“Does Olivia know?” he asked again, and the friendliness was gone from his voice.

“She knew about it. She just didn’t know when I planned to march,” Charlotte answered bluntly.

“So you don’t have an assembly permit?”

“There’s a logical reason we don’t, Sheriff,” Ben said. “We—”

“I’m sure there is. However, if you don’t have a permit, I’m going to have to ask you to disperse and leave the area.”

“We aren’t causing any trouble,” Ben said.

“We come in peace,” Laura insisted, sounding as if she’d just alighted from an alien spaceship.

“But we mean business!” Bess’s sign flashed back and forth in the sheriff’s face.

Glaring at her, he caught the wooden stem with one hand and took it from her. “Mrs. Ferryman, kindly go home.”

“I was his third-grade teacher,” Bess whispered to Charlotte.

“Officer, I appreciate your problem, but we are on a mission,” Ben started. “We—”

“I’m on a mission, as well,” Troy Davis said calmly. He held up his hand to attract the attention of the small protest rally. “I want you all to cease and desist, and go home peacefully. Now.”

“I refuse.” Laura punctuated her comment by pounding the wooden stick against the sidewalk.

“I do believe,” Charlotte said cheerfully, “that you’ll need to arrest us first.”

Sheriff Davis cast an exasperated look at the small group.

“Charlotte,” Ben warned, his voice low and uncertain, “don’t give the man any ideas.”

“Sheriff Davis knows how important a health clinic is to our community.”

The lawman nodded. “I do know, and personally I agree with you, but the law is the law.”

“Do you think he’ll handcuff us?” Helen asked, tugging at Charlotte’s sleeve.

Charlotte could see that her friend was wavering. “Of course not,” she assured her.

“Don’t count on it, ladies.” Sheriff Davis released a snap on his belt and brought out a pair of handcuffs. He held them up and dangled them from his fingers for all to see.

Bess gasped and raised her hand to her chest. “I don’t want to be strip-searched.”

“I’m not making any guarantees,” Sheriff Davis said, looking at her as though he had X-ray vision.

Bess shrank back behind Laura.

Charlotte strengthened her resolve and hoisted up her sign once more. She’d come this far and wasn’t about to back down now. Ben and her friends would have to make their own decisions. She’d already made hers.

“Five minutes,” Sheriff Davis informed them. “If you haven’t dispersed in that time, I’m afraid I’ll have to call for backup and you’ll all be arrested for unlawful assembly.”

Charlotte knew what she had to do. She turned to face her dearest friends—Helen, Bess, Laura and the others. She hated the thought of them in a cold, damp cell in the basement of the police station, but there were times a person had to take a stand. “The sheriff states that unless we disperse, we’re headed for the slammer.”

The group cried out in protest.

“We have five minutes. As for me, I’m staying right where I am. Each one of us should make our own decision.” Having said that, she placed a hand on Bess’s shoulder. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to go to jail.”

Bess considered her words, and then seemed to steel herself mentally. “I’m staying,” she announced, glaring defiantly at the sheriff. “Troy Davis, I remember you cheated on that spelling test. I never should’ve voted for you. You aren’t to be trusted.”

The small group gathered into a tight knot, buzzing with indecision. To her surprise, it was Ben who raised his hands and spoke. “Perhaps we should reconsider.”

A chorus of loud protests instantly followed. Ben looked at Troy Davis and shrugged. “I tried, Officer.”

“Unfortunately, you didn’t try hard enough.” The sheriff glanced down at his watch—five minutes must be up—and then without another word, marched over to his patrol car. He turned his head and spoke into the small transmitter attached to his shoulder. He was making good on his threat, Charlotte realized, and calling for backup.

A few minutes later, two patrol cars rolled into view. Charlotte groaned inwardly.

Olivia wasn’t going to like this one bit.

Twenty-Nine

Roy McAfee received the long-awaited phone call the second week of April, almost a month after Davis had sent the water bottle found in Maxwell Russell’s car to the county lab for testing. He asked Roy to stop by his office as soon as possible.

Within ten minutes of that call, Roy was headed out the front door of his office.

“Was that Sheriff Davis?” Corrie asked, glancing up from her desk as he breezed past his wife.

Roy nodded and reached for his coat. “Apparently the lab found something.” He’d known they would, and he felt vindicated. Now maybe they could get somewhere with this case.

“The sheriff isn’t exactly the most popular man in town at the moment,” Corrie said as she pointed to the latest edition of The Cedar Cove Chronicle.

Roy tried unsuccessfully to disguise a smile. The front page of The Chronicle had shown a photograph of a disgruntled Sheriff Davis and two deputies handcuffing a group of senior citizens. Roy would say one thing—this small and lively band of retirees had certainly gotten their message out.

“I can’t help feeling sorry for Davis,” Roy murmured.

“Of course your sympathies would lie with the lawman, but as far as I’m concerned, Mrs. Jefferson and her friends have a good point.”

“There are other ways of getting the city to provide a health clinic without violating the law.”

Roy should know better than to argue with Corrie; as usual, she had an immediate comeback. “The article said Mrs. Jefferson and Mr. Rhodes have done everything by the book and didn’t get anywhere, because of the budget cuts. You and I both know what it’s like to ram our heads against City Hall.”

“Sheriff Davis was only doing his job.” Frankly, Roy wouldn’t have wanted to be the one responsible for escorting a group of old people to jail. From what he’d heard, it had been a madhouse, with several of the ladies demanding lawyers and going on about their constitutional rights. Apparently they’d viewed too many Law & Order reruns.

“I should’ve known you’d side with your friend,” Corrie said. “How would you feel, though, if that had been your mother or mine?”

He chuckled. “My mother’s been gone for a lot of years and as for yours—”

“Don’t even start, Roy McAfee,” she muttered.

But Roy saw that Corrie was trying not to laugh. On impulse, he walked around her desk and soundly kissed her.

Corrie looked up at him. “What was that for?”

“You’re nothing like your mother.”

“Roy!”

“Sweetheart,” he said, pleading innocence. “I love you.”

Laughing softly, she steered him toward the door.

Roy decided to walk the fifteen minutes to the sheriff’s office. His gut told him they were close to uncovering Russell’s secrets.

Troy Davis appeared to be waiting for him. He gestured to the chair and then shoved a file at him before Roy even had a chance to sit down.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The toxicology report.”

Roy reached for it and flipped it open. He scanned the first three pages before his eyes landed on flunitrazepam. He raised his eyes to the sheriff’s. “That drug—what is it?”

“Brand name is Rohypnol.”

That was a name Roy recognized. The date-rape drug, as it was commonly called. He’d seen the effects of it during his years on the force. It’d been referred to as “roofies” when it first hit the streets in the early nineties.

Very clever choice, Roy mused as he read over the report. Not the type of drug anyone would typically use to kill a man over fifty. “No wonder it took the lab a month to find it,” he murmured, thinking aloud.

“Whoever killed him dissolved it in the bottled water. It’s tasteless and odorless—and it’s a potent tranquilizer. When it’s given in large doses, the obvious happens.”

Roy knew that, too. A large enough dose would have lethal consequences.

Roy set the file on the sheriff’s desk. “All that confirms is what we’ve both suspected. Russell was murdered.” Unfortunately, the toxicology report didn’t reveal who’d poisoned him or why.

The sheriff relaxed in his chair and steepled his fingers as he rested his hands against his abdomen. He looked directly at Roy. “It could’ve been Beldon. He had opportunity.”

Years of police work and intuition said otherwise. At one point, Roy had had his suspicions. There’d still been a lot of missing facts, and he hadn’t wanted to cloud the issue with emotion. That was the reason he’d felt he couldn’t be Beldon’s friend. In the time since, Roy had come to like and trust the other man.

Bob claimed not to recognize his old army friend, which left motive in question. But even if he had recognized him, that wasn’t cause enough to murder him, in Roy’s opinion. “Frankly, I doubt it.”

Sheriff Davis gave him a hint of a smile. “I don’t see it falling that way myself.”

“Don’t forget, the bottle was in the car.”

“Right.”

That didn’t automatically clear Beldon, but it suggested Russell had brought the water with him.

“Do you think it could’ve been a random killing?” Roy asked. There seemed to be more of them these days.

He could tell that Davis had considered the same idea. “Perhaps, but I think it’s unlikely.”

Roy nodded. Too many factors in this case, including the method used, led him to believe the murder hadn’t been a random anything. Whoever they were dealing with was smart. And vicious.

“I don’t think this was the first attempt on Russell’s life, either,” Roy murmured.

“My thoughts exactly,” the sheriff said. He straightened, leaning toward his desk. “The car accident that killed his wife sounds mighty convenient to me. I read the report, but there’s nothing I can put my finger on. No real evidence.”

The crash had been attributed to driver error. In light of recent events, he wondered. Two of the men who’d been together in the jungle that day were dead and both had died under peculiar circumstances.

“What about Dan Sherman?” Roy asked. “Are you convinced it was suicide?”

The sheriff didn’t hesitate. “No doubt. He left that letter, too.”

Roy didn’t like the route his mind was taking him. Two men were dead, one of them murdered. If Bob wasn’t involved—and both Troy Davis and Roy were sure he wasn’t—then that led Roy to one conclusion.

“Bob Beldon’s in danger,” he said.