But Not Forsaken: A Clint Wolf Novel (Clint Wolf Mystery Series Book 3)

by BJ Bourg

  As the seven officers fired the three-volley salute, I stood motionless, unmoved and feeling numb. My fears had been realized—Chloe was a cheater and I’d been played as a fool. More than hurt, I felt anger at myself for having been such an idiot. How could I have been so blind and trusting?

  I was finally able to block out my thoughts and focus on the end of the service. When it was over, I stood in line to walk by the family and bid them well. Reginald was about ten people ahead of me and I kept my eyes on him. When we were done, I turned to Susan. “Call Melvin to come pick us up. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Have a word with Reginald.”

  She took a deep breath and exhaled, but didn’t say a word as she fished her phone from her pocket.

  Reginald was laughing with a couple of other officers when I walked up and grabbed his arm roughly. “We need to talk.”

  There was a look of confusion on his face as he followed me down a long corridor of tombstones. I didn’t bother saying a word in explanation, preferring to let him wonder. Deep down, he probably already knew what was up. Our shoes clanked against the concrete sidewalk and I didn’t stop until I’d gone about fifty yards and we were well out of earshot of the crowd.

  I rounded a corner and stopped between two large gray tombs, turning to face him.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “How was your lunch date with Chloe Wednesday?”

  I saw the color drain from his face. He stammered for a second, but quickly regained his composure. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “So, you knew about us.”

  I nodded. “You’re the worst kind of scum—a cop who’ll sleep with another cop’s wife or girlfriend. It’s a good thing you left the sheriff’s office and went to work at the DA’s office, because you’ll never have another partner.”

  The color had returned to Reginald’s face and he suddenly seemed defiant. “Well then, if you knew about us, I have one question for you.” He took a step closer to me and I saw his hand inch toward the pistol at his side. I relaxed the muscles in my right arm, ready to go for my own gun. I studied his eyes, waiting for the slightest twitch.

  “Go ahead, ask your question,” I said calmly.

  “Did you murder Chloe and shove her in the trunk of her car because you were mad at her for cheating on you?”

  “If you were my friend, you’d know three things about me…I don’t believe in violence against women, I don’t compete for women, and I don’t fight over women.”

  The lines in Reginald’s face slowly began to disappear as he began to relax. He sighed. “Then what do we do from here?”

  “We find her killer and bring him to justice.”

  Reginald frowned. “I’m really sorry, Clint. I didn’t mean for this to happen. She started coming around during the grand jury hearings and she interviewed me a few times over lunch. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common, you know? One thing led to another and we ended up—”

  “Save it,” I said sternly. “I don’t care how it started and I don’t want to hear how you cheated on your wife with Chloe.”

  “I didn’t cheat on my wife with Chloe. My wife left me over two weeks ago.”

  “Well, I’m glad to hear it,” I said. “Maybe she can find someone who’s more honorable and trustworthy than your sorry ass.”

  “Don’t act all high and mighty with me.” Reginald sneered. “We all know how Susan was caught bringing cake to your house on your birthday.”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Chloe knew y’all were having an affair, so she decided to give you some of your own medicine.”

  I felt my face grow hard as I took a step closer to Reginald. “I’m not a cheating piece of shit like you,” I said. “I’m loyal and faithful to the woman in my life—a concept that’s foreign to you. If Chloe didn’t realize that, she didn’t deserve me.”

  He gulped audibly and his face turned pale. I realized he probably thought I was going to hit him, so I stepped back.

  “Look, I’m sorry for spreading that rumor,” he said. “I was just repeating what Chloe told me. I was certainly wrong for being involved with her when I knew y’all were dating. You can call me whatever you want and you’ll be right…I won’t even try to argue. I just hope we can put our differences aside and work together to find the person who killed her.” Reginald hung his head and I thought I saw tears dripping to the ground. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I did love her and I want to find who killed her so I can put that bastard in the ground.”

  After a long moment of staring him down, I sighed. “I told you the latest on my end, what’ve you found out on yours?”

  “Nothing, really.” He squeezed his eyes with his hands and looked away for a moment. When he turned back to face me, his eyes were red and his chin was trembling. He busied himself pulling his cell phone from a leather pouch attached to his belt. After messing with the phone for a minute, he turned it so I could see the screen. He’d received a text message from someone named True Love at six o’clock on Wednesday evening stating she was in an interview and was working late. True Love sent another message at ten twenty-six to say she’d made it to her dad’s house.

  “Am I correct in assuming you saved Chloe’s contact information under True Love?”

  Reginald’s face flushed a little, and he nodded.

  “Jesus, Reggie…are you in grade school?” I stifled a chuckle and studied the messages. “So, the killer texted you from Chloe’s phone at the same time he texted me.” I rubbed my chin. “Everyone knew Chloe and I were together, but who knew about you and her?”

  Reginald’s eyes grew wide. “Shit, that’s a great point. The only person who knew I was seeing her was Bill. A couple of the prosecutors and one or two of the secretaries suspected something was going on, but Bill knew for sure.”

  “How do you know he knew about it?”

  “After Chloe had come in there accusing him of killing his wife, he pulled me aside and told me I needed to keep a tighter leash on my bitch of a girlfriend.”

  I clenched my fists. “He called her a bitch?”

  Reggie nodded.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What did you say in response to his comment?”

  “Nothing, really. I mean, what was I supposed to say?”

  “Twenty years ago you had the courage to accuse him of killing his wife, but now you keep your mouth shut when he calls your girlfriend a bitch?” I shook my head. “What kind of man have you become?”

  “I’m two years away from retirement and smart enough to pick my battles carefully.”

  I was bored with the conversation and needed to start figuring out my next move, so I turned and started walking toward where Isabel and Susan were waiting for us. Reginald put away his phone and strode along beside me.

  “I need to talk to Bill,” I said.

  “Good luck with that.”

  “I need you to get me in to see him.”

  Reginald shook his head. “He has to think I’m on his side, or he won’t let me close to him. That phone is our only real evidence against him, and I’ll never find it if he fires me.”

  I knew he was right, so I didn’t argue.

  “What’s up?” Isabel asked when we reached them. She looked inquisitively from Reginald to me and back to Reginald. “Y’all look pretty intense.”

  “Can you get me in to see Bill?” I asked. “I have some questions for him.”

  Isabel pushed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and cocked her head to the side. “About?”

  “Chloe’s murder.”

  “Do y’all really think he did it?”

  Reginald nodded and told her about the text messages we’d both received from Chloe’s phone while it was pinging in the area of the district attorney’s office.

  Isabel’s brow furrowed and she opened her mouth to spe
ak, but then clamped it shut.

  “Can you get me in?” I asked.

  Still distracted, Isabel said, “Um…he has coffee every morning at this little café two blocks from the office. There’s a big sign out front that reads, Fresh Beignets Daily—can’t miss it.”

  “What time should I be there?”

  “He arrives at seven sharp every morning. There’s a little private room in the back where he sits and reads the newspaper.” Isabel turned away from me and shoved a finger in Reginald’s direction. “And why was Chloe texting you again?”

  “I’ll let you two catch up,” I said before he could answer. I waved for Susan to follow me and we walked to the front of the church to wait for Melvin.

  CHAPTER 47

  5:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 3

  Susan Wilson’s House – Mechant Loup, Louisiana

  I reached blindly for the phone and slid my thumb across the screen to turn off the alarm. As quietly as I could, I rushed through my morning routine, trying not to disturb Susan. I had let Achilles out and fed him and was just pouring a cup of coffee when she stumbled out of the bedroom rubbing her eyes. “That time already?” she asked. “It felt like I just went to sleep.”

  I nodded and handed her the cup, grabbing another for myself. “I want to get to the café early so I don’t miss Bill.”

  She nodded and dropped to a chair. After placing her cup on the table, she reached behind her head and pulled her hair to her right side, covering up that shoulder and leaving the left side of her neck and collarbone area exposed. She took a slow sip of her coffee and asked if I wanted her to tag along. “After all,” she said. “You’ll be interviewing a potential murder suspect and could use the backup.”

  I tore my eyes away from her smooth skin and concentrated on the smoke rising from my cup. “That might not be such a good idea, considering how he feels about you.”

  “I can wait in the Tahoe,” she suggested. “At least I’ll be close by in case something happens.”

  I nodded my agreement and decided to take Achilles into the back yard while she got dressed. As soon as I opened the back door, he bolted outside and went straight for a squeaky chicken toy Susan had bought him. Once he snatched it up, he ran in circles with what looked like a giant grin on his face. Each time his front paws hit the ground, the chicken would squeak and he would try to run even faster. He passed close to me on one of his circles, so I lunged for the chicken and got a hand on it, knocking it from his mouth. After an intense scramble, with both of us fighting for the toy, I managed to get it away from him and held it high into the air. Without warning, he leapt effortlessly into the air and clamped his jaws shut around the chicken, jerking it from my grasp.

  I laughed and watched as he shot across the yard like a bullet, determined to keep the toy away from me. Just then, my phone rang and I pushed it idly to my ear.

  “Is this Chief Clint Wolf of the Mechant Loup Police Department?”

  The voice sounded official. “This is Clint.”

  The man identified himself as the assistant warden for the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Chetimaches. “An inmate named Lance Duggart requested to speak with you, but I wanted to verify you all had official business before allowing him to speak with you. According to Inmate Duggart, he was assisting you with a homicide investigation.”

  Immediately alert, I verified Duggart was working with me, and a few seconds later he came onto the phone.

  “Chief, I’ve been thinking about it all night and I think I remember the name of the woman who was sleeping with Bill Hedd.”

  “Shoot,” I said, grabbing a pen and a small notebook from my pocket. Holding the phone against my ear with my shoulder, I wrote down the name he mentioned. It sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t be sure I’d heard it before. “Is that a nickname?”

  “I’m not sure,” Duggart said. “I just remember her saying she thought he was sleeping with some girl named Izzy Ridley. She only mentioned it one time and didn’t say more than that, so it’s really all I know. To be honest, I didn’t care what her husband was doing—I just cared about her.”

  I thanked him and hung up. Once Susan was ready to go, I rubbed Achilles’ head and let him back into the house. Susan and I then jumped in my Tahoe and headed north while I told her about my conversation with Duggart.

  “Izzy Ridley…” Susan scrunched her face and whipped out her phone. “The name doesn’t sound familiar. I’ll have Lindsey run it.”

  Within minutes, we were crossing the Mechant Loup Bridge and leaving the town behind us. I frowned as I glanced in my rearview mirror. If only I had thought to go up into the bridge cabin Wednesday night I would’ve caught the murderer and put an end to all of this. Or you would’ve gotten yourself killed, I thought. The murderer would’ve had the drop on me for sure, so there’s no telling how that would’ve ended.

  After talking with Lindsey and waiting for her to run a name inquiry, Susan hung up her phone and turned to me. “You’re not going to believe this shit! Izzy is a nickname and Ridley is a maiden name.”

  When she didn’t say anything more, I asked, “Are you going to tell me or do I have to beg?”

  “I…I don’t know if I believe it.” She stared down at her notes and shook her head. When she finally told me the name, I shook my own head.

  “That can’t be right,” I said. “There’s no way.”

  “Lance must be shooting you a line of shit.”

  We rode in silence, each of us in disbelief. If Izzy was who we thought she was, things were about to get real ugly.

  After I’d driven for about fifteen minutes, Susan turned to me. “I just want you to know I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through.”

  I cocked my head sideways. “What’re you talking about?”

  “I’ve been cheated on before,” she said softly, “and it sucks.”

  “Don’t apologize for something she did.” I shook my head, not really knowing how to express my feelings—and not really knowing how I felt. “I don’t even know what I was thinking getting involved with Chloe. On one hand, it felt good to have someone show interest in me and to have someone to hang out with, but on the other hand, I was often overcome with guilt. If you’re feeling guilty about being in a relationship, something’s wrong.”

  “Did you feel guilty because you felt like you were cheating on Michele?”

  I was thoughtful, and then nodded.

  “Clint, you have to know it’s okay to move on with your life. Michele would’ve wanted you to.”

  “The thing is…I never asked her for permission to move on. I know it sounds crazy and I know she can’t hear me or anything, but I think I should’ve at least asked her what she thought or let her know that I planned to move on before actually doing it.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I think I should’ve visited her grave and talked to her about my plans. Should’ve given her a chance to show me a sign or something—to let me know it was okay to move on.” I stole a glance at Susan. “Does that sound crazy?”

  “No, it actually sounds very romantic.”

  “Nice try, but I know there’s nothing romantic about me…and I’m okay with that. I’m a man who understands his weaknesses.”

  “Oh, shut up.” Susan laughed and playfully punched my arm. “You don’t fool me, Clint Wolf. I know there’s some sweetness under that tough exterior.”

  I grunted and kept driving. When I pulled into town I found a parking spot along the street in front of the café. “Call my phone,” I said. “I’ll leave the line open so you can hear what’s going on.”

  Susan nodded and made the call. I answered and slipped my phone back into my uniform shirt pocket. After giving her a nod, I stepped out into the cool morning air and strode toward the front door. “Here goes nothing, Sue.”

  CHAPTER 48

  The café was darker than I expected, so I stood to the side of the doorway to let me eyes adjust to the dimness. Both walls of the building were l
ined with round metal tables and chairs, leaving a narrow aisle down the middle. A sign to the right side of the room boasted hot beignets daily and listed a lunch special containing crawfish etouffee, popcorn shrimp, salad, and desert. The hostess walked up wearing a white button-down shirt and black pants. She greeted me with a smile and asked if I’d be dining alone.

  “Actually, I’m supposed to meet the district attorney here,” I lied, pointing to my badge. “I’m the chief of police over in Mechant Loup and we need to meet about a case. He’s expecting me.”

  She smiled and led the way down the narrow aisle until we reached the back of the café. She then stood aside and pointed toward a dark hallway. “It’s the first door on the right. Can I bring you something to drink?”

  “I’ll have a cup of coffee.” I strode down the hallway and glanced through the doorway before entering. It was a small private room with a large window overlooking a giant pond. An egret was swooping in for a landing at the far end of the pond and an alligator was sunbathing on the near bank.

  Bill was seated at the only table in the room and his back was to me. I took a deep breath and approached the table. He looked up when I stopped beside him, and immediately lurched back in his chair and gasped, the newspaper slipping from his fingers. “What in hell’s name are you doing here?”

  I lifted my hands in a surrender position. “I’m just here to talk about a personal matter, and I was hoping you could help me.”

  Eyeing me suspiciously, he regained his composure, gathered up the newspaper, and folded it neatly. Seemingly back in charge, he placed it aside and waved toward one of the chairs. “Please, sit.”

  I took a seat—leaving my right leg angled away from the table so I would have easy access to my pistol—and thanked him.

  Bill glanced at his watch. “What is it that you need to discuss? I have to be getting back to the office.”