My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite, #1)(64)

A second correctional officer positioned himself at the base of the witness stand, and the two who had escorted House into the courtroom moved swiftly back to House’s side.

Calloway’s glare remained on Dan, who remained firmly fixed in the middle of the courtroom. At counsel table, Edmund House sat watching the spectacle with a bemused smile.

“Sheriff, if I have to have you escorted from this courtroom in handcuffs, it will not be with any joy or pleasure, but I will not hesitate to do so if you so much as raise your voice again,” Meyers said in a steely tone. “At present, this is my courtroom, and when you disrespect it, you disrespect me. And I will not be disrespected. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

Calloway turned his glare from Dan to Meyers, and for a moment, Tracy thought the sheriff might just dare Meyers to have him handcuffed. Instead, Calloway looked out at the gallery and the many Cedar Grove residents and media. Then he sat.

Meyers retook his seat and took a moment to rearrange papers, as if to give everyone in the courtroom a chance to catch their collective breath. Calloway took a sip of the water he’d been provided and set the glass back on the table. Meyers looked to Dan. “You may continue, Counselor.”

Dan asked, “Sheriff Calloway, did you ever consider that Mr. Hagen could have written the appointment in his calendar after the fact?”

Calloway cleared his throat, his gaze now fixed on a corner of the ceiling. “I told you, I saw no reason not to take the man at his word.”

O’Leary took Calloway through his further questioning of Edmund House.

“I told him I had a witness who could put a red Chevy stepside on the county road that night,” Calloway said.

“And what was his response?”

“He smirked. He said I’d have to do better than that.”

“Did you do better than that?”

Calloway’s lips pinched. This time, when he looked past Dan, his gaze settled on Tracy.

“Do you need me to repeat the question?” Dan said.

Calloway looked at Dan. “No. I told House that the witness would also testify he saw a man driving the truck with a blonde woman in the cab.”

DeAngelo Finn had never brought this up at House’s initial trial, and it wasn’t in any report Tracy had ever found. She knew Calloway had perpetrated the ruse because he had divulged the information to her father during one of their many conversations in her father’s den.

“Did Mr. Hagen tell you that?”

“No.”

“Then why did you say he had?”

“It was a ruse, Counselor, to see if House would take the bait. It’s not an uncommon interrogation technique.”

“You don’t deny it was untrue.”

“As you so aptly put it, I was trying to find the killer of a good friend’s daughter.”

“And you would have said anything to accomplish that, wouldn’t you?”

“Argumentative,” Clark said, and Meyers sustained the objection.

“What did Mr. House say in response to this ruse?”

“He changed his story. He said he’d gone out that night, that he’d been drinking, and when he was driving back he saw the truck on the side of the road and a little ways farther he saw Sarah. He said he stopped and offered her a ride and drove her home.”

“Did you note the name of the bar at which Mr. House said he’d been drinking in your report?”

“I don’t believe I did.”

“Did you ask Mr. House the name of the bar?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Did you talk to anyone to try to confirm whether Mr. House had, in fact, been drinking in their establishment?”

“He told me he had.”

“But you didn’t note the name of the tavern and you never tried to confirm Mr. House had been at a bar that night, did you?”

“No.”

“As with Mr. Hagen, you chose to take Mr. House at his word?”

“I didn’t see why House would make up a lie—” Calloway caught himself.

“Did you want to finish your answer?”

“No. I’m done.”

Dan stepped closer. “You didn’t see why Mr. House would implicate himself by saying he was with the victim. Is that what you intended to say?”

“Sometimes people who lie forget their own lies.”

“I have no doubt,” Dan said, which brought Clark to his feet, but Dan quickly continued. “Did you tape this conversation?”

“I didn’t get the chance.”

“Didn’t you consider this important information, Sheriff Calloway?”

“I thought it important that House had changed his alibi. I thought it important to get that information in front of Judge Sullivan so we could get search warrants for the property and House’s truck. My priority remained finding Sarah.”

“And you could not get those search warrants without Mr. Hagen’s statement that he saw the red Chevy stepside on the county road, could you?”

“I wasn’t privy to Judge Sullivan’s decision-making process.”

Dan took Calloway through the execution of the search warrants. “And what did James Crosswhite tell you when you showed him the earrings?”

“He positively identified them as belonging to Sarah.”