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Cody gave him a curious look.
“It was a stage kiss, to throw your deputy off the track. Only that. No bells, no whistles, nothing. Okay?”
Cody relaxed. He smiled. “Okay.”
“So, all the players are in place, your girls are safe, you’ve got an eyewitness. What do you do now?” Lassiter teased.
Cody picked up the phone. “I get a warrant, that’s what I do,” he replied with twinkling dark eyes.
FORTUNATELYFORCODY,the female judge he saw was a law-and-order stickler. When she heard Cody out, and had the facts of the case, she didn’t even hesitate to give him an arrest warrant for Jack Owens, along with one for the so-called eyewitness who’d seen Horace Whatley robbing another man, and also an arrest warrant for the blonde so-called trooper who was suspected of poisoning not only Horace Whatley, but Candy Henry in Denver. Of course, the trooper couldn’t be charged with a Denver murder in Catelow, where she’d only been charged with attempted murder. But Cody was willing to bet that federal charges would be filed in the Denver murder, in which case they’d ask for extradition and Cody would ask the judge to grant it. Better to have her on trial for murder than attempted murder. Plus, federal charges carried higher penalties.
He took his deputy with him when he went to make the arrests. Jack Owens was on the porch when Cody drove up. He looked half-drunk and surly.
“Well, hello, Sheriff Banks,” he said. “What brings you out this way? Want to arrest me for jaywalking?” he added sarcastically.
Cody shook his head as he nodded to the deputy, who swung Jack to his feet and whirled him around to cuff him.
“What in the world are you doing?” Jack demanded.
“Arresting you for conspiracy to commit murder,” Cody said. “And this time, your uncle won’t be able to pull any strings on your behalf.” He turned to the deputy. “Put him in the car and come back quick.”
Cody had his pistol out as he heard voices inside. He started in, with the deputy running toward him, his own weapon out.
Cody identified himself as he walked into the house, and before the two people in the living room could react, they were held at gunpoint while the deputy handcuffed them both with the extra sets of cuffs Cody had provided.
“Sheriff, what in the world do you think you’re doing?” the little blonde asked plaintively. “I’m an officer of the law!”
“Funny thing, your boss says he doesn’t have any blonde troopers,” Cody replied. “And we already know that your dad is a botanist in South America. We’ve traced the poison used in an attempted murder to a plant that’s only native to that continent.”
The blonde’s face turned ugly. “You’ll never get me to trial,” she said in a soft, menacing tone. “And you’ll pay for this outrage, in ways you’ll never suspect until it’s too late.”
“Do your worst,” Cody replied. He turned to his deputy. “Read them their rights. We’ll do this by the book so there won’t be any loopholes.”
“You got it,” the deputy replied. “I already read Jack his rights.”
“Good man.”
“You’ll all pay for this,” the blonde threatened.
“No. You will,” Cody replied, and he didn’t smile. “You’re wanted in Denver in connection with a murder. The feds have evidence and they’ll start extradition proceedings as soon as you’re booked into custody here.”
“Denver?” She faltered just a bit. “There’s no way they could get proof of anything! I’ve never even been to Denver!”
“You can take that up with a jury, in time,” he returned coldly.
“There’s no evidence!” she persisted.
“They exhumed the victim,” Cody said, watching her expression. “She was poisoned. They traced her steps the night she died. They interviewed witnesses at the restaurant.” He actually smiled as her expression changed. “There are also charge slips at a local gas station and a credit card was used to make purchases the same day.”
She didn’t say another word. The deputy took her out to his own patrol car and put his two handcuffed suspects in back.
Cody phoned his investigator and had him get his coworkers on the way to the Owens house to go over it for clues. Before he’d left the judge’s chambers, he’d also requested, and been given, a search warrant listing every single piece of potential evidence Cody could concoct, including a warrant to impound and search the blonde’s car.
It was going to be the tightest case he’d ever worked. He wanted to make certain that he did everything by the book, so there would be no way for the blonde or Jack Owens to weasel out of the charges on a technicality.
Cody went back in the house, where the nervous so-called eyewitness, Cappy Blarden, was sitting on the sofa with his hands clenched in his lap.
Like most law enforcement officers, Cody was equipped with a camera that recorded his every move. He stood in front of the younger man and just waited, not speaking, with a cold look in his dark eyes.
