Page 36 of Forever Dark
Connor stepped forward.“Gus, I don’t think we’ve met, but I’m the sheriff for the county.We’re all really upset about what happened to Brenda, and we’d love to talk with you to find out anything we can about her life.It could be the difference between catching her killer and him walking free.”
Gus’s gaze landed on Selena, wary at once.Then it moved over her shoulder to Connor as he seemed to process Connor’s words.
Something changed.
The old man peered closer, head tilting slightly.“Aren’t you Arthur Chase’s son?”
Connor looked caught off guard.“Yes, sir.”
Gus’s face opened into a smile that made him look suddenly less fragile.He pulled the door wider.“I remember your father.”
Connor stepped up beside Selena.“You knew my dad?”
“Oh, I knew him well!”Gus said.“I heard his son made sheriff, and I was pleased.Come in, come in.”
The invitation seemed to come more from Connor’s last name than from Selena’s badge, another victory for Connor that got under her skin, but she’d take it if it meant moving forward with the case.
Inside, the house was cluttered in a way that stopped just short of chaos.Stacks of newspapers lined one wall.Crocheted blankets lay folded over the back of a sofa.Framed photographs crowded every available surface.A grandfather clock ticked softly in the hall.The place was crowded with objects but still warm somehow, lived in and kept up as well as one old man could manage.
Gus shuffled ahead of them, leading the way to a sitting room that looked onto the side yard.“Your father was a fine man, Sheriff.”
Connor glanced around as they followed.“How did you know him?”
Gus lowered himself into an armchair with floral patterns on it.“A court case.Long time ago now.I was a younger fool then.My brother, too.”
Connor’s brows lifted slightly.“What sort of case?”
Gus gave a dry little chuckle.“The kind families don’t put in scrapbooks.My younger brother was charged with embezzlement.He was adamant he was innocent.No one believed him.Everybody thought he was finished.”
Connor seemed to search his memory.“I think I remember hearing something about that.”
“Your father represented him even though we didn’t have the money.Dug where other men wouldn’t bother.Found enough to put doubt where it belonged.My brother was found not guilty.”
He looked up with surprising brightness in his eyes.“The Chases will always be welcome in my home.”
Connor took that in quietly.Selena watched the way the words affected him.Pride and grief rarely announced themselves together, but both passed across his face before he tucked them away.
Gus waved toward the worn chairs around a low table.“Please, have a seat.You want something to drink?”
“No, thank you,” Selena said.
Connor added, “We’re all right, Mr.Farley.”
Gus seemed not to hear either of them.“Sit down.I’ll get lemonade.”
Before Selena could stop him, he had already shuffled up and off toward the kitchen.
Connor started after him.“Mr.Farley, you really don’t have to…”
A cupboard door opened somewhere beyond the room.Glass clinked.
Selena looked at Connor.“He’s doing it anyway, isn’t he?”
Connor huffed out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh.“Yeah.”
They sat.
The room around them had the faded comfort of another era.Patterned wallpaper had yellowed slightly at the corners.A lamp with a fringed shade stood beside the sofa.On the mantel sat more photographs, most black-and-white, one of them showing two young men in shirtsleeves by a truck from the late sixties or early seventies.A radio played softly from another room, some old country tune almost swallowed by static.
