Chapter 48

I figured the reason Simpson didn't mind the recorder I brought to the interviews was he had a plan to cover his ass as well. He did ask the important question and he let me ask the ones that were risky to his job. What he did was make sure he got the necessary information to make the case, and let me get the information that told us what really happened in that house,.

Daddy was high on meth and had Dee in a room somewhere. Several of the people had disappeared into rooms for private parties after smoking the meth. The question was who was left in the room when Jennifer died. Nobody seemed to dispute that it was Dan Edwards in there. I was sure there were others, but we needed to get that from Dan. If he bothered to dispute the charge.

"Dan," Simpson said. "We got a lot more to talk about. Looks like everybody is throwing you to the wolves. I guess they figure whats one more death on the list. But my partner here don't see it that way. She wants whoever killed that little girl to pay for it. So you should listen to her."

"Dan, I know you are thinking what's one more body tired to me. I'm going to do life anyway. But there is life and there is life. Your lawyer, if she is honest with you, will tell you the hardest time in the joint is done by child molesters. They get beat or raped almost daily. Can you imagine that for the rest of your life. So did you kill Jennifer Allen?"

I could see Edwards look at his attorney and then at the table for a while running it over in his mind. "No, she was alive when I left her on the sofa," he said.

"Was she injured," I asked.

"A little, and she was crying, but she was alive," he said.

"So who did it," I asked.

"The Reverend Shaw and Bobbie Martin were the only ones left in the living room when I left. That's all I can tell you. What happened to her next, I can't tell you cause I don't know."

"The number of people who just didn't see is growing by leaps and bounds," I said disbelieving.

"Why would I lie, I put myself there and admit I was high and molested that poor little girl. Why should I put it on the Reverend, if weren't ture." Edwards said.

"I suppose that much is true," I told Simpson.

"So Edwards, what were you doing that you didn't see what happened to the girl," he said.

"My secretary came and got me. She demanded that I come with her right that minute or she was going to leave me there." Dan said. She can testify that she picked me up there," he said. "I didn't have time to dispose of the body."

"Okay, but tell me this what was the Reverend doing at that kind of party, He knew it could ruin his reputation," I said.

"You are kidding me right?" Edwards asked,

"That's enough," Simpson tried to end it there.

"No she needs to know. Those kinds of parties have been going on in this country for a hundred years. People have always turned their head. Before there was pot or meth, they got drunk and took their clothes off. Only the big names in politics and finance get invited. Ordinary people don't know. Hell, it's a big deal to get invited."

"Oh is that right well I'm new here," I said.

"Yeah I know that," the realty developer said.

"Take him back to his cell," Simpson said to me. I walked him across the street to the small jail we used as a holding facility. It held the prisoner awaiting that day court hearings, or Drunks overnight until they got before the magistrate's court. If we had a prisoner who couldn't get bail for some reason he moved on to a state holding facility, No one stayed in out holding cells for more than a day.

When I returned to the office in the courthouse, the first think on my mind was to ask Simpson, "Did you know about the tradition?"

"Nobody knew, but the ones involved. Yeah, there have always been rumors of things like that going on. We all though they were just myths," Simpson said.

"Simpson you know this in not going to end well," I said.

"Yeah, well you will wear some of the stink, so lets try to keep it to a minimum." he suggested.

"Just so we get whoever killed that little girl, you can spin the rest however you want. The Chief Deputy's involvement is going to come out at trial no matter what else happens." I said.

"Yeah I know, and so does he. There are a lot of charges that are going to be placed." Simpson said.

"Well then we need to go to church, or at least the parsonage." I said.

"Yes we do," he said in agreement. "This time we take the handcuffs."

We took one of the confiscated cars given to the Sheriff's office by the local judge. There were three that were pool cars and Simpson took one of them. It was a five year old Ford, but it ran well and it still looked good.

It looked slightly out of place in the parsonage driveway. The drive was had three luxury cars parking in it. "Damn Simpson religion pays," I said.

"It does indeed, but I think the Reverend made his money before he because a man of the cloth." Simpson rang the bell.

The man who came to the door wore a priest's collar even though he was Protestant. "I've been expecting you," he said after we introduced ourselves.

"Oh why is that?" Simpson asks.

"One thing about my calling is that you see lots of weakness. You also see how people fall from grace. Usually it happens when more than one other person knows your sin. That's why it is so hard for you to catch a serial killer. No one to tell his secret."

"I see," Simpson said.

"You don't mind if I record this do you," I said.