Page 47 of Ghost
“Fine, but this isn’tover,” Elias said before shoving a chair with a good amount offorce across the room.
Elias grabbed Brick’s arm and draggedhim from the room, slamming the door behind them. Damn, theirOscars were in the mail.
“I’m sorry you had to seethat,” Ray continued. “Let’s start again. I’m investigating thedeath of the town veterinarian, Mr. Cross, and while I was on thesite where his body was found, your wallet was found, which you’vegot to admit is very suspicious. Can you explain why it wasthere?”
Jake looked around the room as ifdeciding on his best course of action, so Ray hedged hisbets.
“I can only help you asmuch as you help me,” Ray said. He knew bigger fish were in thispond, and Jake was a minnow doing what he was told.
“None of this is on me,”Jake said after a moment. “I didn’t kill no one.”
“Truth.”
“I believe you. Yourprevious issues with the law don’t lead me to believe you’re acold-blooded killer, but you’ve gotta see how bad this looks foryou. If we can’t find any other viable answers, that leaves me withno other choice but to charge you with the murder and let thecourts decide your guilt. However, with your history, I honestlycan’t see a judge and jury siding with you.”
“I didn’t doit.”
“Truth.”
“Then who did? You gottagive me something to go on. No one is going to be able to reach youhere. We’d keep you safe in a cell while we find the realmurderer.”
Jake’s eyes shifted from side to side,and this time Ray remained quiet. Letting the guy work himself upuntil he spilled something useful.
It didn’t take long.
“There’s shit going on inMarshall, and Cross was no angel.”
“What was Cross upto?”
“When I said I was outthere taking pictures for someone interested in the land, I wasn’tlying. You need to look into who's buying up the land aroundhere.”
“Truth.”
“Is this something new?”Ray asked, already knowing the answer.
“No. It’s been going on forgenerations. When land came up for sale, they bought it, and whenthe owners weren’t willing to sell, other thingshappened.”
“Truth.”
“What do you mean by ‘otherthings,’ and who is they?”
“That’s all I can say. Lookinto it.” Jake was getting progressively more nervous, and Ray knewhe was nearing the end of getting any usableinformation.
“Do you know why they wantthis particular patch of land?” Ray asked, attempting to get onemore question answered.
“No, but it’s gotta bebig.”
“Truth.”
“Okay. We’re going to keepyou here in a cell for your own safety until we have thoseresponsible. It’s likely whoever this is knows you’ve been broughtin by now, and if they’re willing to kill Cross, they won’t thinktwice about killing you.”
Jake’s face paled. The gravity of thesituation finally hitting home.
About damn time.
***
Ghost
