a heavy set man in a dark suit.

"The man rose and stuck his hand out, "pleasure to meet you, I'm Billy-Joe Winchester. I'll be representing your brother."

Sammi looked at the man without saying a word, then turned to her brother. "Lee," Sammi said, "don't say anything. Just please be quiet." She looked at the lawyer. "How did you know my brother was here?"

"Well, young lady, the Sheriff called me and said there was a young man in a heap of trouble that needed my help. Truth be told, you aren't helping by telling him to be quiet. I can't help him if I don't know what happened. Right now, all I know is what the Sheriff told me and it looks really bad for Lee, here."

"Lee, everything in this room is being recorded, don't say a fucking word, not even to this guy..."

"Hold on there," the Sheriff butted in, "I didn't bring you back here to start trouble, Missy. If you ain't gonna help the situation, you're gonna have to leave."

"Lee, please trust me, I know more than you think I do. I'll have a real lawyer here soon to help. Do NOT trust this backwoods lawyer! You gotta trust me! I promise I'll have you outta here in no time. You just gotta trust me."

"That's it little lady, you're outta here!"

"Not a word, Lee! Don't even say goodbye to these assholes! Not a word! Promise me!"

"I promise," Lee said in a weak voice. Sammi could see that the whole situation was taking its toll on Lee.

The Sheriff dragged Sammi out of the interrogation room and into the lobby. "You really fucked up Missy! If he don't talk and get real cooperative real soon, I may not be able to help him like I said I would. We goin to have to talk real soon about your attitude..."

"Fuck you. Mark my words, in a week you're gonna be looking for a job!"

"You ain't the first to tell me I'll be out of a job," the Sheriff laughed, "and you won't be the last. You're brother's gonna look good in prison orange."

"One week, asshole, on the outside. Maybe sooner." As she turned around, Eric was coming into the lobby. "How'd you make out E?"

Eric could tell there was a lot of tension in the room and stared at the Sheriff. "There's an attorney based out of Atlanta who is close by. He'll be here within the hour. What's going on?"

"Well, the asshole here actually thought I'd let him fuck me in return for "helping" my brother."

Eric turned to the Sheriff. "You know Sheriff, when you're not the Sheriff any more, we're gonna have a chat."

"You need to be careful who you threaten, boy."

"Wasn't a threat, it was a prediction. You trying to coerce my girlfriend's gonna have consequences. We'll be talking." With that he turned and walked out of the lobby at the same time grabbing Sammi's hand and pulling her with him.

"God, that was nice to hear."

"What, that I'm gonna have a chat with the Asshole?"

"No...that I'm your girlfriend." She smiled up into his face, still holding his hand.

***************

Two hours later, Eric's phone rang with an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is John Goldner, I'm an attorney with Schmidt Law Offices. I was given this number in reference to Lee Cooper."

"Hello Mr. Goldner, this is Eric Mitchell. We're at Lee's home now, I'm with his sister. Would it be possible to talk to your outside the police department?"

"I can request a conference room at the police department..."

"No. No way. Could we meet here at my girlfriends house?"

"Sure, send me the address. I'm at the PD now, I could come over there first if you think it would help."

"Sending the address now, we're ten minutes away."

*********

One hour later, John Goldner showed up at the police department picking up the phone and talking to dispatch. "Hello, my name is John Gardner, I'm the attorney who will be representing Lee Cooper. I don't really need to see Mr. Cooper yet, but it would be in the best interest of Sheriff Amos if he came out and talked to me."

********

"Mr. Goldner, why don't we go back into one of our conference rooms and talk about this. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence against Mr. Cooper and I..."

"Sheriff, I'm gonna do you a favor and refuse to go where we'll be recorded. Let's step out into the parking lot for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure that's all it's gonna take." With that, John Goldner turned and walked outside. The Sheriff hesitated for a few seconds, then followed him out.

Once the two were at the edge of the lot, they sat on a park bench. Mr. Amos..."

"That's Sheriff Amos," the Sheriff interrupted.

"Mr. Amos, I want you to listen to something for me." John Goldner pulled out a small voice recorder and gave it to the Sheriff. "Whenever you're ready, go ahead and hit play."

The Sheriff looked at the attorney for a few seconds then hit play.

"I got him in a holding cell right now."

"So charge him and finish getting the evidence together."

"Yeah...well...this is a tricky one."

"You made it sound pretty cut and dry."

"Yeah...well...it isn't, but it needs to be."

"What are ya gettin at Sheriff?"

"Look...Judge...it's kinda complicated. The Cooper boy killed Andy, and I need you to make sure everyone sees it that way."

"Sounds to me like maybe he didn't."

"Look Judge, let me lay this out for you. I found some pictures at Andy's house that show that my boy may be having an affair with Coopers wife. The pictures were...ummm...potentially embarrassing. I don't know if my boy was involved in the shooting or not. Hell, I haven't spoken to him in two weeks. Anyway, involved or not, things would be a whole lot better if the Cooper boy was the killer."

"Why don't you tell your kid to stop fuckin his wife?"

"Too late for that, Judge, the pictures are really bad. Look, Judge, I really need you to do this. This boy goes down for this, we'll be even."

"Even? You ain't never done anything for me."

"Sure I have, you just didn't know it. I kept my mouth shut about Stacy White."

There was a long silence before the Judge responded. "What about Stacy?"

"Well, you fucking a 15 year old girl...could be...umm...detrimental to your legal career."

"That girl's 21, Sheriff."

"She wasn't 21 the first time you fucked her, Judge. That girl's best friends with my niece, Judge. Let's just say that I got her to get me insurance a long time ago. I got pictures, Judge, and recordings. You didn't honestly think you could fuck around with a 15 year old kid and never have to pay for it, did you?"

"Look, Sheriff..."

"Judge, I don't care if you fuck around with half the kids in Pleasant Valley, not my problem. You do this for me and I'll lose every picture and every recording I've got. Even the video of the time you were out at her house when her parents went away for the weekend when she was 16 and trusted her."

After another half minute of silence the Judge responded. "Fuck! This can't go bad. How we gonna do this?"

"I gotta Lawyer friend on his way down. He's gonna talk the Cooper boy into letting him represent him, then talk him into a plea deal. I need you to impress upon the Cooper boy how bad it'll be if he doesn't plead out. This lawyer is so good, by the time he's done, Cooper will think he actually killed Andy."

"What are you gonna do about your boy."

"I'll set him straight Judge, you just worry about making sure the Cooper boy...well, you know."

The recording ended.

"You can keep that, Mr Amos, that isn't the only copy of that recording."

"Fuck! That little bitch!"

"The next time you disparage my client or anyone in his family, that recording gets released. I suggest you go back inside and 'realize' that you made a mistake and release my client. I don't know who killed Mr. Wolow, but we both know it wasn't my client."

The Sheriff sat back on the bench and looked up at the sky. "Fuck...she knew when she told me I'd be looking for a job...Fuck! All this because that little asshole had to fuck around with Cooper's wife! Fuck!"

"I want my client released within the hour, Mr. Amos. Ms. Cooper is more than a little pissed right now. You may want to start thinking about a career change."

"Fuck!"

"One hour, Mr. Amos. I'll be back." With that, the attorney stood and walked to his car and drove back to Sammi's house.