Burden of Proof

by DiAnn Mills

  She tried to cover a wince at the first step down. “Don’t call him.”

  After the best coffee she’d ever drunk and a feast of bacon and eggs, she swallowed the pain med, realizing it could put her to sleep. Before that happened, she reached for her phone to read the latest and pass on to Jason what she could.

  “The FBI has contacted the people you and Ted listed as victims of Willis’s potential crimes. The family of the ninety-five-year-old woman who insisted Willis coerced their mother into selling her land at a quarter of its worth said their attorney claimed the transaction was legal. They live in Austin, and my guess is they don’t want to deal with it. The other three on the list who were injured while Willis interrogated them refused to comment.”

  “People are afraid and skeptical, especially when Willis hasn’t been arrested. We need hard facts to get any of them to budge. Any word on Brenda?”

  “Nothing’s changed.”

  He frowned and took her hand. “Do you feel up to a couple of hours at my place?”

  “Of course. I’m sore, not sick.”

  Jason drove out of town until they met with woods on both sides of the road. An SUV whizzed by, causing Jason to veer toward the ditch.

  April’s attention flew to the dark-blue Toyota. “Follow that vehicle. It looks like the one that ran me off the road. I saw dents on the passenger side.”

  Jason spun gravel and gassed the truck after the SUV speeding away. It turned right onto a dirt-and-gravel road. “He knows we’re tailing him.”

  “I want to cuff the jerk who nearly killed me.”

  “Imagine how I feel.”

  The driver of the SUV used the back roads to his advantage. Had to be the one who caused April’s accident. She yanked her phone from her shoulder bag and got Simon on the line. She explained what was happening and gave him their location.

  “Keep me on the line,” Simon said. “I’m heading your direction.”

  Jason gained ground and rode the SUV’s bumper. A new model with temporary tags. This close she could tell there was a passenger in the front seat.

  “Gun. I saw the driver raise it.” Calmness wrapped around Jason’s words. He lowered the windows on both sides. “Hand me my gun.”

  “That’s ridiculous with your cast.”

  “I can drive with that arm. My hand works fine.”

  “Can you shoot with your left hand?”

  “I can do damage.”

  “Don’t fire unless he does first.” She pulled his gun from the glove box and he grabbed it. She wrapped her fingers around her own weapon.

  The driver twisted and fired, but the shot went wild.

  “That’s Cal Bunion. Recognize the tattooed arm.” Jason stomped on the gas and rear-ended the SUV.

  The deputy who’d watched Vicki and Ted’s home but a different vehicle.

  On the passenger side, a gun came into view. “Watch your side,” Jason said.

  She blinked to fight the medication and nausea, then fired, sending a bullet into the SUV’s passenger-side mirror.

  Cal turned to fire again and must have lost control. The vehicle swerved, then abruptly rolled, landing upside down in the ditch on the right side of the road.

  Jason slammed on his brakes and jumped from the truck. April raced behind him.

  The driver’s door of the SUV swung open. Cal crawled out, wielding his gun.

  “Stop, Cal,” Jason shouted.

  Cal aimed.

  April fired into his wrist when she meant to hit center mass. Cal screamed and dropped his weapon. Blood spurted down his arm.

  April kicked Cal’s gun out of the way. “Be glad I missed your heart.”

  Jason hurried around the rear of the SUV. “Come on out of there. Who’s on the other side?”

  Willis yanked open the passenger door and crawled out, waving a gun. A gash on the side of his head bled down his face. He took off running, jumped a ditch, and headed to the edge of the woods with Jason behind him. For a big man, he moved fast.

  Willis turned and aimed at Jason.

  April gasped.

  Willis fired.

  The bullet went wild.

  Both men disappeared into a thicket of trees.

  April had her hands full with Cal. He held his bleeding wrist and clumsily stood on the road. “What’s this about? Running a deputy off the road and shooting him?”

  Adrenaline flowed, overriding her need to sleep. “How about running a federal agent off the road and leaving her for dead?” April said. “And it appears you’re harboring a fugitive.”

  “I should have left tire marks on your body.”

  April wanted to black his eyes. “Mr. Bunion, you just confessed to a serious crime.”

  She trained her weapon on him while keeping an eye on the tree line where Jason had disappeared after Willis. “Simon, are you far out? I need backup. Jason is chasing Willis on foot.”

  “Nearly there. Hold tight.”

  Cal tried to move. “Stay put or you’ll regret it.”

  How would Jason manage Willis with a broken arm?

  63

  JASON’S YEARS OF STAYING FIT helped him stay on Willis’s heels. The big man carried the weight of one about to be tackled, and Jason brought him down between two pines. Willis’s fist slammed just above Jason’s casted arm. Instead of the pain debilitating him, it sent a burst of strength into his body. He grabbed Willis’s wrist with his left hand and clamped down hard with his casted arm on Willis’s throat until the sheriff released his gun. Jason grabbed the weapon and tossed it several feet away.

  Sirens sounded. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

  Jason and April waited in the ER area at Tyler County Hospital with Cal while Simon sat with Willis in the rear of the room.

  Cal complained about his wrist wound repeatedly.

  Not so long ago, Jason would have experienced anger at learning of another player. Instead of fury at what Willis had orchestrated and Cal had done to April, pity washed over him for the skinny kid who’d never had friends. Both men’s futures were likely to include four walls and a cot.

  Were Jason’s realized feelings a part of the healing? Or did the knowledge that he was moving closer to Isabella’s return cause him to see life differently?

  “Did you pull the trigger on Russell?” he said to Cal.

  He shook his head, his thin face drawn. “No.”

  April captured Jason’s attention, probably concerned he would explode or Cal would ask for a lawyer. He nodded at her. “I have one more question for Cal.”

  “Simon and I have plenty,” April said.

  He returned his attention to Cal. “We’ve known each other since we were boys, but I haven’t been a good friend. I apologize. I’m asking you now to help us find who’s behind these crimes.”

  “If I agree, I go to jail with Willis and end up dead.”

  Jason took the response as a cue for April to use her negotiation skills, and she dove in. “Cal, cooperating with the FBI means you’ve done the right thing. We’ve learned people in this case have been threatened to follow Willis’s orders. You’re not alone. Willis won’t have contact with anyone where he’s headed.”

  A nurse called Cal’s and Willis’s names, and the group accompanied her to an exam room. Jason backed off for now. Simon displayed his ID to the doctor and explained the wounded men were in FBI custody.

  After both men underwent X-rays and stitches, the five left the hospital for the drive back to Sweet Briar’s jail. Once at the sheriff’s office, April and Simon questioned Cal in an interview room while Jason again waited. Unsurprisingly Willis had lawyered up.

  “Jason, stop your pacing and take a seat,” Griff said from behind the desk. “There’s nothing you can do to hurry along the interviews.”

  This was the perfect time to probe deeper into Griff’s loyalty.

  April handed Cal a tissue from her shoulder bag to wipe the perspiration dripping down his face. This man could expose the whole ca
se. She shoved aside her desire to punch him for nearly killing her.

  “Thank you.” Cal used the tissue. Wadded it up with his uninjured hand.

  Simon motioned for her to continue the interview. “You have a flawless record,” she said. “This speaks well for you. I want to help you through this.”

  He stared at the white bandage on his wrist. A tattoo of a skull in an hourglass was above it. “I didn’t kill Russell Edwards.”

  “Do you know who did?” she said evenly.

  He dragged his tongue over his lips. “No, ma’am. Willis said Jason Snyder killed him.”

  “Why? He must have had evidence to make such a claim.”

  “Jason helped Billie run off with Zack. He thought those two were messing round.”

  “That doesn’t explain why Jason would kill his business partner.”

  “No, ma’am, I suppose it doesn’t.”

  “What else did Willis scheme?”

  Cal sighed. “I only followed orders from the man who made sure I had a job.”

  April softened her features. “Did he pay you?”

  Cal stared as though not really seeing. “He offered me a new SUV for keeping an eye on Jason. Said he had a few more odd jobs for me to do and would let me know when the time came.”

  And April had successfully dented his payment. “Did he give a reason why he wanted you to watch Jason?”

  “I never asked.”

  “Why?”

  “A sixty-five-thousand-dollar SUV seals my lips.”

  April hid her irritation. Willis and Cal had sworn to uphold the law, but neither of them had read the handbook.

  “I see,” Simon said. “April, I’ll take over from here. Were Willis and Russell together the day of the shooting?”

  “Oh yeah, around noon. I saw them talking in the sheriff’s parking lot.”

  “A pleasant conversation?”

  “Nah. Russell was upset.”

  “And this happened before or after Willis made the SUV offer in exchange to follow Jason?”

  “Before. We went to Woodville right after Russell left and bought it.”

  Simon cocked his head. “So this all transpired in a matter of a few hours?”

  Cal exhaled. “I guess.”

  “Who shot Russell?”

  “I already answered the question for the lady. I don’t know.”

  “Willis?”

  “Not likely. He and Russell were brothers-in-law.”

  “Are Deputies Kevin Viner and Griff Wilcombe working with Willis?”

  He shrugged. “Doubt it. Both of ’em have talked about applying for Woodville City Police.”

  “Why did Willis want you to go after Agent Ramos?”

  Cal shook his head.

  Simon folded his hands on the table. “Deputy Bunion, you have serious charges against you. Why not make things easier and unload what you know?”

  Cal winced. “If I don’t, I face charges as an accomplice to murder and assaulting a federal officer?”

  “Exactly.”

  Cal again stared at his bandaged wrist. “All right. Willis told me I had to get rid of her. When I refused, he reminded me about the new ride. I refused again. Then he asked about my grandmother who lives in the Sweet Briar Nursing Home. Asked me how long I wanted her to live.”

  April inhaled sharply. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Shouldn’t have shocked me. But it did. I thought me and Willis were friends.”

  Simon picked up the conversation. “So your orders were to eliminate Agent Ramos?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know Joey Frederickson, Brenda Krew’s daughter?”

  “What does she look like?”

  Simon pulled up Joey’s pic on his phone and showed it to Cal.

  “Yeah, I saw her with Willis at the office once. Look, I’ve answered a lot of questions. What are you going to do for me?”

  “Inform the judge of your cooperation and how you were pressured to cause a federal agent’s death.”

  Before April and Simon talked to Willis, she wanted to reassure Jason of a confession. After locking up Cal, the three stepped outside into the afternoon sunshine.

  “I’m surprised Cal was willing to talk,” Jason said. “Willis uses threats like a dog going at a bone. Vic, Hunter, Joey, Brenda, Cal—who else has he forced to do his dirty work?”

  “You,” Simon said, “but you stood up to him. Cal signed a confession. I’ll have him transported to Houston in the morning.”

  April spoke up. “I think Cal’s a broken man. Following Jason seemed like an easy swap for his new SUV. But Willis had baited him for the next job, and Cal didn’t expect it to be killing me.”

  “Now he has to pay for his choices,” Jason said. “I talked to Griff. He’s proud of his military service. Told me he hoped everything worked out in finding who framed me for murder and kidnapped my daughter. I think he’s clean.”

  “Good.” She managed a smile for his sake. “As soon as Canfield gets here, we’ll interview Willis.”

  “I doubt you get anything but sarcasm.”

  64

  AN HOUR LATER, David Canfield arrived. A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and wearing designer jeans and shirt, he strode into the sheriff’s office with the ego April expected. Jason busied himself talking to Griff.

  Simon introduced himself and April.

  Canfield offered a firm grip and penetrating eye contact. “Identifications, please.”

  April acceded to his request. His smug attitude conformed with his client’s. No wonder Willis had him on retainer.

  “Once I talk to Willis,” Canfield said, “we can proceed with questioning.”

  April and Simon waited another thirty-five minutes until they were seated in the familiar interview room with Willis and Canfield facing her and Simon. April hid her satisfaction at seeing the sheriff in cuffs.

  Simon explained the charges against Willis: murder, public corruption, extortion, bribery, assaulting a federal officer—the list continued.

  “This is ludicrous. My client was run off the road by a man accused of murder accompanied by a rogue FBI agent,” Canfield said. “This appears to be ineptness on the part of the FBI.” He took a breath, no doubt for effect. “I’m filing defamation of character charges against the FBI for slandering my client’s name and reputation. Sheriff Lennox is a fine man who is being held on trumped-up charges without due evidence.”

  April’s negotiation skills were about to be tested. With both feet planted on the floor and her hands folded on the table, she took on the challenge. “Mr. Canfield, I work the public corruption division of Houston’s FBI. I witnessed Sheriff Lennox’s inappropriate behavior. Regarding the murder and extortion charges, we have witnesses.”

  “All these false accusations happened since you’ve been in Sweet Briar. Makes me wonder how a court of law will view a female agent taking the side of a fugitive and staying at his parents’ home.”

  Canfield could build his case on his own time. She’d assumed her personal involvement aided Willis’s defense, but all the objections in the world had no bearing once the FBI secured court-admissible evidence.

  April plastered an impassive look on her face. “Let’s get started by going through the charges against your client individually. Willis, where were you the night Russell Edwards was killed?”

  Willis gripped his fists and laughed. “For the record, I have an alibi. I was in Woodville at a chamber of commerce meeting.”

  “Great. I’ll have Agent Neilson check it out right now.”

  “I already have,” Canfield said. “He’s on a security camera that documents when he arrived and when he left.” He wrote a name and phone number on a piece of paper, then pushed it to Simon, who dialed the number. “I suggest a search warrant for the footage.”

  April waited until Simon finished the call. From the conversation, he was talking to the president of Woodville’s Chamber of Commerce. Within two minutes, he set his phone on the
table. “Willis checks out, but we will need to validate the security footage.”

  “I’m not stupid enough to fake footage,” Willis said.

  “Easy.” Canfield touched Willis’s arm, and the big man shook it off.

  “I have this.” Willis glared at Canfield. He turned to April and laughed, a fake sound that ground at her nerves. “What do you think of the new info, April?”

  “If you’ve had an alibi all along, why haven’t you come forward and saved us all time?”

  “I enjoyed the game, all the who-killed-Russell stuff. Ever hunt, April? The pleasure is in watching the animal squirm.”

  He’d not get the best of her. “Unfortunately, an alibi doesn’t absolve you from other charges.”

  Willis gave his infamous sneer. “I’m not worried. Want to talk about the weather? Or the advantage of deep-frying a Thanksgivin’ turkey?”

  She kept her composure. “Agent Neilson, would you like to continue the interview?”

  “Willis, we received a tip you buried a man on your land. Because of this report, we found and exhumed the body of FBI Special Agent Eric Deckett, sent here undercover to investigate suspicions of public corruption. A bullet from one of your guns killed him.”

  “You’re crazy. Who made the claim?”

  “Does it matter? You resisted a federal officer and threatened her in a previous documented conversation. You offered her a bribe. You tried to pin a murder on Jason Snyder, who has been exonerated. You also violated Ted Snyder’s rights. Those charges are only the beginning.” Simon paused. “You will be a guest of your own jail until I finalize a transport to Houston.”

  Jason and April looked up at the night sky at his parents’ home. All this began when Kevin alerted the FBI of public corruption. It escalated with the murders of two good men.

  Willis, Joey, and Cal were en route to Houston with an FBI escort. Hunter had agreed to testify and would stay under the guardianship of his parents until the trial. Jason should have been relieved, but frustration took front and center of his emotions. “It’s hard for me to accept Willis has a confirmed alibi. We may never find out who killed Russell.”