“You heard me. And the two people who’ve died recently both have ties to Skipper and each other.”

“What do you mean?” Anna asked.

I told them.

When I finished, they were both silent.

I could see the wheels turning in Anna’s head. I knew that wheels were also turning in Merrill’s head, but I couldn’t see them.

“It’s just not possible,” Anna said at last. “There’s no way he could pull it off. It would take . . .”

“Help from higher up,” Merrill said.

I shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”

“At least,” Anna added. “But he couldn’t do it without getting caught.”

“He has been,” Merrill said. “John caught his ass.”

“We’ve got to call FDLE in,” Anna said.

“Daniels says he’s going to,” I said. “Dad too.”

Merrill said, “You saw Johnson on the tape. See anybody else?”

“He’s the only one I saw, and it was very short. My guess is Russ wasn’t known for his stamina. Dad took the tapes into custody, but I plan to watch them if you wanna help.”

“I’m busy that night,” Merrill said.

I went back to my office and ordered flowers for Laura. I had them write on the card, The scent of peaches still lingers.

Next, I called her to see how she and the family were doing.

“Hello.”

“Laura?” I said.

“No, this is Kim. Who’s this?”

“John Jordan. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Thanks. Let me grab Laura. She’s dying to talk to you. She’s totally spazzing out over you.”

In a moment, Laura picked up.

“Hey, you.”

“Morning. How are you?”

“I’m okay. Having contradictory feelings. Coming off the high of a wonderful weekend with you and then the shock of Uncle Russ’s death.”

“How’s your mom?”

“She’s okay. They weren’t very close. He was so weird. He was not really close to anyone that I know of. Still, it’s a shock.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Could you come by after work?”

“Sure.”

A few moments after I hung up, Mr. Smith brought an inmate pass in and laid it on my desk.

“Think you might want to talk with this inmate. Need to hear what he has to say.”

“Send him in.”

Jefferson Hunter rushed into my office. I motioned for him to have a seat.

“When my mother passed, you really helped me a lot,” he said. “I remember that. So I had to tell you. Chaplain, you in danger.”

“Oh yeah?”