Thursday morning Sheriff Ericsson is on edge. He fears he won’t find enough evidence to support the preliminary examination for Willie Sexton. Despite the weak evidence against Sexton, the sheriff’s convinced he’s guilty. If he has to let Sexton out of jail Sexton will most likely vanish. He imagines the response he’ll get from the mayor, from Mary Jane Bloom’s column and the voters. He needs a backup plan. If only he had more suspects. When Sue brings him his first coffee in the red mug he asks her to close his door so he can think.
The Crawford file is on his desk. He opens it and takes out the medical examiner’s report. He’s studied it carefully and reviewed it a couple of times. One more time may be worth it. He considers if Martha’s death was a robbery with the rape an afterthought or faked to throw suspicion on sex offenders. There was no money in Martha’s purse and possibly a gold ring was taken from her finger. That’s evidence of a robbery. She still had her watch, but it’s not one worth pawning. Her phone wasn’t taken, but a phone isn’t worth stealing. He almost convinces himself it could have been a robbery when he remembers the gift shop didn’t mention any money being taken. Face it, he concludes, it was a sex crime, not a robbery.
He puts the medical examiner’s report back in the file as he hears Deputy Wilson saying good morning to Sue. He gets up, goes to the door, and invites Wilson in. He says, “What did you learn from Lafleur?”
“He didn’t give Martha those red lace panties. He said the gift card she kept was most likely for flowers he gave her on her birthday.”
“Damn, unless we come up with a miracle by 2:00 this afternoon the prosecutor will be able to show probable cause for the crime but not for Willie Sexton committing the crime. The judge will direct the prosecutor to dismiss the case against Sexton. Then we’re in deep trouble.”
“What do you want me to do, Sir?” asks Wilson.
“Pray, Wilson, pray. I’m out of ideas.”
The preliminary examination goes as Sheriff Ericsson expects. The prosecutor makes a valiant effort, reciting all the circumstantial evidence against Sexton. Judge Laura Mae Hopper asks him, “Do you have any evidence Martha Crawford wore those red lace panties the day she was raped and strangled to death?”
Prosecutor Quick sighs and replies, “No, Your Honor.”
“Dismiss the case against Mr. Sexton, Prosecutor. This preliminary examination is closed.”
Karl Katz says, “Thank you, Your Honor,” and tells Sexton he’s free to leave.
Willie Sexton glares at the sheriff as he stands up and walks out of the courtroom.
Sheriff Ericsson returns to his office in a foul mood. Sue looks at him but doesn’t say anything. He knows she can guess what happened by the look on his face. He goes straight to his desk saying, “Get the mayor on the phone.”
The sheriff picks up when Sue tells him the mayor is on. He says, “Good afternoon, Mayor. I have bad news. Judge Hopper directed the prosecutor to dismiss the case against Willie Sexton. I have no other suspects. We better brace ourselves for a firestorm of anger when the news gets out. I did the best I know how, but I’m at a dead end.”
“You’re right about the firestorm of complaints unless we do something. This Crawford case has everyone on edge wanting justice. The voters will point fingers in every direction if we don’t blunt their fears. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to tell Mary Jane Bloom she’s the one responsible for the anger in the community and I expect her to diffuse it in her next column,” the mayor says.
“I can’t believe she’ll do that, Mayor. She always writes the most sensational column imaginable.”
“She’ll do what I tell her or I’ll make her life miserable. Don’t forget, I’m a lawyer as well as mayor. I can put so many legal roadblocks in front of that paper the publisher will force Mary Jane to play ball or fire her.”
“Won’t they claim freedom of speech?” says the sheriff.
“There are laws against yelling fire in a theater full of people when there is no fire. Freedom of speech has limits and I can exploit those limits. Her columns are the same as yelling fire when there is none, as far as I am concerned. I expect Judge Hopper is as concerned as I am over the community overreacting. She knows it’s because of Mary Jane’s columns. She’ll agree to an injunction against any more sensational columns if I ask her. At least I believe I can convince the paper’s publisher she will.”
“What do you want me to do, Mayor?” asks the sheriff.
“I expect Mary Jane Bloom will call you after I talk to her. You tell her you’ve done a thorough investigation and concluded the rapist was someone passing through Pineville and has now moved on. Since there is no DNA evidence he can’t be found. You tell her you’re confident he’s left our area. Tell her all the publicity caused the rapist to leave before he got caught. Then you and your deputies spread that word to the local spots where people share gossip. Go to the Corner Bar, Jack’s Bar, the Coffee Mug, the Harbor Deli, and the Black River Bar and Grill. Let’s hope our story calms the waters. If you and your deputies spread our story all over the county tonight, tomorrow and throughout the weekend you’ll have everyone believing it by the time Mary Jane’s next column is due next Tuesday. You watch, with my pressure and the community believing the rapist has moved on, she’ll have little choice but to support our story.”
The sheriff says, “We’ll support your plan, Mayor. Let’s hope it works.” He hangs up the phone and tells Sue to have all the deputies come to his office for an important meeting at 4:30.
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