know who and why and I want to know it yesterday! You got me,” he said, his voice rising with each syllable. “Where do we stand with our other leads?”
Deputy Breland spoke up first. “I’ve been able to get to 80 % of the witnesses at the diner and they have each ruled out Seymour’s glasses and conclude that it’s one of the two wire frames with the tear drop style lenses. One of the witnesses pegged the Ray Bans right away, said she used to work in an optical store and recognized the style. She was apologetic that she didn’t bring that to our attention before but didn’t think she needed to be that specific. I’ll get to the remaining witnesses this morning. The Delaney woman also ruled out Seymour’s before I let her speak to him.”
“Good Breland, I’m inclined to believe our shooter is wearing the Ray Ban sunglasses. I want you to get a hold of the distributor and find out which shops sell them and if they carry that specific style. You’d also said that Mrs. Wood was able to come up with the bail money, is that right?”
“Yeah, Blanche Delaney told me that last night when she dropped by,” Breland confirmed.
“I can’t help but think that the Delaney woman is involved in this somehow. Have we explored old boyfriends, jilted lovers, anybody that may have a thing for her?”
It was Natalie’s turn to take a run with the ball. “Sheriff, I went over her past pretty carefully with her. She’s only ever been in one serious relationship. He turned out to be gay and she left him in Arizona. I personally don’t think it’s related. Since she’s been here she’s had no flings or one night stands. A pretty conservative woman that does her job and stays to herself. Isn’t into the bar scene, stays at Caroline’s Bed and Breakfast and doesn’t get out much. She randomly met Jasper and has a friendship but nothing sexual, and with Seymour there is a budding romance but they are not involved sexually either. I tried to get her to identify anyone that has struck her as strange but she didn’t come up with anybody, at least when I talked with her last.”
“How about the students from the school, did you get over there this morning?”
“I did, that’s where I was just before we started this meeting. I found the students from the racquetball class and nobody remembered anything about a man in sunglasses and baseball hat, except for a couple of girls that said they spoke to a man matching that description at the end of their match on Monday morning. And get this, he was asking where he could find Seymour Wood.”
“Excellent. Were they able to expand on the description we have to date?” Ricky interjected.
“I think so, but they have agreed to come in this afternoon and have a sketch done with our artist,” Guest explained.
“Now we’re finally getting somewhere, those two girls have probably got the best chance to identify him. Have them go through the photo listing of known burglars,” the Sheriff instructed.
The three wrote down notes making sure that they didn’t miss anything they were directed to do. The investigation was taking a sudden left turn, just after they thought they had it solved with the arrest of Mr. Wood. Apparently he would be walking out on bail for now but maybe for good based on the discussion of the morning.
“You got anything else Guest?” the Sheriff asked.
“I’ve got an appointment with that couple from the farm community I spoke with the other day that phoned back with some information. It’s been difficult to nail him down but his wife has promised they will be home this afternoon and I can go and get a statement. I’ll let you know what I find out, it has something to do with the motorcycle.”
“That sounds fine, what else have you got to work on?” Lupo asked, dropping his hand to scratch Otis behind the ears.
“Remember the guy I talked with you about before we all thought Seymour was our man? His name is Lester Cummings.”
“Yes, have you done any follow-up?” Sheriff Lupo said leaning across his desk to write down a note.
“I did but didn’t come up with much. He has no priors, not even a parking ticket. Clean as a whistle, almost too clean. One thing of interest, the van is registered in his name and is legit, but he also has a motorcycle registered in his name, color identified as yellow and I’m sure, I could swear it, that I asked him about a motorcycle and he denied having one. But I can’t be sure, I didn’t write it down. Was just before I got called back to the station.”
“Okay, that’s a good start. I like this guy as a possible suspect, let’s follow your hunch and get a warrant. Get the ball rolling before you head out for that interview but I want you to present the documentation we need to the judge before the end of the day. I want to be able to surprise him first thing tomorrow morning with a raid. Is that understood? Breland, Ricky, you two help her as she needs ya.”
The three looked back and forth between them and assured the others that they would be on call to assist as needed and able.
“If you can’t think of anything else, I’m going to go home for a few minutes, catch a few Z’s, shower, eat something other than a Twinkie and then I’ll be back. If you need me patch it through Arlene,” the large man declared.
Just before noon a determined Mrs. Lillian Wood, accompanied by Ms. Blanche Delaney and their driver, Mr. Marcus, entered the foyer area of the Sheriff’s office. A notice and receipt in hand from the Lowndes County Court instructing the Sheriff’s Department to release Seymour into the care of his mother. The reunion was sweet, Seymour more than happy to be out of the jail issued coveralls and back in his jeans. The foursome was on their way out the front doors when a voice hollered across the office, feminine but barking nonetheless.
“Ms. Delaney, don’t leave just yet, will you!” the shout came from the back of the office area.
Deputy Guest could be seen moving quickly through the desks and chairs to reach the group.
“I have a couple of quick questions for you if you don’t mind, will only take a second,” the officer said.
“Sure, you guys just wait for me outside, I’ll be right out,” Blanche said.
Officer Guest directed Blanche into the Sheriff’s office, she was sure he wouldn’t care.
“I was wondering if you’ve given anymore thought to who might be causing these problems for Jasper and Seymour? I have a possible suspect in mind but I’d rather hear it from you before I plant the information in your head, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes, I have thought about it but can’t say there’s anybody…, wait a minute, there is somebody that is a little odd but he’s not done anything to me, if that’s what you’re after?”
“Not necessarily, but even odd behavior that struck you as unusual,” the deputy further clarified what she was looking for.
“Working with the public we run into odd behavior all the time, but directed specifically at me, there is a guy that has been in the library a couple times in the past few weeks. His name is Rob, was in just yesterday, struck me as odd, kind of hitting on me, but said he had a girlfriend he was trying to convince to move to California with him. Sounded like the move was imminent.”
“Describe him for me,” Guest requested.
The librarian did so with amazing clarity and recollection, speaking faster than Natalie could keep up. A few minutes later the two had worked out a statement, which Blanche read over and confirmed it was a concise overview of the things she had reported to the deputy. Blanche signed the statement, as she was familiar with doing by now, and was about to leave when the deputy thought of one more thing.
“Did anybody else see this guy or were you working alone?” she asked.
“Yeah, for sure, Mr. Marcus, the gentleman with us today acting as our chauffeur talked with him as well,” Blanche replied.
Officer Guest could hardly contain her excitement. The description given to her was a dead ringer for Lester Cummings and now she had a second witness that could also put Lester in the mix. It was interesting that he had chosen to use the name Rob when speaking with Blanche. The deputy made sure to write everything down this time around. She asked that Blanche send him in and she went through the same process with Marcus. The custodian issued a more vague description but generally the same as Blanche. He agreed to provide any further information that came to mind, signed the statement and left with the others.
Beverly was disappointed that she’d not heard from Felix after their morning romp the day before, but was sure she would get a chance to pull his chain again today. He’d said something about the property they had met over and the possibility of an offer, which would certainly be the icing on the cake for the realtor. She reviewed her
