“He was found a few days ago,” Julianna said. “He may have died over the weekend. I heard it from Marnie Jackson, but I didn’t want you to see it on the news or something. And—”
“What?”
“I don’t know, but something how Marnie said it made me think there’s more to it.”
Marnie Jackson had been the sheriff’s dispatch and secretary forever, since long before Briar had moved away. She was probably the glue that held the department together.
“More? What kind of more?”
Tor was seventy-eight, and as far as she knew, had been in decent health for his age.
“I can’t say,” Julianna said. “It’s just a feeling I got.”
“Why are you the one calling me? Why not the police?” She could almost hear Julianna rolling her eyes. Briar couldn’t help it, she was naturally suspicious, and being in law enforcement made her that much more so. And even though she and Julianna were relatively close, something made her wonder if Julianna had an ulterior motive. “Why has no one called me before you?”
“Girl, who knows?” The soft Georgia accent Julianna swore she didn’t have was loud and clear to Briar. “Maybe because you don’t answer your phone?”
That was valid. Briar was generally allergic to her cell phone. Deathly allergic.
After thanking Julianna, promising to visit soon, and clicking off, Briar didn’t give herself time to think. She searched for the Rexville sheriff’s department number, pressed Call, and waited while the line rang on the other end.
A deep male voice greeted her, saying, “Sheriff’s department.” She didn’t have a clue who the sheriff of Rexville was these days, but whoever answered her call sounded tired. From what Julianna had said, Briar had the impression that Marnie still worked there, so maybe it was her day off.
“This is Briar Nilson.” There was a silence on the other end of the line that told Briar everything. Or a lot, anyway. “I’m wondering why I wasn’t informed that my father passed this past weekend. This is your one and only warning,” she ground out, her anger and guilt warming her up, “that I am on my way to town, and I will be talking to everyone involved. I want to see every scrap of evidence you have on what happened.”
She clicked off without waiting for the speaker’s identity or answer. It would serve her right if it had been some nonessential personnel and she’d just alienated them. She was better than that, she knew how important they were to every office—and the first you wanted to make friends with if you might need a favor in the future. Briar recognized her anger was without basis—she’d been the one to leave all those years ago. And it wasn’t as if rushing to Rexville would change what finally brought her back. Tor Nilson would still be dead.
Still. Briar immediately began scrolling through her phone looking for flights and a rental car. If she left first thing tomorrow morning, she would be in Rexville by midafternoon. She wondered if anyone she cared about still lived there. The unbidden memory of a man-boy astride a motorcycle watching Briar as she and Julianna drove away popped into her head, but she shook it aside. Royce King had never been anything to her and if he was still in town, he would likely be an ear-scratching, potbellied redneck she could ignore.