Page 11 of Kent's Watch
“Can I ask what the pressure is, and what fuel did you add?”
“Three months ago, Marvin Chambers retired. He turned the reins over to Rita. Oh, don’t get me wrong, she’s been in this line of work her entire life, but this is the first time she’s been on her own. If you know what I mean. This is her first solo class, and I threatened to call her father if she didn’t back off in harassing you.”
“Damn, that was harsh.”
“It was, but sometimes, you need to handle Rita like you do your dog. With a firm hand.” Julie grinned. “Now that we’ve been best friends for almost thirty years, I can get away with talking to her like that.”
“I understand. I have one more question.”
“What’s that?”
“Earlier, Rita told me I had to stay after class. Do you know why? Or can I leave with the others?”
“Let me check.” Julie pulled her phone from her back pocket and sent a quick text. They didn’t have long to wait. Julie looked up at Kent in shocked surprise when she read the text.
“What?”
“She said Jim needs to talk to you.”
“Who’s Jim?”
“Jim Faulkner, he’s the sheriff.”
Before Kent could respond, a vehicle pulled in, and the two of them turned to see the sheriff’s SUV had parked near the entrance of the building. They, along with Tate, made their way over to him. As soon as he exited his truck, he smiled at Julie, then looked at Kent.
“Palmer?”
“Yes, Kent Palmer.” He held out his hand and after they shook, Sheriff Faulkner pulled a small notebook from his breast pocket. He flipped through several pages, clicked a pen, and looked at him steadily.
“Could you tell me what you witnessed yesterday when Timothy Vickers was assaulted by both you and Rita Chambers.”
Kent stared at him in shock, then snorted a laugh. “If it’s the guy that kicked his puppy, then he wasn’t assaulted. He was calmly removed from the building. The only assault upon his person was my hand on his shoulder, and Ms. Chambers verbally dressed him down for hurting a puppy.”
“You didn’t hunt him down and do this to him?” Jim asked as he reached into his truck and withdrew a folder. He opened it and Kent stared in shock at the man from yesterday’s beat-up face. He had one eye black, the other was swollen shut, and there was a cut above his eyebrow that had at least six stitches. He also had a cut lip, along with bruising along his jaw.
“What do you have there?” Rita asked from beside Kent. He looked down and saw she had her jaw clenched tightly, and wouldn’t look at him.
“The sheriff thinks I did this.” He took one of the photos to show Rita.
“What the hell?” She looked at the picture before she looked back at Jim. “You didn’t tell me about this this morning when you came to talk to me.”
“Yeah, I only came to do a preliminary while Sparrow was in the hospital taking Vickers’s statement. I got your statement this morning, along with the video.” Jim turned to Kent with a scowl. “Where were you last night?”
CHAPTER 5
“Me?”Kent asked in shocked surprise. “I didn’t do this.”
Jim pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed heavily. “I know that, but I have to investigate these allegations. No offense, but you’re new here, no one knows anything about you. For all I know you could be a serial killer and you go around and rough up your targets before you go in for the kill.”
“Are there any dead bodies in the area?” Kent asked with a chuckle.
“Not yet,” Jim laughed. “I’m just throwing things out there. I know nothing about you and every damn thing I search comes back redacted.”
“What’s that?” Rita asked
“Private,” both men told her.
Kent looked around and saw the three of them were the only ones left in the parking lot except for the vehicles of the people that worked at CSAR. He looked directly at the sheriff, as he asked. “Can we go inside out of this heat?”
