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Yeah, this wasn’t over.

I stood up and looked at Fred. “That’s not everything. Your oldest still has something.”

“Do not,” the kid snarled.

I crossed my arms. “I’m sorry, Fred. I’m going to call the sheriff.”

Fred groaned. “I need to get them to my ex-wife. It’s past time for the hand-off. If my son said he gave you everything, he gave you everything.”

Was this guy for real? His son just tried to walk out of our store with stolen goods, and he thinks he won’t lie? My guess was that he’d been shoplifting for a while now. I got out my phone and dialed Nash River’s personal mobile number, then put it on speaker. Nash was the sheriff for Jasper Creek and a good guy. If he picked up, I knew he would play along.

“Rivers here,” he answered.

“Nash? This is Graham Wallace. You’re on speaker. I’m over here at Draper’s Hardware. I’m handling things today because Alice has the flu, and Dave needed to meet with a vendor in Nashville. I have four shoplifters here, ages three to six.”

“I’m seven,” the ringleader said loudly.

“Pardon me, Sheriff. The oldest boy, who’s the ringleader, is seven. Can you explain what happens to shoplifters?”

“I can send a car with a deputy over there in about ten minutes. We can have them arrested and booked.”

“This has gone far enough,” Fred snapped. Now, he was royally pissed.

I agreed with him. He needed to get his oldest boy under control before he had a real problem on his hands.

“Who was that?” Nash asked.

“That was their father, Fred Lockley,” I answered.

“Mr. Lockley. This is serious.” Nash’s voice was all cop. “You need to get your son to cooperate. Graham is within his rights to have deputies come to the store. Is that what you want?”

Fred turned to his son and leaned in close. “Court, you give Mr. Wallace whatever you still have, or I’m going to tell your mother about this. Is that what you want?”

The kid paled, then pulled out a mini tool kit and a tape measure from the back pocket of his jeans. “That’s all, Dad, I promise. Don’t tell Mom, okay?”

I rolled my eyes.

Really?

Fred shoved the items at me. “Now can we go?”

I looked each of the boys in the eye. The two youngest looked properly scared. The oldest was just pissed. The middle one, though—he looked genuinely sorry.

Fred was going to have his hands full, but maybe their mother had more sense. I hoped so.

“Yeah, Fred. You can go,” I sighed. I watched them leave the store.

“Is that it?” Nash asked.

“Yeah. They left.”

“What a clusterfuck. Something tells me if the mom doesn’t get them under control, I’ll be seeing them in a few years.”

“Yeah, that’s my bet. Thanks for the backup, Nash.”

“Anytime.”

He hung up.