Always Emily

by Mary Sullivan

  He hadn’t been able to help last Saturday or Sunday. They were his busiest days at the Center. Recently, he’d been training a young band member, Raymond Harris, to take over. Ray had a passion for the Heritage Center and had worked there for years. It was time for Salem to pass the responsibility on to him. Ray had gone away last weekend, though, so Salem couldn’t help here. Aiyana and Mika had been here and all over the project, telling him about it in the evenings. He had turned a corner with his daughters at the dinner last week. Aiyana was opening up to him, and blossoming now that Justin had stopped slandering her online, and she’d made a new friend in Sophia. It seemed that Salem could stop worrying and just enjoy Aiyana’s company.

  Throughout this week, Salem had managed to help a bit after work, hauling trash to the dump and stripping the old desk Emily had wanted to keep. It looked like a million bucks with fresh stain and varnish.

  They stepped back outside to continue with their dinner. “How’s Otis been? Not too disturbed by the changes?”

  “I made sure all of the windows were wide open while we painted, and kept the big doors open, too. I bought low VOC paint, so I don’t think he was exposed to too many toxins.”

  “Little guy seems happy enough.” He caught Mika’s eye. His animal-loving daughter grinned. “Don’t even think about trying to catch a bat to bring home.”

  At her mock scowl, everyone laughed.

  A second later, he watched her surreptitiously sneak bits of pizza crust to the three dogs. At times like this, Salem’s heart expanded as though all of the goodness in the universe had been captured in that tiny, defiant, generous gesture.

  They had just finished the pizza when they heard cars pull up out front.

  “You expecting company?” Salem asked Violet. She shook her head and put the barking dogs inside the house. Everyone trooped toward the front of the house.

  Two sheriff’s department vehicles sat in the driveway, with Sheriff White and a couple of his deputies stepping out of them. Salem raised his eyebrows in question to Violet. She shrugged. Obviously, she had no idea why they would be here. What was up?

  Violet stepped forward. “What’s going on?”

  “We’ve been looking for Salem,” White answered. “Don’t give us any trouble. Come along peacefully.”

  Come along? What did he mean? “Where to? Why?”

  “We’re arresting you for the murder of Caleb Brown.”

  “Arresting me? What are you talking about? Murder? Caleb? He hasn’t been around Accord for four years.”

  “That’s right. He’s been buried on your land.”

  Salem choked. A chill ran through him. He hadn’t thought about the man since Annie’s death, but had remembered him recently when he talked to his girls about their mother. Now all of a sudden Salem was being arrested for the man’s murder. Caleb had been only yards away from the Cathedral all of that time. “That was Caleb? He didn’t run off somewhere?”

  “You should know,” White said. “You put him there.”

  “Sheriff,” Deputy Matt Breslin admonished. “He’s only under arrest. A court of law will decide whether he’s guilty.”

  White stepped around behind Salem’s back and cuffed him.

  “Hey!” Mika yelled.

  “You can’t be serious.” That was Emily.

  “Really, Sheriff.” Violet.

  Salem forced himself to stay calm because White seemed to have a beef against him, and Salem knew exactly what that beef was, but he wasn’t going down without questions. “What are you doing?”

  “Like I said, I’m arresting you. You have the right to remain silent...”

  Salem didn’t hear the rest, detached himself from what was happening because never, in his wildest dreams, could this scenario have occurred to him. “This can’t be happening. You’ve got to be kidding. Matt, you can’t believe this is true.” He’d gone to school with Matt. They’d played basketball together.

  “He’s Deputy Breslin to you.” Sheriff White tugged Salem’s arms up behind his back and pain shot through his shoulders.

  “Mmmph.”

  Mika squealed. “Stop hurting my Dad!”

  Aiyana folded in on herself like a wounded animal.

  “Do you have to do this in front of his daughters?” God bless Emily and her natural defiance. Felt good to have her turn it on for him.

  “Just following the letter of the law, ma’am.”

  “Sheriff,” Deputy Breslin started, but White quelled him with a silencing glare.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Salem protested. “What evidence can you possibly have?”

  “We found him on your land.”

  Emily stepped beside Salem and the warmth from her body reassured him. Surely between the two of them they could set the world to rights again. “You didn’t find the body. I did.” Emily sounded calm, but Salem sensed the banked fight in her. “And the land isn’t his. It’s my dad’s. Are you going to arrest him, too?”

  “Nope. Only Salem.”

  “Why are you arresting him? Why aren’t you just taking him in for questioning?”

  “Because we have it on good authority Salem had an argument with the deceased.”

  “What argument?” Salem struggled with panic. White led him to the car, hiking his arms high again. “Hey, that hurts. What the hell are you doing?”

  “You going to resist arrest, Pearce?”

  White wanted him to do exactly that so he could get in a few good hits. Animosity rolled from him like mist from the ocean, chilling Salem.

  “No.” Salem kept a reasonable tone, unwilling to be provoked by the sheriff. “What argument are you talking about?”

  “You were seen quarreling with Caleb before he died.”

  “A month before he left town. So what? He was giving my wife drugs. I was understandably angry.”

  “Yeah, and a week later, your wife died of an overdose.”

  Jesus. It sounded bad.

  Emily got into White’s face. “You arrest people on so little? Since when? Again, why aren’t you just questioning him? Why are you charging him? You sure you’re doing your job properly, Sheriff?”

  “Emily, cool it,” Salem warned. He loved that she was on his side, but he didn’t need the situation to escalate, especially not in front of his girls.

  “I’m calling my dad’s lawyer, Salem. I’ll get this straightened out.”

  That kind of help he appreciated.

  White shoved him into the back of the cruiser. “Breslin, you go on ahead. We’ll see you at the station.”

  “But, Sheriff—”

  “I said you go on ahead.” White’s face might as well have been carved out of granite. Breslin drove off with a spray of gravel.

  Deputy Hammond rode shotgun in the sheriff’s cruiser as White pulled out of the driveway and drove toward town. Salem wished Breslin hadn’t left. He didn’t trust White. He didn’t know Hammond well enough to know whether he’d stop the sheriff from doing anything illegal or if he would cover for him. Hammond had been a few years behind Salem in school, more in Emily’s circle than his.

  When White pulled off the highway onto a dirt side road instead of driving straight into town, Salem’s heart dropped. Here it comes, he thought. Trouble.

  White screeched to a halt, rounded the car and hauled Salem out of the backseat. The first punch opened the skin on Salem’s left cheek. The second punch knocked him to his knees.

  White’s black boots came into view. “That’s for my boy.”

  * * *

  “VIOLET, CAN YOU KEEP the girls with you while I drive to town to figure out how to fix this?”

  “I’m coming, too.” Aiyana, who’d seemed tiny and frail, came to life. “He’s got my dad. I need to be there.”

 
“You do understand Sheriff White is Justin’s father?”

  “Yeah. I know. I don’t trust him. That’s why I have to be there. I’ll sleep in jail with Dad to keep him safe.”

  “Okay. Come with me.” Emily opened her car door.

  “I’m coming, too. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  “Mika, it would be best for you to stay with Violet.”

  “No.”

  What could Emily do? She had no authority over Mika. The girl had just seen her father arrested.

  “Wait for me to get my sweater.” Violet headed toward the house. “I’m coming, too.”

  The second Violet returned, Emily pulled out of the driveway and drove hell-bent for leather into town.

  Partway there, Aiyana shouted, “Stop!”

  Emily slammed on the brakes so hard the car fishtailed.

  “What?”

  “Back there. Down that road. I saw the sheriff’s car.”

  Emily’s fear shot through the roof. Oh, dear God. Was Sheriff White taking revenge on Salem for yelling at his kid?

  She pulled a U-turn and shot back down the two-lane highway, turning onto the road Aiyana indicated.

  The scene she pulled up behind turned her stomach. Salem was on the ground with White and Deputy Hammond standing over him. The sheriff was pulling back his foot to kick Salem in the ribs.

  Emily laid her hand on the horn and didn’t let up until White glared at her, but at least that heavy boot hadn’t made contact.

  “Bastard,” she yelled, running from the car to confront White.

  The deputy held her back with a fist around her arm. “Ma’am, get back in your car.”

  “Not a chance. Put Salem into the cruiser and take him to a hospital.”

  White stepped in front of her, hiding Salem from her view. “The prisoner was resisting arrest.”

  “Sitting alone in the backseat behind a screen with his hands cuffed?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” White’s expression gave nothing away.

  “Liar. I’m going to have you charged.”

  Mika and Aiyana had gotten out of the car and hovered over their father. Aiyana bent down to check on him and then flew at the sheriff, claws bared.

  She got a good scratch to his face before the deputy pulled her away.

  “You want me to arrest you, too, little girl?”

  “Don’t you touch her,” Emily said, her tone sharp enough to draw blood. “You are in a whole shitload of trouble. Unless you want to make it worse, put Salem back into your cruiser now, gently, and we’ll drive into town behind you.”

  “I can arrest you, as well, for obstruction.”

  “And me, too?” Violet had gotten out of the car. Emily was glad she’d allowed the older woman to come.

  Violet, with her air of dignity, said, “Shame on you, Brent Hammond, for allowing this disgusting, illegal behavior. You’re the law. You’re not supposed to be above it. When I taught you in school, I instilled integrity and ethics. Where are they now?”

  Rage boiled underneath Violet’s dignified façade.

  The deputy turned bright red and helped Salem to his feet.

  Oh, his face. Salem’s poor face. Blood trickled from a cut on his right cheekbone and his eye was swelled shut.

  “Aiyana?” Emily barely held herself back from going after White.

  “Yes?” Aiyana’s voice shook.

  “Do you have your cell phone with you?”

  “In the car.”

  White tried to hustle Salem into the cruiser before Aiyana could retrieve it, but Mika was right there whipping her own phone out of her pocket and shooting pictures of her dad’s face.

  “Get a long shot,” Emily said. “We need the world to see where this happened.”

  Mika pulled back and took another shot.

  “Give me that phone.” White advanced on Mika.

  “Get into the car,” Emily ordered, stepping between White and the girl. “You could erase those photos, but what are you going to do? Erase our memories, too? We’re four credible witnesses.”

  Just before she followed the girls and Violet into her car, she said, “Take Salem to the station and we’ll follow behind you. And, Sheriff? Say your prayers. You’re as guilty as sin, just like your son.”

  Emily slammed her car door and backed out of the road onto the highway. She waited on the far shoulder until Sheriff White pulled out then followed him into town.

  Down the street from the sheriff’s office—and his jail cells—was her dad’s lawyer’s office. Her father had once said that John Spade was the most cutthroat lawyer he’d ever known—and he’d dealt with plenty of lawyers over the years.

  Emily decided to make it her first stop. That the office was locked for the weekend wasn’t surprising, but the note on the door was. Spade would be away for the following week on holidays.

  “What do we do now?” Emily whispered.

  Aiyana’s and Mika’s fear shimmered from them like heat from asphalt.

  “Let’s go.” She took them to the sheriff’s office.

  Emily opened the door, but White was there, blocking the way and keeping them outside on the sidewalk.

  “Thought you’d come around to cause trouble.”

  “We’re not causing trouble, Sheriff. We’re here to make sure Salem is being handled properly. That this arrest is being handled according to the letter of the law.” Emily used his own words against him.

  “I’m handling this just fine. No one gets in to see him.”

  “He’s my dad,” Mika shouted. “You can’t keep me from him.”

  “I sure enough can, little girl. Unless you want a charge of obstructing justice, or causing a disturbance, I’m advising you to leave. All of you go home.”

  “Not until I see my dad.” Aiyana’s hatred of the sheriff blazed.

  “We don’t need a bunch of rubberneckers here.”

  “Rubberneckers?” Emily’s rage hit the roof.

  Violet touched Emily’s arm to hold her back. “Dear, it’s time to regroup. We’ll be back, Sheriff.”

  “Wait. Doesn’t he get a phone call to a lawyer?”

  “Emily, come.” Violet had a strong grip for an aging woman. She urged Emily and the girls toward the car.

  They left and the sheriff went back inside the office, but not until they were all seated inside the car.

  “What was that about?” Emily started the engine and drove away slowly, gazing at the closed door of the attorney’s office as she passed. Salem was in jail and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

  She pounded the steering wheel.

  “The sheriff isn’t going to be reasonable at the moment.” Violet sat beside Emily in the passenger seat. “We need to be smart so he won’t have a thing to complain about, or use against us, later.”

  “Good thinking.” Emily accelerated. “Let’s go talk to my dad. He’ll know what to do.” They drove to the Jordan house.

  Emily’s dad had taken to spending a lot of time in the garage building a canoe. The man he used to be when he first came to Accord twenty years ago would have said that sort of pastime was a waste of time. Thank goodness Laura had been able to tame the workaholic in him, or he might be dead of a heart attack by now.

  When they drove up the driveway, he stepped outside. His smile of greeting dropped the second he saw their faces.

  “What’s happening?” he asked even before Emily was fully out of the car.

  “Salem’s been arrested.”

  “Salem? What on earth for?”

  “For murder,” Mika blurted, and the usually confident girl sounded scared. Her voice wobbled. No wonder after what she’d just seen.

  Emily’s dad stopped wiping his
hands on the rag he held. “Murder? Is this a joke?”

  “I wasn’t here at the time,” Emily said, “but do you remember a man named Caleb Brown?”

  “Sure. Local gossip was that he’d run out of town ahead of some drug dealers who’d come from Denver looking for him.”

  “Remember Salem and I found a body behind the Cathedral?”

  Her dad understood. “Caleb.”

  “You guessed it.”

  “Fine, but why arrest Salem?”

  The girls crowded close to Emily while Violet hovered off to the side. “Because he had an argument with Caleb before the man disappeared.”

  “That’s it? That’s all the evidence they have?”

  They followed him into the house. “Violet, I haven’t seen you in town in a while. How are you?”

  “I’ve been better, Nick. I’m in shock.”

  “No wonder. Laura,” he called.

  Laura popped into the hallway from the living room, her welcoming smile dropping as quickly as her husband’s had.

  “Can you make us a pot of tea? I’ll fill you in on what’s happening.” Emily’s dad followed her down the hallway to the kitchen, where they all sat around the table.

  Just as Emily was about to start, Cody came downstairs and joined them. “What’s up?”

  Emily repeated the news.

  “Salem? Murder?” Cody leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, his big, solid presence reassuring. At the moment, Emily needed every assurance that the world hadn’t gone completely insane.

  “Is White for real?” Cody asked.

  “It gets worse.” When Emily made sure she had everyone’s attention, she told them about catching Sheriff White assaulting Salem while Deputy Hammond watched. Cody straightened away from the counter and her father shot up so quickly his chair fell over.

  “Mika got pictures.” At Emily’s urging, she took out her phone and showed them around. Silent tears coursed her cheeks.

  “These are excellent, Mika. We can nail the sheriff with them.” Thanks, Dad, Emily thought.