“Okay. Rebecca, you come with me. We’ll interview the boy together. Ajax, get started on fingerprints. I want the whole house dusted, but start with the bedroom and the office and the knobs on both sides of the front door.”

I watched Ajax’s face screw up with annoyance at the assignment. He wasn’t used to getting the grunt work.

“Why should I do the prints?” Ajax protested. “Let me interview the kid with you.”

Darrell shook his head. “I’ve seen you do interviews. You scare the crap out of witnesses, and they clam up. Rebecca has a better touch for these things. She knows how to get people to talk. Plus, maybe doing some real work will convince you to keep your hands off her ass. Got it?”

“Got it,” Ajax replied coldly.

Darrell stalked from the bedroom, leaving me alone with Ajax, whose face was beet red.

I already told you that Ajax was the county stud. His looks usually got him whatever he wanted, and that included women. He was married to a pretty redhead named Ruby, but he’d been coming on to me since I joined the sheriff’s office, even though he and my husband had been friends since grammar school. I kept telling Ricky that there was nothing between us, but when it came to Ajax, Ricky was toting around a big inferiority complex.

Ajax was as tall as anyone I’d ever met, at least six foot six, with a strong, wiry build. He had hands that were larger than my whole face, and he liked to brag that he was big all over. When CCR sang about the fortunate son, Ajax could have been their model. He’d led a charmed life. The draft ended right before he turned eighteen, so he didn’t have to go to Vietnam. He went to state college just as the new Division III opened up, so he became a basketball star. When he got back to Black Wolf County, he had a job waiting despite the tough times, because his uncle, Jerry, was the sheriff. Everyone assumed that whenever Jerry retired, Ajax would be elected to take his place, and that was probably true. It wasn’t that Ajax was such a great cop, but he had a way of being in the right place at the right time to make the most of opportunities.

“Must be nice to have your partner fight your battles,” Ajax commented sourly.

I didn’t take the bait by saying anything. In fact, I was a little annoyed that Darrell had felt it necessary to intervene on my behalf. Whenever he tried to get the other deputies to lay off me, the harassment only got worse as soon as his back was turned. But Darrell had three daughters, and I was the honorary fourth girl in the Curtis family. He felt a need to protect me.