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“It’s not up to us. If she’s filed false charges against Joey Gouza, the prosecutor might want to stick it to her. You still want to go out there?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it. By the way, she was discharged from the hospital this morning, so she’s back home now.”
“Okeydoke.”
“Dave, a little advice. Try to put the lid on your personal feelings about the Sonniers. They’re grown-up people now.”
“All right, sheriff.”
“There’re a couple of other things I need to tell you. While you were out the jailer called. It seems one trusty decided to snitch on another one. The night Joey Gouza went apeshit and vomited all over his cell, the trusty preparing the food got swacked on paregoric and accidentally knocked a box of ant poison off the shelf onto a table. It probably got in Gouza’s food. Except the trusty didn’t tell anybody about it. Instead he wiped off the table and served the trays like nothing had happened.”
“Gouza’s convinced there’s a hit on him.”
“That might be, but this time it looks like it was an accident.”
“Where’s the trusty now?”
“They’re moving him over to the parish jail. I’d hate to be that guy when Gouza finds out who fired up his ulcers.”
“There’s no chance an AB guy was involved?”
“The guy who spilled the ant poison is a migrant farm worker in for DWI. . . . You almost look disappointed.”
“No, I just thought maybe the guys in the black hats were starting to cannibalize each other. Anyway, was there something else?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid there is.” He kept putting one hand on top of the other, which was always his habit when he didn’t want to say something offensive to someone. Then he pressed his glasses more tightly against his eyes. “I got three phone calls, two from state legislators and one from Bobby Earl’s attorney. They say you’re harassing Earl.”
“I don’t read it that way.”
“They say you gave him a pretty bad time in a Baton Rouge restaurant.”
“I had five minutes’ conversation with him. I didn’t see anything that unusual in it, considering the fact that I think he’s involved with a murder.”
“This is another thing that bothers me, Dave. We don’t have any evidence that Earl is connected with Garrett’s death. But you seem determined to tie Earl to it.”
“Should I leave him alone?” I looked him straight in the face.
“I didn’t say that. I’m just asking you to look at your motivations.”
“I want—”
He saw the heat in my face. “What?” he asked.
“I want to turn the key on the people who killed Garrett. It’s that simple, sheriff.”
“Sometimes we have an agenda we don’t tell ourselves about. It’s just human.”
“Maybe it’s time somebody ’fronts a guy like Earl. Maybe he’s gotten a free pass too long.”
“You’re going to have to ease up, Dave, or it’ll be out of my hands.”
“He’s got that kind of juice?”
“No, he doesn’t. But if you try to shave the dice, you’ll give it to him. You got into it at his house, then you created a situation with him in a public place. I don’t want a suit filed against this department, I don’t want a couple of peckerwood politicians telling me I’ve got a rogue cop on my hands. It’s time to take your foot off the accelerator, Dave.”
My palms were ringing with anger.
