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"Was that Sheriff Davis?" Corrie asked, glancing up from her desk as he breezed past his wife

Roy nodded and reached for his coat "Apparently the lab found so" He’d known they would, and he felt vindicated Now et somewhere with this case

"The sheriff isn’t exactly the most popular man in town at the moment," Corrie said as she pointed to the latest edition of The Cedar Cove Chronicle

Roy tried unsuccessfully to disguise a sraph of a disgruntled Sheriff Davis and two deputies handcuffing a group of senior citizens Roy would say one thing--this sotten theirsorry for Davis," Roy murmured

"Of course your sympathies would lie with the lawman, but as far as I’ood point"

"There are other ways of getting the city to provide a health clinic without violating the law"

Roy should know better than to argue with Corrie; as usual, she had an immediate comeback "The article said Mrs Jefferson and Mr Rhodes have done everything by the book and didn’t get anywhere, because of the budget cuts You and I both knohat it’s like to raainst City Hall"

"Sheriff Davis was only doing his job" Frankly, Roy wouldn’t have wanted to be the one responsible for escorting a group of old people to jail From what he’d heard, it had been a oing on about their constitutional rights Apparently they’d viewed too many Law & Order reruns

"I should’ve known you’d side with your friend," Corrie said "Hoould you feel, though, if that had been your one for a lot of years and as for yours--"

"Don’t even start, Roy McAfee," she h On impulse, he walked around her desk and soundly kissed her

Corrie looked up at hi like yourinnocence "I love you"

Laughing softly, she steered him toward the door

Roy decided to walk the fifteen ut told hi Russell’s secrets

Troy Davis appeared to be waiting for hiestured to the chair and then shoved a file at him before Roy even had a chance to sit down

"What’s that?" he asked

"The toxicology report"

Roy reached for it and flipped it open He scanned the first three pages before his eyes landed on flunitrazepa--what is it?"

"Brand nanized The date-rape drug, as it was co his years on the force It’d been referred to as "roofies" when it first hit the streets in the early nineties

Very clever choice, Royanyone would typically use to kill a man over fifty "No wonder it took the lab aaloud

"Whoever killed him dissolved it in the bottled water It’s tasteless and odorless--and it’s a potent tranquilizer When it’s given in large doses, the obvious happens"

Roy knew that, too A large enough dose would have lethal consequences

Roy set the file on the sheriff’s desk "All that confirms is e’ve both suspected Russell was y report didn’t reveal who’d poisoned him or why

The sheriff relaxed in his chair and steepled his fingers as he rested his hands against his abdomen He looked directly at Roy "It could’ve been Beldon He had opportunity"

Years of police work and intuition said otherwise At one point, Roy had had his suspicions There’d still been a lot offacts, and he hadn’t wanted to cloud the issue with emotion That was the reason he’d felt he couldn’t be Beldon’s friend In the time since, Roy had conize his old army friend, which left nized hih to murder hiave hi that way ht"

That didn’t autoht the water with hi?" Roy asked There seemed to be more of them these days

He could tell that Davis had considered the same idea "Perhaps, but I think it’s unlikely"

Roy nodded Toothe method used, led hi Whoever they were dealing as smart And vicious

"I don’t think this was the first attehts exactly," the sheriff said He straightened, leaning toward his desk "The car accident that killed his wife sounds hty convenient to er on No real evidence"

The crash had been attributed to driver error In light of recent events, he wondered Two of the le that day were dead and both had died under peculiar circumstances

"What about Dan Sherman?" Roy asked "Are you convinced it was suicide?"

The sheriff didn’t hesitate "No doubt He left that letter, too"

Roy didn’t like the route hishim Two men were dead, one of them murdered If Bob wasn’t involved--and both Troy Davis and Roy were sure he wasn’t--then that led Roy to one conclusion

"Bob Beldon’s in danger," he said