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“Bobby’s parents were killed in a car accident when he was a baby. Ray is the only dad he remembers,” Newman added.
“I’m aware of the family history, and you can call him by his first name all you want. It will not humanize him to me, because only half of him is human. The other part is a murdering animal,” Livingston said.
“Legally he’s human, and I don’t want to kill another human being unless he’s guilty,” Newman said.
“You can be a bleeding heart on your own time, Marshal, but that animal has already killed one person and attacked another marshal. How many people have to die before you do your duty?” Livingston asked.
“Bobby Marchand did not attack me,” I said.
“I was there, Blake. I saw it,” Leduc said.
“You pointed a gun at both of us, Sheriff.”
“I was aiming at the monster.”
“Then why did Newman have to point his gun at you to save my life from your bullet?”
“You are both full of shit,” Leduc said.
“Your own deputy told you to calm down and lower your gun,” I said.
“I’m sorry as hell that Bobby did this, but I will not let you and Newman drag my reputation through the mud in some misguided attempt to get a stay of execution for him. Bobby has to pay for what he did.”
I wondered if we got Deputy Anthony in here whether she’d tell the truth or lie for her boss. I’d be leaving town, and she’d have to deal with the fallout. Apparently, Newman had no doubts that she’d do the right thing, because he said, “Call Anthony up here. She’ll tell you that Bobby didn’t attack anyone in the jail.”
I was glad that he didn’t say that the deputy would admit that Leduc had pointed a gun at me until I felt in danger for my life. If she just backed us up on Bobby not attacking me, I’d take it. We just needed Kaitlin of the perky ponytail to do her job on the evidence that was Bobby’s body.
“His eyes had changed to kitty-cat eyes. I wasn’t going to stand there and let him do to Blake what he’d done to Ray,” Leduc said.
“I had the suspect under control when you continued to aim your weapon at me,” I said.
“He was starting to shape-shift, Blake. You didn’t see Ray’s body. I did. If I had to choose between that and being shot, I’d take the bullet.”
“I wasn’t in danger from Bobby Marchand—only from you, Leduc.”
“Well, that’s gratitude for you,” he said, and he was so calm—calmer than he should have been unless he already knew that Anthony would lie for him.
“Let’s get your deputy up here. Once she backs you up, then this discussion is over,” Livingston said.
“Deputy Anthony is with our female suspect,” Duke said.
“I’ll have one of our female officers stay with the woman.”
“We are wasting time here,” Duke said.
“Yeah, it would be a shame to waste time when we could just kill the suspect and find out he’s innocent later,” I said. I should have saved the sarcasm, but sometimes old habits die hard.
“I met Bobby when he was playing peewee football. I’ve known him all his life. I don’t want to see him executed like this, but he’s proved himself too dangerous to be living beside other people. He has forfeited his right to live by killing someone else. It’s as simple as that, Marshals. If I thought he could spend his life locked up, maybe I’d vote for that, but the only thing the law allows for this crime is death. If that’s all we can do to punish the crime and protect the rest of the people, then we need to do it. The two of you need to do your damn job.”
“I didn’t realize you knew Bobby that well,” Newman said in the sudden almost uncomfortable silence.
“My son was the same age as Bobby, so I saw a lot of him and the other boys that were close to my son’s age.”
Leduc spoke of his son in the past tense. He also didn’t mention a name, just my son, as if the name was too painful, too real. If his son had been a friend of Bobby’s when they were boys, and then the son had died young, seeing Bobby all grown-up must have been hard. Having Bobby be the one who had killed the man who was paying for Lila Leduc’s medical bills was just rubbing salt in old wounds. No wonder the sheriff was all over the board emotionally. If he hadn’t been the only sheriff in town
, I’d have tried to get him to take himself off the case, but their force wasn’t big enough to take anyone off the roster.
I wasn’t sure what we should have said in that suddenly silent room. I knew I wasn’t about to say a damn word. I did not know Duke well enough to risk saying anything in the face of such possible grief. A purposeful knock at the double doors ended the awkward pause.
