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“Minnie was a kid. They all were, but I wish I would have known about this back then. I’ve been the sheriff for a long time.” Calloway rubbed at the back of his neck.
“My father could have told you.”
Calloway nodded, and I could tell that was the part that might bother him the most; Wilmot hadn’t come to him after something bad had happened. Wilmot could have trusted Calloway with anything, or that’s what I thought. Probably Calloway thought so too.
I said, “Minnie said that Danielle works at the butcher shop.”
Calloway shook his head. “Not anymore she doesn’t, and her number is disconnected. I’m going to head out to her place too.”
“Jeff Ranke is still fixing cars in his garage.”
“Yep. I’m going to swing by there.”
“Want some company?”
“Yeah, I want you to come along. That’s why I called you.”
Even if I couldn’t have seen it in the corner of my vision, I could feel Chris bristle.
It had been long enough that I wasn’t quite as angry at him as I’d once been, but still, I sure would have liked to have more of Maria Galvez to return to her family.
“I do. Thanks,” I said.
We left my Jeep, now embarrassingly covered in grime, out front. I was going to have to clean it at some point soon.
We headed toward Calloway’s old but air-conditioned Tahoe.
I hopped in and buckled up.
“First stop, Jeff. He’s not far,” Calloway said.
As we made our way, I told him about my visit with Graham by the caves.
“I thought I’d have more for him to do, but the investigators from Tucson took everything and did not invite him along. I’ll send him home soon.”
“He’s trying to catch someone in the act of setting up another sculpture.”
“He told me. I’ll take the help.”
“Would the new police chief help? Jenna?”
Calloway didn’t answer immediately.
“Sheriff?” I asked.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“What’s going on?” Quiet music had been coming through the speakers. I turned the radio off as I asked the question.
“Nothing. I just don’t know them yet.”
“You seemed to get along a couple nights ago.” I thought back. “They were gathering fingerprints when I went to bed. Did something go wrong?”
“No, they didn’t find any helpful prints, including on the handprint, but nothing went wrong. They have a good computer rendition of the handprint too, so I’m hopeful we’ll find something.”
“What is it, then?”
Calloway shouldn’t have said the words he said next, but we knew each other well enough to know we could trust each other.