The court reporter dutifully recorded the incident. The recorded testimony read like a novel. It described how the man slowly raised up. His hands were black with dirt.
"His eyes popped when he seed me 'n' my shot gun," Eustian testified. "I told that feller," (here Eustian pointed to Kyle Winthrop), "to ease on down the slope. We wuz gonna go ta'gather, nice 'n' polite-like. As luck would have it, who should pull up a few minutes later, but the sheriff.
"Sheriff told me he wuz out ridin' the county 'n' jes stopped by to check on me. Never so glad to see nobody in all my borned days. Sheriff askes me whut was wrong. I told 'em I had a thief 'n' a trespasser 'n' I wanted to press charges."
Sheriff Whittaker arrested Kyle Winthrop. He read him his rights. The backpack was half full of ginseng roots.
Hadley finished reading the court document. She slumped back onto the porch, looking up at the ceiling. She wondered if poaching played a role in Kyle's death. She remembered reading about this incident in the paper. Did someone knock off Kyle after he'd shown them where the ginseng patch on Eustian's land was?
Ginseng root was worth a fortune.
And people had been killed for a lot less.
She looked over at Beanie, who had dozed off for a short cat nap. She got the legal papers together pertaining to Kyle and placed them in her trunk. Maybe Bill might want to look at them in connection with Kyle's murder.
YOU ARE READING
Nobody Knows Your Secret
Mystery / ThrillerIt was a heck of a shot. It was the perfect murder. Someone killed Kyle Winthrop as he lay in his bed. His mother, Claire, doesn't care much - she's too strung out on prescription pain pills. But his Grandmother cares, and she begs her good friend...
