coffee or anything.
“They’ve been real nice with all that,” she said. “I’m fine.”
There was a chair across from her at the table, so I sat, looking around at the small room. It was a standard interrogation room: one table, a couple of chairs, and blank walls except for a large one-way mirrored window. There was a box of Kleenex on the table, and I pushed it toward her. She took one and tended to her face before rolling it into a ball and clutching it nervously in her hand.
“So they’ve been asking you a lot of questions, huh?” I asked.
She nodded her head vigorously.
“Oh my gosh, Callie, the stupidest stuff. What did I have for breakfast yesterday. What time did I go to the bathroom. Where do I keep my car keys.”
“Where do you keep your car keys?”
“In the car! I keep telling them, everybody in Kawshek does that. We either leave them in the ignition or under the floor mat. It’s not like car theft is exactly a problem out there. Especially with a piece of junk like mine. Who’d want it?”
“Did Eddie Ray ever borrow your car?”
“Yeah, sometimes. He didn’t have a car of his own.”
“Have you had any flat tires lately?”
“A couple of weeks ago. I drove over a piece of wire. It looked like maybe it had broken off from an old crab trap.”
“Did you change the tire yourself?”
“Yeah. I was out on the highway. There wasn’t anybody else around.”
“You used the tire iron?”
“Of course I did. You think I’ve got Triple A? It was just a flat tire!”
“I see.”
“You see what? You sound just like the cops, asking me all these stupid questions. I don’t understand what’s going on, Callie.”
“They’re giving you a lot of rope in the hope that eventually you’ll hang yourself with it.”
“What?”
“They want to catch you in a lie, Shayna.”
She shook her head vigorously.
“But I haven’t lied, not once. I swear I don’t know where the pot came from. You believe me, don’t you? I’ve been clean since last fall!”
I nodded.
“Now I’ve got this new job starting,” she continued, “and I’ll just die if I have to postpone that because of some lousy drug charge. It would be so embarrassing!”
I leaned back in my chair and looked at her, thinking that losing a job was the least of her problems right now.
“Shayna, don’t you get it?” I said. “They’re not interested in the marijuana. They want you for Eddie Ray’s murder.”
She looked at me for a moment as that sunk in. She seemed to be reviewing things in her mind, and then finally she looked down and blinked out more tears.
“I’m so stupid,” she whispered. “I guess I should’ve figured that out.”
“Did you kill him?” I asked.
“No!”
“Do you know who did?”
“No!”
“Then let’s work on getting you out of here. I mean, if you want my help, that is.”
Shayna looked up, shock written in her wide-open eyes.
“Oh, Callie,” she said, those eyes filling with tears. “I think I need your help right now more than I’ve ever needed anything in my whole life.”
Fifteen
For the next 15 minutes, I listened to a detailed history of Shayna’s relationship with Eddie Ray Higgins. Some of the facts I already knew, and some were new to me.
They first met in a truck stop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she was a waitress, and he was working as a “mule,” smuggling heroin across the Mexican border. Shayna was an addict then, and Eddie Ray was a ready source—not to mention a sweet-talking charmer. After a few weeks of on-again, off-again romance, Eddie Ray learned that his mother had died and left him a small sum of money along with a house in Kawshek. He decided to get out of drug-running and move back home to make his fortune legitimately. He brought Shayna with him.
Once they moved here Eddie Ray had tried all manner of ways to make money, but he seemed to fail at everything he did. Shayna described some of his schemes, from starting a fishing
“They’ve been real nice with all that,” she said. “I’m fine.”
There was a chair across from her at the table, so I sat, looking around at the small room. It was a standard interrogation room: one table, a couple of chairs, and blank walls except for a large one-way mirrored window. There was a box of Kleenex on the table, and I pushed it toward her. She took one and tended to her face before rolling it into a ball and clutching it nervously in her hand.
“So they’ve been asking you a lot of questions, huh?” I asked.
She nodded her head vigorously.
“Oh my gosh, Callie, the stupidest stuff. What did I have for breakfast yesterday. What time did I go to the bathroom. Where do I keep my car keys.”
“Where do you keep your car keys?”
“In the car! I keep telling them, everybody in Kawshek does that. We either leave them in the ignition or under the floor mat. It’s not like car theft is exactly a problem out there. Especially with a piece of junk like mine. Who’d want it?”
“Did Eddie Ray ever borrow your car?”
“Yeah, sometimes. He didn’t have a car of his own.”
“Have you had any flat tires lately?”
“A couple of weeks ago. I drove over a piece of wire. It looked like maybe it had broken off from an old crab trap.”
“Did you change the tire yourself?”
“Yeah. I was out on the highway. There wasn’t anybody else around.”
“You used the tire iron?”
“Of course I did. You think I’ve got Triple A? It was just a flat tire!”
“I see.”
“You see what? You sound just like the cops, asking me all these stupid questions. I don’t understand what’s going on, Callie.”
“They’re giving you a lot of rope in the hope that eventually you’ll hang yourself with it.”
“What?”
“They want to catch you in a lie, Shayna.”
She shook her head vigorously.
“But I haven’t lied, not once. I swear I don’t know where the pot came from. You believe me, don’t you? I’ve been clean since last fall!”
I nodded.
“Now I’ve got this new job starting,” she continued, “and I’ll just die if I have to postpone that because of some lousy drug charge. It would be so embarrassing!”
I leaned back in my chair and looked at her, thinking that losing a job was the least of her problems right now.
“Shayna, don’t you get it?” I said. “They’re not interested in the marijuana. They want you for Eddie Ray’s murder.”
She looked at me for a moment as that sunk in. She seemed to be reviewing things in her mind, and then finally she looked down and blinked out more tears.
“I’m so stupid,” she whispered. “I guess I should’ve figured that out.”
“Did you kill him?” I asked.
“No!”
“Do you know who did?”
“No!”
“Then let’s work on getting you out of here. I mean, if you want my help, that is.”
Shayna looked up, shock written in her wide-open eyes.
“Oh, Callie,” she said, those eyes filling with tears. “I think I need your help right now more than I’ve ever needed anything in my whole life.”
Fifteen
For the next 15 minutes, I listened to a detailed history of Shayna’s relationship with Eddie Ray Higgins. Some of the facts I already knew, and some were new to me.
They first met in a truck stop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she was a waitress, and he was working as a “mule,” smuggling heroin across the Mexican border. Shayna was an addict then, and Eddie Ray was a ready source—not to mention a sweet-talking charmer. After a few weeks of on-again, off-again romance, Eddie Ray learned that his mother had died and left him a small sum of money along with a house in Kawshek. He decided to get out of drug-running and move back home to make his fortune legitimately. He brought Shayna with him.
Once they moved here Eddie Ray had tried all manner of ways to make money, but he seemed to fail at everything he did. Shayna described some of his schemes, from starting a fishing
Similar Books
