Chapter Twelve
Cullen thought the mood in the town hall felt like a witch hunt. And he was pretty sure that at least some of the council considered Leigh to be the witch. But Cullen hoped that Rocky hadn’t been able to turn all of them against the woman the majority of residents had elected sheriff.
“If the town council votes to start the process to oust you,” Jeb explained as they paused outside the door of the meeting room, “it wouldn’t be immediate.”
Leigh nodded. “They’d have to initiate a recall.” Her jaw was tight. Eyes, narrowed. “The voters would have to decide if I should stay or go.”
Cullen couldn’t blame her for being riled to the core. He knew how much the badge meant to her, and how devastated she’d be if it was taken away.
Leigh stepped ahead of them and opened the door. She didn’t hesitate but instead walked into the room and went straight to the front. The mayor, Noble Henning, was there at the center of the rectangular table, and part of his mayoral duties was to head the council. He was flanked by the five other members who made up the town council. Those other members were business owners or prominent citizens—which explained why Jeb was on it. He took his seat at the far end of the table.
Noble was a huge man with an equally huge belly. Since he was a rancher, Cullen had done business with him and had found him fair enough. Right now though, nothing felt fair, and Cullen cursed Noble, Rocky and everyone at the council table for putting Leigh through this.
Rocky was there in the front row, and he made a point of staring at Leigh as she stood in front of the people who could decide her fate. Word of the meeting apparently hadn’t gotten out because other than the mayor and the members of the council, Rocky was the only other person there.
Cullen stayed at the back of the room, but Leigh went all the way to the table to face the council along with giving Rocky a cold, hard glance that was effective enough to cause him to look away.
Noble cleared his throat and also had some trouble looking Leigh in the eye. Instead, he read from his notes. “Sheriff Mercer, there have been complaints and concerns about you being negligent in carrying out your duties in the murders you’re currently investigating. Deputy Rocky Callaway claims you’ve shown preferential treatment to a suspect and have failed to arrest that suspect because you’re having a sexual relationship with him.”
That got Cullen moving forward, but Leigh spoke before he could say anything.
“I’m assuming that my deputy is referring to Cullen Brodie.” Leigh’s voice was calm, but Cullen suspected there was no calmness beneath the surface.
Noble nodded just as Rocky blurted out, “You should have arrested Cullen instead of sleeping with him.”
“There was no evidence to make that arrest,” Leigh countered, turning her attention back to the mayor. “Cullen’s clothes were taken to the lab and there was no blood on them. The CSIs used a UV light on other clothes in his closet and didn’t detect any blood. According to the assessment of the crime scene, the killer would have gotten some blood spatter on themselves.”
“Cullen was alone with the body—” Rocky started, but the mayor motioned for him to hush.
“The lab is still testing the clothing of others who attended the party,” Leigh continued without missing a beat, “and once I have those results I might be able to make an arrest if the evidence warrants that. There are several people who have means, motive and opportunity, and some, including Deputy Callaway, weren’t forthcoming with information about the victim.”
Rocky practically jumped to his feet. “I wasn’t forthcoming because it wasn’t relevant.”
“I decide what’s relevant in a murder investigation.” Leigh tapped her badge. “And you failed to tell me about a meeting you had with the victim.”
Noble made another motion for Rocky to sit back down. The deputy did after several snail-crawling moments. Then, Noble’s gaze shifted to Cullen.
“I’m guessing you’ve got something you want to say to the council?” Noble asked.
Cullen was certain his body language conveyed that, yes, he did have something to say. He wanted to tell them all to go to hell and take the backstabbing Rocky with them. But that venom wouldn’t help Leigh.
“I’m not especially happy that any one of you would think I’d need to sleep with the sheriff in order to keep myself out of jail,” Cullen snarled. “It especially pisses me off that you’d think Leigh would sleep with someone she believes could bash in a woman’s head.”
“Are you saying you haven’t shared the sheriff’s bed?” Noble asked.
“I’m saying it’s none of your business,” he snapped at the same time Leigh said, “Cullen’s not a suspect so you don’t have cause to ask that question.”
Rocky smirked, obviously pleased because he probably thought Leigh was digging herself into a huge hole.
The door practically flew open, and Vance, Dawn and Yancy all came rushing in. They glanced around the room as if assessing the situation and then went to the front to stand by Leigh.
“Sorry,” Vance said, “but we just got the word that the sheriff was having some trouble here. We didn’t want her facing that trouble alone.”
Leigh made eye contact with all three of them and nodded her appreciation. “Thank you,” she said plenty loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
“Thetroubleis,” Noble spoke up, emphasizing the word, “the sheriff doesn’t seem to be close to arresting anybody for murder.”
“She’s had less than two days,” Cullen argued and got sounds and mumbles of agreement from the three deputies standing with her. “You want her to arrest the wrong person just so you’ll have someone behind bars? I don’t think you want that kind of justice doled out here.”