Page 48 of Final Inning

“I’m sorry to hear that. Did she ever say what it was Johnson did to her?”

A vulnerable teenage girl. Left alone with a narcissistic sexual predator who liked younger, smaller victims. Knight knew the statistics. And now that girl was dead in an accident? Definite red flags. He was going to keep Dani busy today.

Her mouth firmed. She just looked at him. “No. She never came out and said…But I have my theories…”

Knight would funnel that information to Dani as soon as he could.

“Do you remember what was said between your father and Johnson in the grocery store that day? Was anything substantial?”

Ramey looked over at the dark-haired nurse again. She pulled in a deep breath. “Excuse me one moment. I’m going to just go say hi. If I don’t—she’ll wonder what’s going on. And worry. She tends to fuss over her friends, and her family has been going through a really rough time lately. It was…her family…who Hagan lived with for a while, you know.”

“Go ahead. I need to check in with my office, anyway.”

Knight watched as she spoke to her friend, a dark-haired woman in scrubs, then sent a text to Dani. She’d find him everything about this Jenny she could.

Ramey returned. “I’m sorry. My friend’s family has been going through a really, really hard time right now. A lot of violence tends to happen here in Finley Creek lately. Her family seems to be at the center of it.”

Well, Knight had seen the news articles. This part of Texas had a crime ring operating out of it. The TSP was still investigating. Knight suspected it would eventually go federal, and the Bureau, most likely PAVAD, would take over. It was just a matter of time. “I’ve heard… Do you remember what happened that day? Who was there for your team?”

“After the grocery store, and my dad didn’t say anything to Johnson. They never got along. Since the year before. Jenny had played for the team then. Until she aged up, into Hagan’s division. I think Hagan was friends with her, too. I remember Dad and Johnson arguing once. Dad didn’t like the way Johnson had grabbed Jenny when he was angry one day, after a game gone wrong. He told Johnson that and he never wanted to see it on his field again. Jenny had gotten the last out of the game and we lost by one run, in the final inning. It was an expensive tournament; Johnson didn’t like second place. Johnson pulled her off the team, after that.”

Of course he didn’t—Johnson liked being the star. And he would have seen his stepdaughter as just an extension of himself. If she’d let him down, taken the shine off him—yes, he would have been angry. “Had they had problems before?”

“No more than anyone else did with Johnson, I guess. I don’t really remember. There was always a lot of parent bickering, though. It got better after Jenny was off the team, I do remember that. I always felt bad for her, for that. Johnson always caused so much drama, but because he was a cop, no one really wanted to deal with him. Dad would get complaints about him from the other parents all the time, though. He’d have to talk to him about it. That was one reason the sheriff didn’t like my dad. Probably why he didn’t care when my dad died, either.”

“Thank you. Was your entire team there at that practice?” Johnson had a problem with Kevin Adams. Personally knew the man. That was the first time that had ever come up in the investigation.

“Yes. We got there early enough to watch the other team practice, while the rest of my team showed up. We were all there. All eleven of us, but Valeria was running late. Like always. Only…this time, Johnson had brought her. I saw…Dad was so angry when he saw him with Valeria. I remember that. One of the last memories I have of my dad was him being angry. I just thought it was because Dad wanted everyone to be on time, and Valeria never was. I think her mom had just started dating Johnson at the time.”

Valeria. She’d been a player on the team that now worked at the IGA. She had been the cashier when they’d been in the IGA each time. Hagan had had a verbal altercation with her, as well. Tall, heavy-set blond—she’d stood out in that grocery store. “We’ll be speaking with her, when we can. What happened after practice?”

“Practice ended at five-thirty. We were still there until about six or so. We always stayed a little after. Made sure everyone was picked up, that kind of thing…Dad would make sure I was home by seven on Saturday nights. Mom would make dinner, and let him stay to eat with us.”

“So…what happened next?”

“Dad dropped me off with Mom. But he was irritated with me, a little. I’d left that bat. And he was going back to get it. He told me he loved me, but…I had to be more responsible with my things. Or he would send me to boarding school on the moon. I said he was lucky to have me. And said ‘I love you, Daddy.’ Those were the last words I said to him. At least I’d told my dad I loved him, Dr. Knight. That matters, right? Mom…called the police at ten that night. When he still hadn’t come back. But they blew us off. It was Johnson. Thinking it was just Dad not wanting to be with his ex, or something. And then…they found him the next morning.”

“And the bat was never found.” It had been an expensive piece of equipment. Five hundred dollars—that was a lot of money. “Could a bat like that have been pawned?”

“Probably. Now, looking back…I guess. Maybe one hundred to two hundred dollars. There is a big market in ‘used’ equipment. Travel ball is not cheap.”

And he had seen people killed for twenty dollars before.

It was at least a new direction they hadn’t had before.

If they found that bat—maybe they’d find the next step.

And…Johnson. Knight was getting a feeling the truth might have been in front of all of them this entire time. Who better to make sure a killer wasn’t caught, except the killer cop himself?

Of course, he was making assumptions here.

“I’ll never forget. If I hadn’t been fighting over that bat with Valeria—my dad would be alive today. So…it took me a long time to accept—it wasn’t my fault.”

“No. It wasn’t. It was the fault of the man who killed him, and no one else. I can promise you that. And…we’re not closing your father’s case, Ramey, until we know exactly what happened.”

“Good luck, Dr. Knight. And…just…watch your back out there. One thing I have seen…I haven’t lived in Buckbert in five years, but I remember the way it was. If Sheriff Ted Johnson said something, everyone believed it was true. And no one dared question it. I tried. When I was seventeen. I just wanted answers. Johnson—he made it really clear I should just…move on along. Before something happened I’d regret.”

“Did he expressly threaten you? With physical harm.” It would be exactly like Johnson, if a young, pretty woman was asking questions on his turf. He already had an established pattern of that very thing with Deputy Lindhour.