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I shifted my gaze enough to see Deputy Frankie. Would she threaten Newman to back her boss, or would she understand that Duke had lost it?
“Duke,” she said, “please, there’s no threat from the prisoner, and you’re pointing a gun at a fellow police officer.”
“Duke,” Newman said, voice sliding down to a lower tone than I’d ever heard from him, “do not make me do this.”
“I know you, Win. You won’t shoot me.”
“I like you, Duke, but if you think I’ll stand here and let you shoot another marshal, an unarmed fellow officer, then you are full of shit.”
“Duke,” Frankie said, “you taught me not to let my emotions get in the way of the job. It’s a rookie mistake.”
I watched the emotions war across his face. Either he’d been closer to Ray than anyone knew, or he had some personal history with lycanthrope-related crime. You had either to have lost someone to a beast or to have witnessed something that haunted your dreams to have this kind of reaction. Or, like Frankie had said, be a rookie. Leduc wasn’t a rookie.
“Stand down, Duke!” Newman said, and his sidearm was pointed very steadily at the sheriff’s head. If Leduc pulled the trigger he might miss us, but Newman wouldn’t miss. He was too close. If he pulled the trigger, the town would be looking for a new sheriff.
The gun lowered as the tension ran out of Leduc. It was as if all the strong emotions just leaked away and what was left on his face was decades older, the skin pale. He was shaking visibly as he went for the door that led out to the offices.
I waited for the door to close behind him and then said, “Get me out of this cell.”
Deputy Frankie started to fumble in her pocket for the keys while trying to balance the shotgun. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Newman used his free hand to take the shotgun so she could get the keys out. He was still holding his gun in his other hand. I appreciated that he hadn’t holstered it yet. Leduc could still come back through the door, and I didn’t think any of us was sure what would happen if he did.
I turned to Bobby. “I don’t believe you killed your uncle, so hold on to your humanity. Don’t shift. Don’t give them an excuse to kill you before we can prove you’re innocent. Okay?”
He nodded, and then he hugged me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, and hugged him back.
Deputy Frankie got the door open. I walked out through the door and let out a long, sharp breath. I’d come close to dying more than once, but not like that, not from friendly fire.
“I’ve never seen Duke lose it like that,” Frankie said as she made sure the cell locked securely behind me.
“Me either,” Newman said.
I started collecting my guns, which were in an unceremonious heap on the floor now. Frankie had needed her hands free. I started putting my weapons in place and even checked that the 9mm was still loaded, as if somehow magically the bullets would have all disappeared. You always assume a gun is loaded, as if the ammunition fairy was real and would load your empty gun when you weren’t looking, but now I needed the reassurance of just handling my weapons before I put them back in place.
“Did Leduc ever lose anyone to a shapeshifter attack?” I asked.
“Not to my knowledge,” Newman said, and then glanced at the deputy. “How about you, Frankie? You know if Duke has any bad history with supernatural citizens?”
She shook her head. “No, or nothing bad enough to cause him to . . . I am so sorry, Marshal Blake.”
“Is there anything happening in the sheriff’s personal life? Is he under pressure from somewhere else?” I asked.
“Well, everyone knows about Lila, his daughter. She’s sick, really sick.”
“She’s dying,” Newman said. “She’s got some rare form of cancer.”
“That’s awful, and I’d say that would be pressure.”
“Lila’s been sick for over two years. Last I knew, she wasn’t any worse than she had been,” Frankie said.
“Would he tell you if she was?” I asked.
Frankie looked at the floor like she was thinking, and then up to meet my eyes. “I thought so, but now I’m not so sure.”
“Uncle Ray was helping with some of the medical bills,” Bobby said.
We all turned and looked at him as if he’d just appeared. I know it sounds weird after just being up close and risking a bullet for him, but once the cell closed, he went back to being the prisoner. I felt bad that I’d let him slip back into that category so easily. Maybe I’d been on the job too long?
