“Maybe. Jewel, if your deputy would go on the record, I could—”

“Forget it, Penn. He won’t do that unless he’s got harder evidence than he has now. A lot harder. So don’t be jumping the gun and telling anybody about this.”

“Then what the hell can I do with it?”

“Use your head. I figure maybe you’ve got some connections of your own inside that sheriff’s department. Somebody who owes you a favor. Or your daddy. He’s bound to have patients on Byrd’s payroll. Maybe they can find out what went down with the evidence.”

“Okay . . . I hear you.”

Jewel stands and lays her hand on my shoulder. “There’s one other thing.”

“What?”

“My friend says Billy Byrd is better friends with Billy Knox than he ought to be.”

“Billy Byrd and Billy Knox know each other?”

“Are you kidding me? Byrd’s daddy worked at the Triton plant with Frank Knox back in the day. And the sheriff goes on vacations over to Billy Knox’s fishing camp in Texas. Strange bedfellows, wouldn’t you say?”

“No, it makes sense.”

The look in Jewel’s eyes tells me she hasn’t confided everything that’s worrying her.

“Come on, Jewel, give me the rest. And don’t sugarcoat it.”

“I’m worried about your daddy. He’s segregated in his own cell over there, but that don’t mean he doesn’t come into contact with other inmates at times. Or that the guards aren’t with him out of sight of the cameras now and then.”

“Are you saying Billy Byrd might try to kill Dad while he’s in custody?”

“I didn’t say that. But I am saying that if somebody wanted to hurt him, it might not be as hard as it should be.”

If Jewel is worried about this, then the danger is real.

“So whatever stroke the title of mayor gives you,” she goes on, “I’d use it to make sure your daddy’s under surveillance at all times in there.”

“Being mayor of this town is like trying to run a company with Monopoly money.”

She shakes her head sadly. “I can’t believe Quentin hasn’t found some way to spring Doc out of that jail anyway.”

“That’s up to Judge Elder. And Quentin says he’s got something against either him or Dad, but he doesn’t know which, or what it could be. Even Dad claims not to know.”

Jewel is clearly pondering this question. “I never heard much trash about Joe Elder, so I never looked at him too close. He’s from across the river, though, in Ferriday, same as those Double Eagles.”

“But he’s . . .”

“What?” The coroner gives me an expectant look. “B-L-A-C-K?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe he’s color-blind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe he only sees green.” Jewel gives me a wink. “I’ll ask around.”