He scheduled a pick up for Desiree’s body and went about collecting the evidence. With a plastic bag, he snatched up the black candle and stuffed it under the seat in his truck. It felt wrong but it was the only option. There was no time to worry about it, however. He needed to find a way to address the town and avoid the inevitable panic this death would cause. A curfew or some form of martial law might be the answer but he was unsure. Harrison knew he had a hard time ahead of him. He had no idea how much worse it was all going to get.
Chapter Fourteen
"If you know something, say something," Harrison said from the town hall stage. With another body found, he had decided to call another town meeting. Of course, he left out certain details such as the candle and Sasha’s carved name. There was no need to further implicate her in a crime she clearly had nothing to do with.
The crowd murmured together as everyone talked amongst themselves. "Together, we can put a stop to these horrific crimes. That’s why I’m urging anyone with any information to come see me directly. Someone here knows something and it’s your responsibility to speak up, even if you don’t think it’s important. If someone you know is spending time out of the house at odd hours of the night, I need to know about it. Every little detail counts here, people."
"Investigate the new woman," a voice cried out. Several other voices shouted out in agreement. Sasha, sitting in the back of the room, could only shrink down so low. If the room erupted into a violent mob and turned on her, which seemed quite likely, she wanted to be as well out of sight as possible.
"People, get a hold of yourselves," Harrison boomed over the increasing noise. "At this time, we don't have any suspects. If anyone has a reason to suspect someone, bring it to me in private."
"None of this happened until she came to town. That’s reason enough for me!" A voice cried out.
“Yeah, she brought it with her from the city. I read it in the paper!” Another yelled.
"Jesus Christ," Harrison whispered, not entirely sure if everyone had heard him or not. "People, please. We might be a small town, but the constitution is still in effect here. Everyone is still innocent until proven guilty. Now, I don't want to hear any more baseless accusations. If you have hard-"
A voice cried out from the crowd, "I say you arrest her just to be safe. What harm would it do?" This seemed to spark the attention of the crowd. Many whispered their agreeance. Others clapped and some cheered. Harrison's blood began to boil. They were scared, he understood as much. But the accusations were wildly unfounded. There was nothing which connected Sasha to the crime scenes. At least, nothing the town was aware of. At that moment, Harrison knew he had made the right decision. This town hall meeting would have taken a violent turn had they known Sasha was somehow connected to it all.
"People, I can guarantee Sasha is not involved in these killings. She has a strong alibi which proves she was nowhere near Desiree’s home during the time of the murder."
"So, you've questioned her?" Carol Leighter's voice called out. "Does that mean she was a suspect?"
Harrison shook his head, growing tired of the questioning. The meeting was not going at all how he had planned. Opposition was to be expected, sure. But these people were being blind, no ignorant. They didn’t want the truth, they wanted a scapegoat. To think someone from their innocent, small town could be capable of such atrocities was a hard truth to swallow. Instead, it was easier to blame the outsider. Harrison wanted hard evidence. He wanted to convict a murderer. Instead, he was having to defend a woman he already knew to be innocent.
"Carol, I need you to pull it back a bit with the articles. You're scaring the town. We have no leads and we have no suspects."
"So, you're saying it could be her?"
"No, I'm saying we need evidence before we act on anything. If you have something that incriminates her then bring it to me. Otherwise, trust me when I tell you she had nothing to do with last night’s murder."
This circus had to come to an end. The fact that Sasha hadn’t stormed out of the town hall already was a miracle. Though, Harrison feared how her doing so would make her look to the town. It was time to rope all of this in before real harm was done.
"And why not?" Carol persisted.
"My God, Carol. Please, let's drop the questions. I need you to be my eyes out there. You can't be working against me here."
"Then just tell me how she couldn't be involved in Desiree's murder!"
"I told you all, Desiree was sexually assaulted by the attacker. A woman could not have physically done it."
"Or, maybe she has someone working with her."
"Oh, for the love of, fine. Sasha couldn't have done it because she was at my home last night."
Before the words had lifted from his tongue, he regretted them. His face went red and he assumed Sasha's had done the same. Sheriff Harrison held his breath and waited for the inevitable collapse. Almost the entire town suspected the new woman in town to have killed their friends and neighbors and now they knew the sheriff had slept with her.
Sasha stood up and pulled her daughter
