Small Town Justice(29)
She shook off confusing feelings and concentrated on appearing amiable during dinner. That wasn’t hard. Marsha mothered her, Otis was like the kindly grandfather she’d never known and Kyle reminded her of dreams she’d once cherished of having a son of her own.
And then there was the enigma that was Shane. How could she possibly hope to ferret out the truth when chaotic emotions interfered and confused her? It was evident that he didn’t approve of her plans, and part of her was a people-pleaser. The sensible side of her personality, however, insisted there was nothing wrong with her original aims.
Belatedly, Jamie realized Shane was speaking to her. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
“I’d suggested we take the first box into the living room and relax while we look through it.”
“That sounds wonderful.” She glanced toward the hearth rug where a weary little boy and an equally worn-out dog had curled up together.
“Don’t worry,” Shane said. “Nothing much wakes Kyle when he’s asleep.”
“I can’t say the same for Useless.”
Marsha chuckled. “Which is it going to be, dear? Are you sticking with Ulysses or should we call him Useless?”
Eyeing Shane, Jamie made a face. “As long as I hang around this family we may as well do it Shane’s way. Besides, the dog doesn’t care. They sound almost the same.”
Shane’s eager “All right” was accompanied by a smile.
Jamie figured he was happy because he’d scored a small victory. Fine. Let him think she’d begun to agree with his notions. Giving in about this was minor compared with being allowed to look at the former sheriff’s old files and notes. What she needed to do, she reasoned, was keep careful track of what she had and hadn’t read so she wouldn’t miss anything important.
Turned out that that wasn’t hard. Most of the journals were innocuous. Boring, actually. They covered the day-to-day operations of the sheriff’s office, with a few notes about personnel problems and neighborhood squabbles. By the time she had finished scanning the third one, Jamie Lynn’s eyelids were heavy and she had made very few notes.
She yawned and stretched, taking care to not jostle the nearby napping child and his canine pal. When Marsha offered coffee, she readily accepted. “Thanks. I’d love a cup.”
“You won’t sleep well if you drink more now,” Shane warned.
His mother huffed. “It looks to me like she’s about to drop off just sitting here. So am I. Be a dear and fetch us both a cup, will you? I made a fresh pot after supper.”
Jamie was so aware of the man’s every nuance she sensed a reluctance that barely showed. He glanced at his mother, then down at the box sitting by his chair, then up at her before nodding and getting to his feet. “Fine. How about you, Otis?”
“Forget him. He’s been sawing logs for half an hour,” Marsha quipped. “I’ll take mine with cream and sugar, please.”
Jamie opened her mouth to tell him how she wanted her coffee but he beat her to it.
“I’ve watched you. Same as Mom’s, right?”
“Right.”
As soon as Shane had walked away, Jamie Lynn set aside the small pad of paper she’d brought for taking notes, dropped to her knees on the carpet and reached into the open cardboard storage box. Shane had been doling out the contents as if he’d planned what to show them. She wanted to see what he’d held back.
The stack of manila-colored folders she was able to reach consisted of unmarked files. That was the first oddity. The second, she discovered when she resumed her seat, balanced the stack on her knees and began to read.
Although the notes seemed random at first, she quickly realized they were filled with familiar names. Names she had seen while going over the trial transcripts. There was not a smidgen of doubt. Sheriff Sam Colton had been secretly investigating the judge and prosecuting attorney who had sent her brother to prison.
* * *
It didn’t take Shane long to return with three mugs of steaming coffee. One look at the expression on Jamie Lynn’s face told him she’d been busy in his absence. Not only was there a pile of single folders on her lap, she was leaning closer to his mother to speak aside.
He cleared his throat. They both jumped as if the first jolts from a stun gun had touched them. Jamie’s eyes were wide. Marsha was squinting at him. She gestured. “When were you planning to let us see these?”
“Never.” Rather than chance spilling the hot coffee, he set it on an end table. “I don’t know where you two started, but if you read all those files, start to finish, you’ll see that Dad never proved anything. His hunches were pure supposition.”