Friday morning arrived across Haneyville.
Bernie woke up around 8:00 a.m., and after his shower, he ate breakfast at the Perkins restaurant.
After breakfast, Bernie went back to his Motel 6 room, and he made a cell phone call.
"Senator Thomas," Senator Jerome Thomas, a Tennessee state Senator replied from Bernie's cell phone.
"Senator, it's me, Bernie Hollister," he said into his cell phone.
"Bernie. How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. How's your dad doing?" asked Senator Thomas who grew up with Bernie's father and were old football buddies during high school down in Knoxville.
"He's fine and enjoying retirement," replied Bernie.
"I plan on retiring after my term is up next year. So, why the call?"
"Senator, I'm here in Haneyville on a murder case. But things smell really fishy with the sheriff of this town, Sheriff Riley. I think he's framing two reporters for the murder of a former resident of Haneyville. I would like the state troopers to conduct their own investigation into Sheriff Riley."
There were a few seconds of silence from his cell phone. "Do you believe that?"
"Yes, I do Senator."
"Okay, I'll have someone from my staff contact you later today, and you can give them the details. I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, Senator and I'll be looking forward to talking with them," said Bernie, then he disconnected his end of the call with a huge smile.
Bernie started going through his notes and jotted down the points as to why he wanted Sheriff Riley investigated.
After breakfast, Jodi and Ernie just finished breakfast. He was making a fresh pot of coffee while she excused herself and went into Tiffany's bedroom.
She came out of Tiffany's bedroom with the diary in hand. "I found this last night. I believe it's Tiffany's diary," she said while she walked up to Ernie and showed him the diary.
"Where did you find that?" asked Ernie while he took the diary from Jodi.
"Under the floor of her bed. There was a loose piece of flooring."
"How did you know to look there?"
Jodi felt caught and pondered a viable excuse. "I hid mine in a place just like that in my bedroom. And I got curious if Tiffany had a diary."
"Ah, I see. I remember the day we gave that to her. It as on her sixteenth birthday. Kathy and I promised we would never read it as we wanted Tiffany to have some privacy in her life," he said while he looked it over.
"I wonder if it has anything in there about Sheriff Riley?" she asked.
"Possible but it's locked," said Ernie while he tried to open it up.
"I couldn't find a key in her bedroom."
"This might contain some information to help your case."
"That's what I'm thinking."
"Wow. I can't believe this has been in Tiffany's room all these years. But I did forget about it a long time ago," said Ernie while he placed the diary on the kitchen table. "I'll call Bernie a little later and tell him what we found and see what he wants to do with it," Ernie then he walked over to the coffee pot and poured two fresh cups of coffee.
Back at George and Betsy's home, she just made a pancake breakfast, and they sat down with Donovan to eat.
While they ate breakfast, Betsy wished Donovan could stay in her home forever. She felt like he was a mother again.
Rock was back at the police station drinking coffee in his office. He had another splitting headache from drinking whiskey last night and popped some more aspirins.
Kent sat at his desk and pondered how he could secretly see the contents of that wooden chest. He had a gut feeling about that chest and could not get it out of his mind.
"I'm going to take a nap," said Rock while he got out of his office.
Rock went down the jail cell hallway where the cot was stored that Kent used on Sunday.
Rock got on the cot and closed his eyes and hoped he could sleep off this headache.
Kent though this was his opportunity. "I'm going to patrol around town to give you some peace and quiet," he said while he got up from his desk.
"Good idea," Rock called out from the hallway.
Kent left the station.
A little while later, Kent had pulled his patrol car into the driveway of Rock's home.
He got out of his patrol car and rushed to the front door.
He unlocked the front door then stepped inside the living room.
Once Kent got inside the living room, he rushed through it and headed into the kitchen.
He went to the door of the kitchen that led into the garage.
He opened the door and rushed into the garage.
He rushed over to Rock's workbench and looked for something useful. He found a bolt cutter hanging on the wall. He grabbed it then rushed over to the chain that dangled from the pull-down attic stairs.
He pulled the stairs down.
After the stairs were down, Kent put on some black leather gloves then rushed up into the attic with the bolt cutter in hand.
Once he got inside the attic, he turned on his flashlight application on his iPhone.
He carefully crawled on the attic floor and headed to the wooden chest.
He placed his iPhone down in a position where the flashlight provided light on the padlock of the chest.
He used the bolt cutter and cut the padlock. He removed and shoved the padlock in his pants pocket.
He picked up his iPhone the shined the flashlight into the chest when he opened up the lid.
"What the hell?" he said the second he saw some clothes that looked old and smelled musty. They seemed to be 1970s style blue jeans and shoes. Then he saw a gold heart and small key on a gold chain.
Then he saw what appeared to be a wallet and a driver's license.
He reached inside and carefully looked at the driver's license. It was for Tiffany Carlson.
"I don't believe it. I don't fucking believe it," said Kent while he snapped a picture of the inside of the chest with his iPhone.
He closed the lid of the chest.
He grabbed the bolt cutter and his flashlight. "But it doesn't surprise me," he said while he crawled back to the attic opening.
Kent climbed back down the stairs then pushed the pull-down stairs back up into the attic opening.
He rushed out of the garage closing the door.
A little while later, Kent was in his patrol car driving down Addison Avenue. He pondered what should he do now that he found evidence that his father was probably the killer of Howie, Tiffany, and Charlie.
After Kent drove out of the residential neighborhood, he headed down Haneyville Road to park in the parking lot by the lake walkway. He wanted some fresh air while he pondered this dilemma.
A little while later, Kent walked down the walkway, he finally had an idea. So he rushed down the walkway and headed into Tina and Tim's Coffee Shop.
After he got a small cup of coffee, Kent surfed the Internet and found the phone number he wanted.
He left the coffee shop and headed down the walkway.
He stopped on the walkway when nobody was close enough to hear his conservation. He made the call to the number he found on the Internet.
"Special Investigations Bureau, Trooper Becky Faith speaking, how may I help you?" Becky answered the call.
"I'm Kent Riley. I'm a deputy here in Haneyville. Listen, I have a situation where I need your immediate assistance," said Kent into his iPhone.
"How may we help?"
"Well, were had a murder here outside Haneyville this Saturday night. My daddy is the sheriff here in Haneyville, and he arrested two reporters for this murder. Problem is that the guy murdered, named Charlie Abbott was found dead by two shallow graves where two people were killed back in nineteen seventy," said Kent into his phone.
"Wait, wasn't there a car found in your lake a few weeks ago. A car from two teens that went missing in nineteen seventy and believed to have run away to Canada?" asked Becky from his phone.
"That's correct, but the skeletons found on Saturday turned out to be whose two missing teens. I believe that my daddy, the Sheriff of Haneyville, killed those two teens and this Charlie Abbott guy," said Kent and his heart started pounding, as he got nervous.
There were a few seconds of silence from the phone. "How do you know your daddy killed these people?"
"I have evidence he killed those two teens back in seventy."
"What evidence?"
"I just found a wooden chest in his attic that contained the clothes, wallet, and driver's license of these two teens. I snapped a picture. I can email it to you."
"Okay," Trooper Faith said and gave Kent her email address.
Kent emailed her the picture and a few seconds had passed.
"Okay, Deputy Riley. I'll have someone get in touch with you."
"Make it right away. I'm afraid daddy might get rid of the evidence really soon," said Kent and his legs started to tremble a little.
"We'll be in touch," said Trooper Faith, then she disconnected her end of the call.
Kent walked down the walkway feeling he did the right thing.
"Hey Kent," called out Andrew from behind his back.
Kent cringed the second he heard Andrew's voice behind him. "Andrew," he said while he turned around and saw Andrew with his young wife Sandy who was four months pregnant.
"What are you doing down here?" asked Andrew while he held onto Sandy's hand.
Kent looked at Andrew and then at Sandy. "Can we speak in private? It's a serious matter that only you should hear."
"Stay here," Andrew told Sandy then gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Kent pulled Andrew away to a safe distance then started to tell him about today's events.
Down the walkway, Bernie, George, Donovan, Betsy, Ernie, and Jodi just walked out of the Lake View Restaurant from eating a late lunch.
Donovan and Jodi spotted Kent and Andrew chatting alone down the walkway. They saw Kent show Andrew his iPhone. They thought nothing of it and headed off to the parking lot.
A few minutes had passed, and Kent and Andrew finished their discussion. Andrew never cared for Rock and planned to help out Kent.
Andrew and Sandy went home to their apartment while Kent decided he better make an appearance back at the police station.
Back at the police station, Rock woke up from his nap with a throbbing headache.
He went into this office and grabbed four aspirins from his desk. He grabbed his coffee cup.
He headed out of his office and made a beeline to the coffee pot.
Kent entered the station while Rock poured coffee into his cup.
"The town is nice and quiet," said Kent while he walked over to his desk and could not look at Rock while he stood at the coffee pot.
Rock could care less while he popped those four aspirins then chased them down with some coffee.
Rock remained quiet while he headed back to his office. He sat down behind his desk and felt like his whole world was crashing down around him.
Kent sat down at his desk and stared at his iPhone.
Meanwhile, Andrew left Sandy alone at their apartment and headed over to his parent's house. He had his badge clipped to the belt of his jeans and had a shoulder harness with his revolver. He started to role-play being a detective. He drove off in his Ford Escape.
Sandy sat in their living room and did not have a good feeling about Andrew leaving. She did not mind him being a police officer in Haneyville since nothing happens, but the recent events started to make her nervous.
A little while later, Andrew had his car parked in his parent's garage at their home located on Addison Avenue. This was perfect because they lived five houses down from Rock's home on the other side of the street. Andrew had an ideal view of Rock's driveway.
He started to discreetly peek out his parent's living room window curtains and staked out Rock's driveway. Andrew was lucky because his parents were out down in Florida on a cruise to the Caribbean. And he did promise to check up on their home once in a while. So today was a perfect time to fulfill his promise.
Back at George and Betsy's home, they just had everybody retire in the living room after a fresh cup of coffee was finished brewing.
While they started to discuss the case, Bernie's cell phone rang from the clip on his belt. "Excuse me," he said the got up and walked off into the kitchen.
While Bernie had a private discussion on his cell phone, the others continued with idle chat.
Back at the police station, Kent was still at his desk while Rock was in his office.
Kent's iPhone rang, and that startled him, and he jumped a little. He looked and saw that a Major Tony Sanders was calling.
He got up from his desk. "Hello," he said into his iPhone while he rushed over to the counter.
Rock stepped into the doorway of his office and was curious with Kent's phone call. He watched while Kent slipped out the front doors and got suspicious.
He walked out of his office and headed to the counter.
Outside by the front doors, Kent felt this was an excellent place to have a private phone call.
"Yes, I'm the one that called," Kent said softly into his iPhone.
While Kent listened to Major Sanders talk on his iPhone, he did not see Rock while he peeked out the cracked open front door.
Then Rock went away when he heard his office phone ringing.
Back in the station, Rock rushed through the office area and headed back into his office.
"Sheriff Riley," he answered the call.
"Sheriff, Carl Verlander here."
Rock sat down at this desk, and he thought this was not a good call by the tone of Carl's voice. "Yeah, Carl."
"Ah, listen," said Carl then he hesitated for a few seconds. "The Attorney General is probably going to drop the charges again Donovan Kirby and Jodi Lauder. He feels you really botched up this case and feels we don't have strong evidence that they, in fact, killed Charlie Abbott. The Attorney General is seriously considering having one of the investigators from the State Troopers office investigate this murder. Someone from that office will be in touch with you shortly to get some information," Carl said from the phone.
Rock started to sweat and get nervous. "Okay, Carl. I'll be ready to assist someone from the state in any way I can," he said then hung up his phone. Rock knew that he was more likely the target of this investigation. He could not believe his eyes how things have turned within the last couple of days. He started to get scared for the first time in his life.
Rock's hands shook while he reached down at the bottom right side of his desk. He opened the bottom drawer and removed a bottle of Jack Daniels. He opened up the bottle and took a healthy swig to calm his nerves.
Then Rock's eyes widened when he suddenly remembered something. "Fuck!" he called out then placed the Jack Daniels bottle back in his desk drawer.
He shot up from his desk and rushed out of his office.
Rock charged through the office area and went around the counter.
He charged to the front doors and slammed one of them opened.
At the same time Rock slammed opened one of the front doors, Kent tried to go inside the station. A charging Rock who looked scared knocked Kent down on his butt on the concrete.
Rock charged off and could care less he knocked down Kent.
Kent got up and saw Rock get inside his patrol car, started it up and screeched backward out of his parking spot.
Rock screeched away through the parking lot.
Kent figured something was going down with Rock's behavior.
He went inside the police station.
Once Kent sat down behind his desk in the station, he wrote a text message.
Over at Andrew's parents home, he just fixed a snack of apple pie and some coffee when his cell phone buzzed. He looked at the viewfinder.
"Dad left the station and looked scared. Keep an eye on his house," read Kent's text message.
Andrew grabbed his plate of his mom's homemade apple pie and rushed out of the kitchen and headed into the living room.
Andrew grabbed a chair, opened the living room curtains, and tad then moved the chair to the window. He sat down and ate some apple pie while he eyed Rock's driveway.
Then his eyes widened with an idea.
He jumped up from his chair and rushed through the living room.
He ran down the hallway and stopped at the closet. He opened up the closet, reached up on the top shelf, and removed a pair of Bushnell binoculars.
He rushed back down the hallway and into the living room.
He rushed back to his chair, sat down, and proceeded to stake out Rock's house with his dad's binoculars.
Back at George and Betsy's home, Bernie finished his cell phone call.
He went back into the living room.
"I hope it wasn't bad news," said Donovan.
"No, sorta good news. The Attorney General is considering dropping the murder charges against both of you."
George, Betsy, and Ernie cheered the good news.
Donovan and Jodi hugged each other with huge smiles.
"Looks like the State Police will conduct an investigation into the death of Charlie Abbott. The Attorney General believes Sheriff Riley botched his investigation or a lack of an investigation," said Bernie.
Jodi rested her head on Donovan's shoulder, and her eyes welled up, thinking she was going to remain free for the rest of her life.
"Now, you two will still be considered suspects during this investigation, so you're not completely out of the woods yet," added Bernie.
"Don't worry you two, I know in my heart that you'll be free of all this real soon," said Betsy.
Donovan placed his arm around Jodi, and he also had this feeling Betsy's comment would come true.
Back at the station, Kent paced around the office area and was anxious for the State Trooper to arrive from Knoxville.
Kent's iPhone rang. "Hello," he quickly answered the call.
"Deputy Riley, Judge Olson here. I had a call from State Trooper Major Anita Maus down at the Knoxville Headquarters. I have a search warrant ready for you to pick up," said Judge Olson from his iPhone.
Kent rushed to the door and was happy things were clicking in his favor.
While Kent rushed next door to the Court House, his iPhone buzzed. He looked at the viewfinder and saw Andrew sent him a text message.
"Sheriff Riley moved stuff to the one side of his garage to the other then he backed his patrol car into his garage. He closed the garage door," said Andrew's text message.
"Keep an eye on him and text me when he leaves," Kent typed in as his text response.
Kent went to the side door of the Court House and went inside to see Judge Olson.
Back at Rock's house, he was in his garage and just pulled down the attic stairs. His patrol car was back in with its trunk opened.
He rushed over and grabbed his flashlight off the workbench.
He rushed over and climbed up the stairs and headed into the attic.
Once he got in the attic, he turned on his flashlight.
He crawled through the attic and headed to the chest.
Once he got to the chest he opened the lid. He illuminated the inside of the chest and rummaged through the contents. He was satisfied that Howie and Tiffany's clothes, her gold chain with gold heart and key, Howie's wallet, Tiffany's driver's license and Rock's Colt 45 from his Army days were still inside the chest.
"I thought I locked this?" he muttered out while he closed the lid. But then he thought he forgot to lock it years ago.
He carefully dragged the chest across the wooden floor and headed to the attic opening.
Rock manhandled the chest while he climbed down attic pull-down stairs.
Rock was halfway down the stairs when he lost his footing with his right shoe. He fumbled with the chest and lost his grip. The chest dropped and smacked into Rock, sending him down to the concrete floor.
Rock smacked his butt bone hard on the concrete floor then whacked the back of his head on the bumper of his patrol car.
He lay on the floor by the rear of his car passed out.
Back at the police station, Kent sat at his desk with the search warrant. He waited for the State Trooper detective to arrive at the station.