Page 114 of Out Of A Fix

“You’re funny,” I said drolly. “But I was home, and that man was suddenly there on the back deck, so I had no choice but to go after him.”

“You could have called the police.”

“And cowered inside until someone showed up?”

“From the file I read, that’s not you.”

“No, sir, it is not.”

“Impressive.”

“Less that and more necessary in my opinion.”

He nodded. “I don’t know about running in socks, though.”

“Yeah. I might rethink my no-shoes-inside rule.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t run over any broken glass or anything else.”

“True. All I hit were a lot of puddles and mud.”

“Okay, so down to business,” he said with an exhale. “How did”—he pulled the license from the wallet of the man who tried to attack my family—“Ward Firmin get the wound on his side?”

Reaching into my back left pocket, I passed him my switchblade.

“Oh, now, she’s a beauty. And not at all legal here in the great state of Washington.”

“Which I should have checked before I got on the plane,” I confessed. “That’s my mistake.” When he didn’t keep it, but instead held it out for me to take, I was surprised. “Are you sure you don’t want to confiscate that and hit me with a fine?”

“Not after what you did for Eena by getting rid of Wilson. No, you keep that. If anyone asks, we’ll say it went down the storm drain.”

“Thank you.”

“Some people would call that corruption, me handing you back your weapon, but I think we’re both smart enough to know the difference.”

“Yes, we are,” I agreed, liking the man more and more with each passing second.

“So you know, we’re permanently closing the station here in Eena. We’re going to turn it into an arbitration center.”

I squinted at him.

“C’mon, it makes sense. Almost all the crimes in Eena, besides those pertaining to you and Mr. Duchesne’s son Griffin, are matters that just need a third party to intervene and arbitrate. It’s always been complaints about trees and fences and stolen bicycles here.”

“Well, the town is not very big.”

“True.”

I cleared my throat. “My phone is dead, so if you’d let me use yours, I can call my office and we can find out exactly who Ward Firmin is and where⁠—”

“No need,” Sampson assured me. “Ward Firmin is a former officer under Wilson.”

“Technically, aren’t all Wilson’s officers considered former at this point?”

“True,” Sampson granted, “but Firmin was fired a while back, and Benning was then hired to replace him.”

“Why?”

“For a number of reasons, the worst being accepting bribes. Chief Higheagle forced Wilson to fire him, but clearly, he remained working for him under the table. I can only surmise that he was prowling around your property on Wilson’s order.”