Chapter 11. Sheriff Ericsson Investigates

During the week after Carson’s murder Sheriff Ericsson makes a list of suspects he will investigate. At the top of the list is Violet Green and her activists. The others his deputies say threated Carson the most are Peter Brown and David Wellborne. The thought of questioning Violet disturbs him. He knows it will be a challenge getting her to cooperate. He decides to start with Brown and Wellborne.

He has Peter Brown brought in and grills him. Peter says he and Sarah were home the rest of Saturday night after the meeting. The sheriff sends a deputy to interview Peter’s neighbors. One says he saw Peter come home right after the meeting and didn’t see his car leave again. He crosses Peter off the suspect list.

The sheriff sends a deputy to bring David Wellborne in from his cottage.  The deputy learns Wellborne has gone back to Detroit. When the sheriff tries to contact Wellborne in Detroit he learns Wellborne is now in China on business for GM. He isn’t expected back for at least four weeks.

The sheriff decides he has no choice but to bring Violet Green in and go through the agony of questioning her. Faced with that unpleasant task he decides to put it off until the following Monday. He’ll go fishing on Saturday and relax after church on Sunday.

First thing Monday morning the sheriff sends a deputy to Erin’s Cut and Curl salon to bring Violet in for questioning. While the sheriff is waiting for Violet, Sue brings him a second cup of coffee and says, “I brought you another coffee, Sir, you look like you need it before facing Violet.”

“Oh, thanks, Sue. I do need it. I know it’s going to be a rough morning.”

“I hear Violet coming in. She’s yelling at Deputy Wilson. I’ll show her right in.”

“Come in and sit down, Violet, I have a few questions for you,” the sheriff says in a sugary tone hoping to calm Violet.

“You can ask all you want. I’m not telling you anything,” Violet snaps.

“This’ll go a whole lot quicker if you cooperate, Violet,” replies the sheriff now in a stern voice.

“I’ve got all day, Sheriff,” Violet responds sarcastically. 

Ignoring her sarcasm Sheriff Ericsson says, using his authoritative voice, “You followed Carson Crenshaw to his fishing boat in the harbor after the Saturday night meeting, hit him in the head killing him and dumped his body in the water. Confess and save us all a lot of time.”

“Nice try, Sheriff. I’m not confessing to anything.”

“The deputies’ report from the meeting night lists the serious threats you made. You made threats, not just the other activists. I believe you followed up on your threats to prove to your cronies you know what it takes to stop someone like Carson Crenshaw. Isn’t that right?”

“You can believe whatever you want, Sheriff. But you can’t prove anything and I’m not confessing to something I didn’t do to make your job easier.”

Pushing a blank sheet of paper and a pen toward Violet the sheriff says, “Write down the names of every one of the activists that were with you on Saturday night.”

“I’m not writing anything.”

“You know I can throw you in jail for obstructing justice don’t you?”

“You can throw me in jail for whatever you want. I’m not confessing or telling you the names of anyone legally protesting.”

“Sue,” the sheriff shouts angrily, “Tell Wilson to take Violet Green to a cell and lock her up. Maybe a few hours in a cell will smarten her up.”

The sheriff drums his fingers on his desk and glares at Violet until deputy Wilson takes her away. After she’s gone he says to Sue, “My God, that woman drives me up a wall. I knew she’d be this way. She’s been like that her whole life. What a pain in the …”

“Now, Sheriff, don’t let Violet get to you. We’ve had to put up with her for 40 years. I guess we can put up with her for more,” Sue says soothingly.

“Yes, you’re right, Sue. I shouldn’t let her get to me. I know what she’s going to do but I can’t help myself.”

“Go out on patrol for a while, Sheriff. That’ll calm you down and maybe you’ll think of some way to get Violet to help with the investigation instead of trying to interfere with it,” Sue suggests.

“That’s a good idea, Sue. You always know what I need to do.”

When the sheriff returns he’s in a better mood. Sue senses it and says, “It looks like being on patrol helped.”

“It did, Sue. I’m going to let Violet sit in the cell for the rest of the day. If she doesn't cooperate then she can stay there overnight. I have no choice. I have to run down and check out every one of her activists. The deputies’ report said they counted 15 activists and recognized only two locals besides Violet. She must have recruited them from downstate. Probably from some organized environmentalists group. I’ll leave Violet in a cell all week if I have to. I can run down the two locals and question them while Violet’s cooling her heels in a cell. They may be more willing to cooperate.”

“You seem to be calmer than that plan explains. Did you think of something else while you were driving?” Sue asks.

“Yes, I thought more about the deputies’ report on the meeting. There’s something that seems strange to me. Jolene Crenshaw made a big public show of affection for Carson at the end of the meeting. That’s out of character for Jolene. It must have been deliberately staged. She’s a piece of trailer trash who got lucky and landed a rich older husband. I wouldn’t put it past her to kill Carson for his money. If I get stalled investigating Violet and her activists I’m going to look hard at Jolene.”

“I don’t know, Sheriff. Jolene grew up poor. Now she’s got plenty so it doesn’t make sense for her to risk losing it all,” Sue replied thoughtfully. Then she adds, “Do you want me to get you a sandwich from the deli or are you getting a beer and a burger from the Corner Bar?”

“After the morning I’ve had the beer and burger lunch sounds better.”

At the Monday night’s session of the Art Society Erin shares that the sheriff called Violet in for questioning that morning. She tells the group, “Violet’s been expecting to be called in and has been working up responses to the obvious questions Sheriff Ericsson is going to ask. I’m afraid he’ll get impatient with Violet’s not being willing to tell him the names of the activists threatening Carson. He may charge her with obstructing his investigation. Knowing Violet she’ll go to jail before helping the sheriff. I wish for once she’d be reasonable. She became so irritable last week knowing she would be questioned she upset several of her regular customers. With Jolene out grieving I can’t afford to lose some of Violet’s customers. My salon is barely profitable with Jolene and Violet both working. If Violet gets herself in jail I won’t be able to make my rent next month. That’s why I was so excited that we might get 20 new families if Carson’s development succeeded.”

Pam says, “I wish there was something we could do to help, Erin. Maybe Jolene will come back to work soon. Work would help take her mind off losing Carson.”

“I told her to take all the time she needs. Maybe I should call her again and suggest she come back to work. I hadn't thought of it, but you’re right, Pam, it might help her to get back to work.”