ately her cell rang.
It was plugged in on her desk. She unplugged it and
flipped it open. It was Sheriff Canfield.
‘‘Interesting news,’’ he said. ‘‘The Atlanta police
can’t locate the Chen kid. His landlord hasn’t seen
him in weeks and the rent is overdue. The landlord
says Chen was real punctual with the rent despite the
ring in his nose. They collected the things you asked
for. I’ll send them over tomorrow.’’
‘‘That was fast. How in the world did you talk At
lanta PD into responding so quickly?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Rosewood has to fill out forms in triplicate to get
anything from them. That’s amazing.’’
‘‘One of the detectives is my son-in-law. The
boy knows to do what I tell him pronto,’’ said
Canfield.
Diane laughed.
‘‘Have you heard from the GBI about the bullet?’’
asked Diane.
‘‘That was my second bit of news. The GBI got a hit, and I don’t like it one bit. No, sirree, I don’t like
this one bit.’’
‘‘What is it?’’ said Diane.
‘‘The bullet we found in the field is from the same
gun that killed Mayor Spence Jefferies. How’s that for
a bad day? Now I have to deal with Rosewood. Janice
Warrick is the lead detective on this. She’s not too
bad,’’ he commented. ‘‘I’m still shaking my head about
Delamore trying to kill you. That’s why I hate to deal
with Rosewood. You never know when one of them
isn’t right in the head.’’
Talk of Delamore made Diane uneasy. The whole
event was just starting to sink in. The shock of it had
worn off, and what was left was the fear of what
might have happened, and the guilt over what did
happen.
‘‘Hopefully, he was unique,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m sure Ja
nice will be glad to hear about the bullet. And I know
she won’t try to kill you.’’
The sheriff chuckled. ‘‘Don’t count on it. My wife
says I make people mad on purpose.’’
‘‘Sounds like one shooter for the two murders,’’ said
Diane. ‘‘Chen and Jefferies. How odd.’’
Diane fiddled with the loose rock in the fountain
and dropped it on the floor. It rolled under her desk.
She bent and picked it up and put it back in its hole
in the fountain.
‘‘The bullet doesn’t match the one that killed yourall’s chief of detectives, Edgar Peeks,’’ said Canfield.
‘‘I understand that was from Garnett’s gun, and I have
to tell you, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Garnett
