Chapter 19. The Trap is Set

Late the following afternoon the sheriff gets a call from the mayor. The mayor tells him Wellborne will be at the mayor’s office on the coming Saturday morning at 10:00. The sheriff says, “I’ll be there a little earlier. I’ll drive my car rather than a patrol car so he won’t suspect I’m there. See you then, Paul. And thanks for setting this up.”

The next afternoon Deputy Wilson comes into the sheriff’s office and says, “We found this in the harbor behind Crenshaw’s fishing boat.” He holds up a lug wrench and asks, “Shall I send it to the State Police lab to see if there’s any hair or blood on it?”

“No, I’m sure it’s been in the water too long. Give it to me. Do you know what kind of car it belongs to?”

“Not sure. Lug wrenches are pretty much alike. I can check with one of the car dealers in Alpena. Maybe they can tell.”

“Good idea, Wilson. You’ve got time to get there this afternoon if you leave now.”

“Okay, give it back to me and I’ll go now.”

The next morning Deputy Wilson comes into the sheriff’s office holding the lug wrench and says, “I found out this is a combination lug wrench and jack handle used on late model Chevy and Buick sedans. I hope that helps.”

“Thanks, Wilson. You can get back on road patrol now. Great job finding this and learning it’s from a GM sedan. It may well be the murder weapon.”

“Sue,” the sheriff yells. “Did you find out what kind of car Wellborne drives when you were preparing the search warrant?”

“Yes, he drives a 2018 Chevy Impala sedan. He does have one of those devices that earn him deductions on his insurance premiums if he is a good driver. His car would have ‘OnStar’ available. GM privacy says they ‘may’ collect location data. You probably should rely on the insurance company device. We know insurance companies keep location data.”

“Ah-ha, the chips are falling into place,” the sheriff exclaims happily.

Saturday morning the sheriff is waiting in a closet in the mayor’s law office when David Wellborne comes in. Wellborne snaps to the mayor, “I’m here as you asked, now tell me what scheme you’ve come up with to get my property back. I thought you told me the contract is binding and Jolene gets it no matter what.”

At that point the sheriff comes out of the closet and says in his most authoritative voice, “You’re not here about the property. You’re here so I can question you about Crenshaw’s murder. Now sit down and listen.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you pipsqueak sheriff. Damn you, Waters, you’ll pay for tricking me. You saw what happened when Crenshaw tricked me with his crooked contract.”

“Yes we did, Wellborne, that’s why you killed him,” Sheriff Ericsson replied as angrily as he could.

“You’re not going to pin that on me, Sheriff. You’ve got no evidence or you would have arrested me a long time ago.”

The sheriff then holds up the lug wrench in front of Wellborne’s face. Wellborne gets red in the face and yells, “Where did you get that? What makes you think the murder weapon is mine; everyone has one of those in their car.”

The sheriff replies, “Yes, they do, but they don’t know it’s the murder weapon like you just admitted to. Let’s go see if your car’s lug wrench is missing. If it is I’m going to arrest you for the murder of Carson Crenshaw.”

“You can’t do that, Sheriff,” says Wellborne.

Then Waters shouts quickly, “Shut up, Wellborne. You don’t have to say anything. Let the sheriff read you your rights and keep your mouth shut if you want me to represent you.”

“After how you got me to sign that crooked contract of Crenshaw’s and tricked me into being ambushed by the sheriff, I’d never hire you to represent me, you SOB.”

The sheriff says, “Let’s go outside. I have a warrant to search your car.”

When they get to the car the sheriff tells Wellborne to open the car’s trunk. He checks and the lug wrench/jack handle is missing. Holding the wrench next to the spot of the missing one they all see it fits exactly. “That pretty much seals it, Wellborne. Now I just have to serve you the warrant to check your ‘OnStar’ service and your insurance company tracking device. I’m betting one or both will put you at the harbor on October 12.”

“No need to bother, Sheriff. You’d find out I was there. No way was I going to let that scheming Crenshaw get away with cheating me out of what’s rightfully mine. I made him pay.”

“I told you to shut up, Wellborne, you’re digging the hole you’re in deeper by talking.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you, you. I should never have listened to you about that damn contract,” wails Wellborne.

Sheriff Ericson smiles inwardly and thinks, ‘This was easier than I expected. And I did it without any help from Pamela Lafave.’ Then he says, “David Wellborne I have a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Carson Crenshaw. You have the right to remain silent…”

Wellborne interrupts the sheriff saying, “Yea, yea, I know the rest.”

The sheriff continues anyway. Finishing with reading Wellborne his rights, he places handcuffs on Wellborne and puts him in the backseat of his personal car. Then he turns to Waters and says, “When Mary Jane Bloom’s article about this comes out you and I are going to be heroes in Pineville. I told you it would get us re-elected. Let’s arrange a press conference together with her for Monday morning. I’ve never done one. It’ll be fun not having her haranguing me for information for once.”