“Seymour, he was with me Saturday night. We spent the day rounding up and stacking the hay bales. Didn’t get done till pretty late, was dark when we finished. I fixed us a late dinner, pork and beans, and we watched a little TV before we both went to bed. We were together all night, he could not have shot that black boy,” she explained.
“I see, is there anyone else that can corroborate your story? Did anybody else see you around 7:00 p.m.?”
“It's no story, it’s the God’s honest truth.” She again began to sob.
Sheriff Lupo keyed the intercom on his desk, “Arlene, will you have Officer Guest take a statement from each of these people here to see Seymour, and then let them have access to him for no more than an hour, thanks.”
'Mrs. Wood, I know you are under a lot of stress, but you could help our department immensely if you would allow us to search your home and farm without having to go to a judge for a warrant.'
'Will it get my son out of here any faster if I let you?' she said, wiping tears away, Blanche still kneeling before her.
'If he's innocent, yes.'
'Then get to work. What do I need to sign?'
Young Deputy Guest had the friends and family follow her to a conference facility. She pulled two chairs from the room, placed them in the hallway, and invited Blanche and Mrs. Wood to have a seat and wait while she interviewed Marcus. Across the building, Sheriff Lupo had Seymour brought to his office for an interview. It was the first time 'The Wolf' had seen the young man and he wanted to get a feel for who he was dealing with before they filed formal charges. For now he was being held on a single charge, more evidence would be necessary before the additional charges could be laid by the district attorney.
Deputy Breland brought Seymour to the office, his hands still cuffed behind his back.
Sheriff Lupo greeted the two men with a nod, 'Deputy, I think we can dispense with the cuffs.'
The officer quickly removed the cuffs allowing Seymour to rub the soreness from his wrists, and Breland left the office. The two men stood, sizing each other up. The Sheriff spoke first, 'Have a seat Seymour, I wanted to have a chance to talk with you before your mom and friends have access to you.'
'Is my mom here? How is she doing? She's probably not taking this very well. When will I get to see her?' The questions came in a torrent. It had been hours since he had talked to anyone that would respond, and he had more questions than answers.
'Slow down there a minute fella. Let's take it a bit slower and I'll help you out if you're willing to help me,' he said, keeping his voice soothing and even. 'Your mom is angry, as you can imagine, I don't blame her, but she seems to be a strong woman and will be okay. She's given us permission to search your home and farm. You okay with that?' The Sheriff watched his eyes carefully for any hint of deceit. There was none.
'Fine. I have nothing to hide; I've tried to tell your people. I'm being set-up. I have no idea where that gun came from.'
'You've been read your rights, is that correct?' Seymour nodded, he had. 'Fine, and you understand them?' Again a nod, 'They tell me you don't want an attorney. If it's a matter of money we can have a public defender assigned to you.'
Seymour’s head hung low, looking at his feet. 'We don't have much money, but it’s not a matter of money, it's a matter of truth and innocence.'
'Would you answer some questions for me and I have to tell you, I will be recording our conversation, okay?' the Sheriff asked, taking a pen and preparing to take notes.
'Let's start with this past weekend. Your mom says you were doing some chores around the farm. Tell me what you were doing and when, be specific as you can.'
'Well, I spent most of Saturday with mom, like she said doing chores. In the morning we did some weeding in the garden by the house, then in the afternoon and into the evening we took care of the hay. You know, moving the bales to the barn and storing the rest along side the barn and covered it with tarps. We finished after dark, had dinner, and watched TV for a bit then went to bed. Sunday we went to services in the morning, and had lunch with some neighbor friends. The rest of Sunday I did homework and got ready for my school week.'
'That's fine; we can confirm much of that. What did you have to eat Saturday night?'
'Is that important?” Seymour asked.
'It could be, your mom was specific and I'd like to know if you can remember as she did.'
'Okay, let’s see. I know Sunday night we were pretty full with the late lunch with those friends and I think we had soup, but Saturday after we cleaned up from doing the hay we had pork and beans. I remember cause I fried up the bacon while momma got the rest together. Is that right, is that what she said?'
'And what time do you think that was?' the Sheriff continued.
'It was dark so I think about 7:00 or 7:30, thereabouts.'
Lupo had seen liars and truth tellers his entire career and prided himself on being able to tell the difference. From the few questions and responses he'd reviewed with Seymour, he could tell he had an honest man seated before him. He looked him in the eyes, was forthright with his answers, did not look to the ceiling to retrieve lost information, and spoke with conviction.
'Seymour, for a moment let's suppose that you're not The Stalker and you didn't shoot Jasper Jackson. Do you have any enemies that would want to lay this on you? Do you have any explanation for that gun being in your locker?'
'That's the strange thing, Sheriff; I get along with most everybody. I don't hang out much with the other students but I think I've got friends. Everybody at work is great, never had any trouble there, and I didn't even know this Jasper guy until Blanche said you thought I shot him.'
'Back up there a minute. Blanche told you that we thought you had shot Jasper?' he asked.
'And who is Blanche and how does….wait a minute, I read a report with her name attached. She's the young lady that was with Jasper at the time of the shooting. How are you involved with her?'
Seymour was not quite sure how to respond to the question but gave it his best try, 'Well, I work with her and I think she's kind of my girlfriend.'
'Could you be a bit more specific, how is she kind of your girlfriend?'
'We've been friends since she moved here from Arizona. We both work at the library, anyway, last Friday night we finally had a date and I think she likes me as much as I like her,' he declared.
'So let me get this straight, you take this woman out on Friday, then she goes out with another guy on Saturday, but that guy ends up getting shot by a white guy in a hoodie with sunglasses and a baseball hat on,' he was speaking more to himself than Seymour.
'I guess, I haven't heard that much about it except that I supposedly did it,' he smirked.
Lupo again keyed the intercom on his desk, 'Arlene, send Breland back in here will ya.'
A minute later the deputy stuck his head in after opening the door, 'Yup Sheriff.'
'Mrs. Wood has given us permission to search their place, secure her keys from her over in the conference area and take Deputy Firth with you and do a thorough search of the place. Take Ricky with you and his forensics gear, tag and bag anything that looks important. You know what we're looking for from the crime scenes. Have Arlene give you that list I made up so you don't overlook anything. Get out there asap and phone me with what you find.'
'Sure Sheriff, we're on it.'
'And Breland, these are nice folks; you take care not to damage any of their belongings. You got that?' Angelo confirmed.
'Thanks Sheriff. They aren't going find anything cause I didn't do it,' Seymour said, feeling the stress of the day catching up to him, his energy all but gone.
Sheriff Lupo noticed the fatigue setting in and stepped to his door, 'Arlene, fetch Seymour and myself a sandwich and a coffee would ya?”
'Seymour, we still got the problem of this gun. We can't let you just walk until we, or you, can explain how a stolen gun got into your possession. You say you don't have any enemies, nobody that wants to give you a hard time, but then why and how?'
The accused had been searching his memory all afternoon and could think of no one specifically that would want to set him up. He ran through his day prior to them finding the gun and had no answers. He shook his head side to side and raised his hands indicating that he could be no help. The two talked, Lupo taking notes until the
