It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week we saw Sheriff Gibson try to Bogart Lucas into confessing a crime. Good thing Lucas had a lawyer tell him to keep his mouth shut. No telling what beans he would have spilled. I see the Private detective is in lawyer McDonnell’s office. I think we may get some information that might help clear up this mess. I know if there are facts in this case Dan Antion will be more than pleased. Let’s get over there and pick up the conversation.
“So you went up to Kenosha?”
“Yeah, I sure did. Man, that is some out-of-the-way place.”
“Find anything interesting up there?”
“I did find a great steakhouse, but I’m sure that’s not what you want to hear about.”
“Quite correct. Start from the beginning. When did you go there?”
“After you and I talked, I did the usual background scan on the Severides, Gibson, and the Wilson woman. Nothing much came up. The Severides were an ordinary couple. He retired from the Kenosha police force. His daughter Trish went to college and got busted for controlled substance possession. Did some time in a treatment center as her sentence. She came out and went to work. She held a job at the hotel on the front desk. Seems like she went straight cause there was nothing else in the file.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. The Weston woman was married to Gibson. They split on the irreconcilable differences excuse.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, as you know, most of the time it is usually a matter of infidelity or too much fighting. I really couldn’t tell by the court documents. They split everything fifty-fifty, so there was no accusation of fault.”
“Did you find anything out in Kenosha?”
“Oh, you bet. Wait one second though. There’s more on the Weston woman. She also had a stint in rehab. Officially it was to kick pain pills, but I suspect it was more serious than that.”
“How serious?”
“Big-time cocaine serious. It looks like she had an affair with a Harriet Murphy and then somehow went off the deep end. It was food for gossip for weeks. She was found unconscious in the public park. No charges were filed, but the officer’s report was clear on the fact that charges should have been filed.”
“This sounds like the sheriff got in the middle.”
“No doubt about it. The record indicated that there was not enough evidence to charge her even though the arresting officer indicated there was over an ounce of cocaine on her person.”
“If the report said that, how did Gibson squash an arrest?”
“Yeah, I should have been clearer. The report said nothing. I talked to the arresting officer, and with a little help from my friend Jack Black, he spilled the beans. He called me the next day to beg for my discretion. I told him his secret is safe with me.”
“That is obstruction of justice.”
“Yeah, to you. To me, it is an ex-hubby trying to keep his wife out of trouble. Now the big question is why would he go to that trouble to bail out his ex-wife who maybe cheated on him?”
“You have an answer?”
“You have any coffee? This could be a long story.”
