Page 56 of This is Why We Lied

His smile had an arrogant quality. “Bitty called me on the road.”

“How surprising.” Delilah told Will, “They call her Bitty because she’s got fools like him wrapped around her bitty finger.”

The sheriff ignored her, asking Will, “Where’s the body?”

Delilah said, “Down by the bachelor cottages.”

“Did I ask you?”

“For godsakes, Biscuits. It’s not like you’re going to do a thorough investigation.”

“Don’t call me Biscuits,” he shouted. “And if I was you, Delilah, I’d shut the hell up. You’re the only one up here with a history of stabbing people.”

“It was a goddam fork.” Delilah explained to Will, “This was back before Jon was born. Mercy was living in my garage. I caught her trying to steal my car.”

The sheriff countered, “So you say.”

Will felt his teeth grit as they continued to bicker. This bullshit was burning through time they didn’t have. The sheriff seemed more focused on scoring points than the fact that he had a murder on his hands. Will looked at his watch. Even if Amanda woke up to read the emergency text, it would take her a minimum of two hours to drive up from Atlanta.

“Go fuck yourself.” Delilah walked down the stairs, oblivious to the pouring rain. “I’m going to go sit with my niece.”

“Don’t touch anything,” the sheriff called.

She raised a middle finger to let him know what she thought about the order.

The sheriff told Will, “Some things don’t get better with age.”

Will needed this man to focus on what mattered. “Should I call you Sheriff or—”

“Everybody calls me Biscuits.”

Will’s teeth gritted again. No one in this place went by their actual name.

Still, he ran down the last two hours for the sheriff. “Roughly around midnight tonight, I was at the lake with my wife. We heard three screams. The first was about ten minutes apart from the second two, which were closer together. I ran through the woods and located the area with the three bachelor cottages. The last one was on fire. Mercy was located at the lake shore. Her upper body was in the water, but her feet were on dry land. I discovered that she was stabbed multiple times. Blood loss was severe. We spoke, but her only concern was Jon, her son. I wasn’t able to get any information about her attacker. I tried to administer CPR, but the blade of the knife was still inside of her chest. It subsequently pierced my hand. The handle must have broken off during the attack. I was unable to locate it at the scene. There doesn’t seem to be any missing knives in the commercial kitchen. We should check the family kitchen and all of the cottages. As soon as the sun comes up, we can begin a grid search. I recommend starting at the main compound and moving in the direction of the crime scene. Do you have any questions?”

“Nah, you covered everything. That was a damn good briefing. Gonna need to run it down one more time for the coroner. The roads are getting dicey. Shouldn’t be more than another half hour.” Biscuits looked down at Will’s bandaged hand. “I was wondering what happened to your paw.”

Will wanted to shake some urgency into the man. Mercy was dead. Her son was in the house grieving. “I can take you to see the body.”

“She’ll still be dead when the rain passes and the sun comes up.” Biscuits looked out at the compound again. “Delilah ain’t wrong about nothing to investigate. Mercy’s got an ex. Dave McAlpine. Long story on how they all got the same name, but them two have been beating on each other since they were teenagers. My baby sister used to see ’em walloping on each other back in high school. What happened this time was, they took it too far and she ended up dead.”

Will had to take a slow breath before he responded. It sounded a hell of a lot like the sheriff was blaming Mercy for being a murder victim. “My boss—”

“Wagner? Is that her name?” He didn’t wait for confirmation. “She offered to send some of her field agents to take over, but I told her to cool her jets. Dave will show up eventually.”

Amanda didn’t have a cool setting on her jets. “We should search Mercy’s room.”

“Who’s the ‘we’ here, fella?” Biscuits was smiling, but not really. “My county, my case.”

Will knew he was right. “I’d like to volunteer to help look for Dave.”

“Don’t waste your time. I already had my deputy swing by his trailer and all the bars he hangs out at. He ain’t around. Probably sleeping it off in a ditch somewhere.”

Will pivoted. “He might be hiding in one of the empty cottages. I don’t have my weapon, but I can give you backup for the search.”

“Don’t bother,” Biscuits said. “Dave ain’t allowed up here after six. Papa banned him from the compound a while back. The only reason he’s been up this last month is to work on the bachelor cottages.”

Will wondered if the man understood the words coming out of his own mouth. Dave was a murder suspect. He wasn’t sticking to a curfew. Will tried another angle, asking, “What kind of vehicle does he drive?”