Cold Wind

Joe thought he had a point. Where was Bud?

“Mr. Hand,” Mouton said, “I’m aware of you and your reputation. I know you think you can dictate how things will go, because you’re a big man in this state and you appear on national television. But that’s not how we do things here. We’re not trying the case here and now. We’re trying to decide if there is a case.”

Joe thought, Tilden doesn’t like the guy. Maybe Missy had made a mistake bringing Hand in to defend her.

Mouton wasn’t through. He said, “Mr. Hand, let me give you just a little bit of friendly advice while we’re here at this very early stage. Phrases like ‘pillar of the community’ only work if the defendant is in fact a pillar of the community.

“For example,” Mouton said, “if the defendant has made choices over the years to acquire large family ranches in the area and immediately put locks on gates that have been used for years by locals, or all but refuse to participate in any of the civic activities within the county because she looks down her nose at them”—he shot a glance Missy’s way while he paused—“or has chosen to obtain all of her groceries, hardware, or agricultural supplies from out-of-town firms because she saves a few pennies, well, it is hard to characterize that person as a pillar of the community.”

Joe sat straight up in his seat.

“Yes, sir,” Hand said.

Joe thought, It’s both of them.

Tilden Mouton banged a gavel and turned to his assistant and said, to Marcus Hand and Missy, “You are hereby bound over for a preliminary hearing before me this Friday. I’ve spoken to Judge Hewitt, and he wants this to move along with all due speed. Bail will be set at one million dollars.”

“I object, Your Honor,” Hand said. “One million dollars is punitive and unnecessary. It suggests my client, this wonderful woman with roots deep in this place, might actually run away.”

“You don’t have to call me ‘Your Honor,’ ” Mouton said. Then: “Your objection is noted and denied.”

“Mr. Mouton, I have problems with the amount, but for a different reason,” Dulcie Schalk said. “Given the defendant’s ability to simply buy her way out of jail using her dead husband’s money, the county implores you to detain her rather than grant her bail.”

“We accept the bail amount, sir,” Hand said sheepishly, after a quick conference with Missy where their foreheads were touching, “and I plan to make the proper arrangements so my client will be able to sleep in her own bed by this very evening.” He lowered his voice so Joe and Sissy Skanlon had to lean forward to hear. “So she can properly grieve her murdered husband and try to figure out how she’ll ever get her life and her reputation back.”

Dulcie Schalk sighed and rolled her eyes while Sissy scribbled.

Joe wondered what it would be like to have access to a million dollars within a single afternoon.

“Until Friday,” Tilden Mouton said, nodding at Schalk.

As Joe approached his pickup in the parking lot, he heard his name called out. He looked over his shoulder to see Marcus Hand walking toward him in big loping strides. Hand had a bemused look on his face. “That was interesting,” he said. “I wish for our case the Aldens had bought more feed and trinkets in town. But that’s water under the bridge at this point.” He looked at Joe.

“I know you’re an honorable fellow,” Hand said. “Even Missy says it.”

“Good of her,” Joe said.

“My understanding is you know Bud Longbrake quite well—is that right?”

“Yup.”

“I’m getting the impression our prosecutor doesn’t know where he is right now, unless she’s more fiendish than she appears and she’s got him hidden away somewhere.”

Joe shook his head. “She’s not like that. Dulcie is a straight shooter.”

“Look,” Hand said, “my team will be arriving soon from Jackson and I’ve got PIs on retainer who can tear this little town apart. But it will take a few days to get them settled in and up to speed. Those are days we can’t afford if we hope to get an immediate dismissal. If you can determine Bud’s location before that and I can get a chance to interview him, well . . .”

Joe acted as if he didn’t understand.

“We might be able to kill this thing before it starts,” Hand said.

“I don’t know why you’re telling me this,” Joe said.

Hand put a big paw on Joe’s shoulder and gazed at him with warmth and sincerity that gave Joe a chill up his spine. “Let’s just say if you can help us, it would mean a lot to everybody you know and love,” Hand said. “And it would be the right thing. From what Missy tells me, that’s important to you.”

Joe turned for his pickup, and Hand said, “Not to mention it would be worth a lot to the both of us. Missy and me.”

Joe climbed in, slid the window down, and said to Hand, “You almost had me until that last bit.”

“Oh, darn,” Hand said with a mischievous wink.

AUGUST 26

The wind’s in the east. . . . I am always conscious of an uncomfortable sensation now and then when the wind is blowing in the east.