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“Who had access to your trailer?” Knox asked.
I felt like the words were coming through a funnel.
“Umm…” Struggling to think, I unconsciously looked at Earl
He threw his hands up. “It wasn’t me! I swear, it wasn’t me!”
Knox sighed. “Earl, do you have an alibi for where you were last night?”
The old man was whiter than a sheet of paper. “I plead the fifth.”
“Very well.” When Knox stood, he seemed every bit as old as Earl. “I am going to need to take you in for some questions, Earl. We can do this informally or I can read you your rights and arrest you.”
“It was me!” Martha yelled out dramatically. “I killed him. It was me.”
We all turned to where Martha was sitting. Her eyes were wild, and she was frantically rubbing her hands together.
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “I came and got Sutton’s gun. So, this is all my fault. Don’t arrest him, Sheriff. It was me that took the gun.”
The thought of Martha shooting Gabe was almost comical. The woman might be a right pain in the ass, but she wasn’t a murderer.
Knox rolled his neck from side to side, popping it as if he couldn’t wait to hear the bullshit story that he was about to be fed.
“Are you saying that you shot Gabe, Martha?”
She blanched, “No! I mean, err, maybe?”
Candice frowned. “There isn’t a maybe here. You either did or you didn’t.”
Knox’s lips twisted in amusement. “Questioning my witness, ma’am?”
She blushed prettily. “Sorry sir.”
Knox turned back to Martha. “Why don’t you try and go with the truth this time?”
“I took the gun,” she said in a rush. “I knew that Sutton kept it there. I only wanted to scare Earl with it. He’s been gone more than usual lately and, well, I was worried that he might have found someone new.”
A dark flush coated Earl’s face, but he didn’t speak up to defend himself.
“I had planned on scaring him straight. I put the gun in my purse but when I went to use the blasted thing, it wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t know what to do. So, I came over here pretending to want breakfast. I figured that Earl had found it and put it back. But he didn’t shoot anybody Sheriff, I know my Earl. He didn’t.”
Earl’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t kill him, Sheriff. I didn’t even know about the gun in Martha’s purse. I have no issues with Gabe.”
Knox blew out a breath. “And you won’t tell me where you were last night?”
Earl looked right at Martha with guilt written all over his face. “Not in front of the womenfolk.”
Knox nodded. “Why don’t you and I have a chat at the office?”
Earl looked resigned and got up to leave with Knox.
Martha quickly got to her feet. “I’m coming too!”
Earl turned back on her and with a grave expression said, “No, Martha-mine, not this time.”
I almost cried seeing her face. I had always known that she was a right bitch. But I knew she cared for the old bastard. It was clear from her expression that she not only cared for him, Martha loved him.
“What can we do?” I asked Knox quietly.