Chapter 20
Miller followed O’Reilly into the office. Miller’s first impression of the place was nothing like he had expected. Having listened toO’Reilly, he figured that they wouldn’t have any of the latest office equipment, let alone computer terminals that were in fact, perched on each of the several desks.
He glanced at his boss to catch his reaction, but Sean merely walked toward the secretary to have her tell her boss, Sheriff Higgins, that he, Chief Inspector O’Reilly and his sergeant Miller would like to see him.
After a short delay, the secretary, a Miss Stevens, said that the sheriff would see them right away and let them into his office.
The sheriff, a man with bronzed skin from years of enjoying the outdoors, shook hands with O’Reilly and Miller. His grip was firm, andMiller thought that this man could take care of himself if he had to.
“Good afternoon inspector O’Reilly. Sergeant Miller. What can I do for you?” He seemed quite civil and not at all like O’Reilly had madeMiller think that he might be like.
“Sheriff Higgins, we are investigating the murder of two men and we are interested in one of your former residents. A man by the name of Jake Caulder used to live here as a child. His mother was murdered and the case never was solved. Do you know anything about the Caulders, and what became of Jake after his mother died?”
“Why would you be asking about a case that was never solved so many years ago and what has that got to do with the two murders you mentioned?”
“We believe that this Jake may be directly involved in the two murders, and that he may have had something to do with his mother’s death as well.”
Higgins attitude began to change. “How old was this Caulder boy when his mother was murdered?”
“He was ten at the time of his mother’s death.”
Higgins stood there for a moment. His voice began to rise a little. “You can’t really expect me to believe that a boy of ten could murder his mother.”
He went over to his filing cabinet, and searched through past case files.
“I have only been sheriff here for ten years, but I know that everything that could be done was done. They figure that it was a drifter that passed through, and then left again without being seen by anyone.”
“That may have been what was reported,” O’Reilly said, his voice getting an edge to it now “but that is not what I believe happened. How did Mrs. Caulder die, sheriff?”
“It says here that she was bludgeoned to death. Her face was not recognizable when they found her.”
“The two murders that we are investigating happened the same way. Caulder’s boss, a Mr. Jacobs, was found with his face beaten to a pulp hours after he fired Caulder. The other man, a truck driver, had stopped at a diner where Caulder was, and two days later he was found with his face smashed in as well. If Caulder didn’t kill his mother, I’m pretty sure that it had quite an impact on him and he is now, I am sure capable of doing such a thing.”
“Inspector, everything that could be done was done. It was a drifter and that is that!”
“Sheriff, I’m not saying that everything wasn’t done. I can understand why no one would suspect a boy of ten. But anything is possible.”
Now, Sheriff Higgins mood was anything but friendly. “Don’t come down here with your high and mighty attitude and think that just because you come from the big city, your methods are any better than ours. We checked everything out and that is that. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do.
“Miss Stevens” he bellowed, “show these two out.”
As they went back outside, they heard the door slam.
“Well, that went well” muttered Miller.
“Shut up and get in the car.”
Miller did as he was told. He had seen his boss like this before, and he knew when to keep his mouth shut. O’Reilly was easy to get along with, but when someone got on his wrong side, he regretted it.
He remembered a few years back, they had stopped at a roadside diner to get a bite to eat. They were sitting in a booth, waiting for their food when two punks came in. They were loud and obnoxious.
As the waitress walked past them, one of the jerks grabbed her, causing her to spill coffee all over himself, Sean’s coffee as a matter of fact. The boy yelped because of the scalding coffee, jumped up and was about to hit the waitress when O’Reilly grabbed him and shoved him to the floor.
If the boy had had any sense, he would have stayed down, but he didn’t. He came up swinging. O’Reilly reacted so fast that Miller hardly saw the punches. Three or four were thrown, all by Sean, and the boy crumpled in the corner. His buddy tried to get at O’Reilly, but Sean wheeled around and with one punch, broke the lad’s nose and one more, he broke his jaw.
Two weeks later, after they were released from hospital, they were charged with assault by the waitress. It would be a while before they bothered anyone else again.
Miller learned then and there that if Sean told you to do something, you had better do it. Not a good idea to get on his bad side.
As they pulled away from the curb, Higgins was still yelling at his secretary and anyone else unfortunate enough to be near him. Higgins was also not a man to be trifled with. He stewed for a while, getting madder and madder at O’Reilly and his flunky, Miller.
When he got back in his office, he was fuming. “You two assholes will pay for your arrogance. Nobody talks to me like that and gets away with it.”
He started to formulate a plan of revenge to make them regret ever having crossed him. He took out a bottle of whiskey from the bottom drawer of his desk, poured himself a shot, and downed it in one gulp. It burned on the way down, but he didn’t mind. It helped to relax him.
As Sean and Miller drove off, they didn’t have the slightest idea that Higgins was plotting against them. They were too busy figuring out what to do next.
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