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“Sheriff, I’m not your enemy, nor was I the head agent in that investigation. You’re snapping at the wrong agent here,” she assured him. “I want to complete this and head home as quickly as you want me out of your county. ”
Mayes tilted his head to the side. “Now, what would make you think I want you out of my county? Unlike most people, Agent Dane, I enjoy a good comedy every now and then. And this situation appears to at least have an element of amusement within it. ”
The bell tinkled at the door again. When Chaya lifted her head to glance at the mirror placed next to the register behind Sheriff Mayes, she felt like cursing.
The Mackays were amassing. The tall, broad forms of Dawg and Rowdy Mackay were reflected in the glass as they moved across the room. They all but swaggered. Dressed in jeans and light T-shirts, Dawg wore a denim jacket, Rowdy wore a leather jacket. Both were suspicious and more than a little intimidating as they joined Natches at his table.
When her eyes met Sheriff Mayes’s again, the amusement in them had thickened.
“What about known associates of Grace’s?” she asked him then, lowering her voice further. “Did you have any reason to suspect them after the operation completed last year?”
This was the wrong damned place for these questions. She knew it, and she could see the knowledge of it in Mayes’s eyes. She had tried to warn Timothy, several times, this man was no one’s fool. Timothy had arranged this meeting here specifically to allow Mackay involvement.
The sheriff leaned closer. Bracing his arms on the table, he stared back at her warningly.
“Are you sure you want to finish this here, Agent Dane?” he asked her, his voice official, cool.
“This is as good a place as any, Sheriff. If you could answer the question please. ”
“I’d have reason to suspect half the county then,” he told her. “If you want to discuss specific suspects though, we’re going to do it elsewhere. ”
That was good enough. That was the best answer she would get right here and now—that Mayes did suspect various parts of the Grace and/or Mackay family. She had spent most of her life learning how to read people, and despite the chill in the sheriff’s face, she could read that much in his eyes.
“At the time of the operation were you aware that Natches and James Mackay were involved in the operation?”
Sheriff Mayes snorted at that question. “If there’s trouble to be found, then James Dawg Mackay and his two cousins are always bound to be close by. ” He flicked a mocking look behind her shoulder. “They’re trouble like that. You’d do well to remember it. ”
“But you didn’t answer the question,” she reminded him softly.
“I suspected they were in up to their necks in something, I just didn’t know what. ” He shrugged easily. “Remember? No one informed me anything was going on. ”
“But you knew enough to begin your own investigation and to contact several members of the FBI as well as a contact you made within DHS and the Department of Justice?”
She handed him the memos that had made it into Timothy’s hands. The sheriff’s phone records clearly revealed the calls that were made, but not which agents took those calls.
His lips tipped knowingly. “I’m a suspicious bastard; what can I say?”
“And who did you speak to at that time?”
He smiled at that. “Names elude me,
Miss Dane. I just asked to speak to an agent, and they plugged me into someone. ”
Chaya stared back at him suspiciously. He wasn’t even bothering to disguise the fact that he was lying to her.
“And what did they tell you?”
“They told me to mind my own business in my own little corner of the world,” he continued to lie. “What were they supposed to tell me?”
Chaya held back her own grin though she inclined her head in acknowledgment. Truth be told, she didn’t want to know his contacts and she didn’t give a damn. Timothy was dying to get his little hooks into them though.
Behind her, silence reigned.
“One last question, Sheriff. Can I trust you?” she asked, allowing her own suspicions to enter her voice now. He was a friend of the Mackays; the people of Somerset were his people. She needed to know, to watch his eyes, hear his voice, to determine how far she was going to trust him.
His eyes narrowed on her again before he leaned forward carefully. “Agent Dane, I’m a duly sworn officer of the law, and this is my home. You can trust me to cover your back. You can trust me to make damned sure any suspicions you have are held in confidence. I might not like what you are or what your team did here last year, but I don’t have to like you to do my job. Are we clear on that?”
“And should friends of yours question you regarding the interviews we’re about to make? Will your loyalties then be torn? Because I have to ask you to step aside if they will be. I can bring in another agent to provide backup. ”
