“Why? Because that’s how the Constitution is written,” he said. “Have you read it? I mean really read it?”
Mac shrugged and nodded. And had to take a constitutional law class in college, he thought, but didn’t say.
“Then it’s obvious that much of the regulation that interferes with our pursuit of happiness isn’t in there, Mac,” he said earnestly. “People aren’t happy. They feel betrayed. They think everyone gets a break but them. And they’re hardworking people. They deserve to own their homes, and without excess taxation for services they don’t want. They shouldn’t be paying taxes at all! They should be able to carry a gun, hunt when they want to, go to church and worship without people telling them they can’t believe a certain way.”
Mac frowned. “Wait, who’s telling them they can’t believe a certain way?”
“All these freaks who think it’s OK to be queer, or gay, or whatever they’re calling it these days? It’s not OK, the Bible says it isn’t,” he said. “Same with all these women who have to be treated equally. Where does the Bible say that? For that matter, where does the Constitution say that?”
“Let’s stick with gay rights, for a moment,” Mac said slowly. “Churches can believe what they want, but they can’t tell another person what to believe or how to live their lives. You think that’s a problem?”
“Hell, yes, it’s a problem! They get laws passed that say the Constitution protects their ways, but that’s not true. That’s why we’ve got to take back the courts,” Norton said vehemently. “Pretty soon we won’t have any control of our lives left.”
“Sheriff?” Angie said with a frown. “Who’s we? Who won’t have control?”
He rolled his eyes.
“I’m curious too,” Mac said. “You say the Constitution doesn’t protect a gay man’s right to live his life the way he wants, but then you say if we don’t stop the courts from giving him that right, we won’t have any control left. Who’s we? White men?”
“We built it, Mac,” Norton said. “We should be running it.”
Mac shrugged. “Looks to me like we are. Most wealth is in the hands of white people. Most of Congress is white, most state government is white.”
“And look who we have for a president,” Norton said. “We’re heading toward a day when white people won’t be the majority of people in this country. And we’ve got to have the powers to remain in control or we will be some kind of banana republic run by...,” he hesitated and looked at the tape recorder, “Black people and Mexicans, and gays and everyone but God-fearing white people. That’s not going to happen in this county. I enforce the Constitution. And it gives the power to God-fearing white men, and that’s how I run this county.”
He got up, tossed a couple of 20s on the table. “That enough of an interview?”
“It helps,” Mac said evenly. “I’ll call if I have more questions when I start writing.”
“Sure,” he said.
Mac lifted his coffee cup and a waitress came over and refilled both cups. “You don’t mind him,” she said. “Sheriff gets hot-headed. He means well enough. And mostly? The deputies respond to calls, not him. They take care of the people.”
“So why did he get re-elected?” Mac asked. “Good coffee.”
“Thanks,” she said. She shrugged. “Power and money get you elected,” she said. “And his church has both. So, people learn to live with it.”
“Thank you,” Mac said sincerely. He left her a big tip when they got up to go.
“But be careful,” she cautioned as they walked out. “He can be vindictive.”
Mac nodded. “I will,” he promised. He was always careful. Didn’t push worth a damn, but he was careful.
“His church?” Angie asked.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “And I want to find us some National Park folks. Did you notice his comment? How the last time the Park rangers got too demanding someone took a shot at them? As if the two items were linked?”
Angie nodded. “He’s a piece of work. I don’t know if they were linked. If they were, he’s probably guilty of attempted murder. Or he’d like us to think he’s got that much power, in which case he’s nuts. Bragging to a reporter like that?”
Mac thought, or both. And wasn’t that scary?
“Check and see if you can find a Park Center that’s open on a Saturday in April?” he asked, as he got into the driver’s seat, and started the SUV. While she looked, he called Anne Norton and asked about their church.
“First Baptist when we were married,” she said. “But after we separated, he started going to New Life, it’s an evangelical church — one of the largest in the county. Lots of influential people out there. A bit too radical for my tastes.”
“Radical?”
She laughed without much humor. “Yeah, and I’m going to a Baptist Church,” she said, a bit obscurely for Mac. “But New Life seems to combine an anti-government, pro-gun message with evangelicalism. They were preaching against Obama’s re-election, for instance. That made the newspaper even. They said he was the Antichrist. Weird mix if you ask me. But you can see why Pete would like it.”
When he hung up, Angie had located a ranger station, up Highway 20 a bit out of town, so they headed that way. They wandered through the North Cascade Park Services building — it was a welcoming place, full of exhibits, and handy maps. Mac collected all the freebie stuff. He thought they might find a good person to ask about the wilderness trips too. And maybe about dead bodies. Turned out that wasn’t hard to introduce as a topic at all.
After they’d seen everything the museum and gift shop had to offer, Mac found the information desk and explained who he was. Asked to talk to the head ranger, if he was available for a story he was working on.
“Can I tell him what the story is about?” the woman asked. She was
