Though Marsh had tried to get a chance to talk with Karissa at her parents’ place Sunday night, she had been standoffish and made excuses not to be alone with him for even a moment. He had left the house frustrated and with no clue how to fix things—if their relationship was even fixable.
Marsh didn’t expect to be called to the front office Monday afternoon, but it didn’t worry him. Seeing the detective there, on the other hand, made Marsh wonder what was going on.
“What’s up? Do you have an update on the drug dealer?” He took the empty seat by the detective. Though he hadn’t expected to be personally notified when they found the answer, he couldn’t think of another reason the detective would want to speak with him.
“There have been developments,” Detective Carlson said, folding his hands together. “We’ve been leaning hard on the boys who were caught with the steroids, and someone finally said where he was getting them. He mentioned your name, actually.”
Marsh blinked in surprise. How on earth? Had he misheard that? He lowered his brows and stared. “What? Are you serious? Because there’s no way someone mentioned me. I knew nothing about it.”
“You understand, we can’t ignore this lead. A state title is nothing to sniff at. Many coaches have taken extreme measures to ensure their team’s success.” The detective’s face was unreadable, his gaze piercing as he studied Marsh.
Feeling like he’d been sucker punched, Marsh shook his head. “Whoever said it lied. Or maybe you misunderstood. Seriously, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t provide drugs to those boys. Do you know the health hazards? And I never want to win anything by cheating.” As the shock at being wrongly accused started to wear off, Marsh felt a strong sense of betrayal and growing anger. Why had one of his boys lied about him?
“I’m asking for your cooperation,” Detective Carlson said. “I’d like to do a search of your car, your office, and your house—to make sure the claims are unsubstantiated. I can get a warrant, but it would be a lot faster and easier if you just let us check, so we can mark you off of our list. The principal said he anticipates your full cooperation.”
So he really didn’t have a choice, even if the court didn’t order it. “Yeah, of course, go ahead.” Marsh dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. He pointed out the one to the truck, and said where he’d parked it. “Check my office, whenever. When you’re finished here, I’ll let you into the house.”
Detective Carlson’s lips twisted slightly in a wry grin. “We already have a guy in your office. It’s school property, so we got him started while you were in here talking to us.”
Marsh felt the violation and better understood why the students had been angry when their lockers were searched the previous week. He forced the emotions into submission, determined to focus on what was important. He had to let the cops do their jobs and clear his name so he could go on with his life. Knowing it was the man’s job didn’t make it feel less personal, though.
He thought of Karissa’s black and white view on life and wondered if she would believe him when he said that he was innocent. Would she hear about it at work tonight if he didn’t call her first? Would she think he was capable of selling drugs to his boys? Was she still upset enough from the previous night to hold this against him too?
And what was with the kid pointing the finger at him when they knew it was a lie? Who were they trying to protect, anyway? His mind kept coming back to that one, important point. “So just one kid talked, out of everyone? With eleven kids taking the drug, you’d think someone would have told the truth by now.”
The detective shrugged. “Most of them don’t seem to know where it came from originally. The ones who do haven’t talked at all until now.”
Marsh tried to focus on that. “Someone must be threatening them if they talk. Why else would they name me instead of their real source?” He sighed and wondered what he was going to do. He loved his job, loved working with the kids—even the ones who were a little harder to get to know. What would this do to his career?
He tried to put his thoughts in order. “Look, I have a stack of things I have to finish before class ends. Do you mind if I head back to the office to get some notes so I can make a few phone calls before school gets out?” Thank goodness it was his prep period.
“Yeah, I’ll walk down with you.” Detective Carlson stood and accompanied him to Marsh’s classroom, where two men were rifling through his files and personal effects.
Marsh gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore it.
He grabbed his folder and headed for the teachers’ lounge, hearing the sound of keys jingling as the detective passed them off to one of the deputies, telling him to check the truck.
Marsh’s hands shook as he tried to focus on what had to be done, instead of what was going on right then. He’d never done anything seriously wrong. How could he be their chief suspect? And what would he do if this didn’t all go away after they found nothing?
***
After the cops finished checking Marsh’s truck and school areas, he followed the deputies back to his house and waited at the front gate while they searched there. His stomach was all tied up in knots, wondering what this would do to his reputation, even though they would never find the drugs on his property. It was a small town. Small-town people always found out about things like this, and the four sheriff’s vehicles parked in front of his house were making his neighbors peek out through their windows at him.
The cold wind whistled through the trees and brushed against his neck, making Marsh hunker lower into his coat collar. It was overcast and there was another snow storm expected that night. That was perfect, as far as he was concerned; cold and gray suited his mood at the moment.
His cell phone rang and he answered, grateful to see Hank’s name on the Caller ID, and wondering why he hadn’t thought to contact his friend before now.
“What’s this about the deputies searching your place?” Hank asked, anger filling his voice. “Did you just let them in, or do they have a warrant?”
“I let them in. I don’t have anything to hide. But man, I wish this was over.” Marsh pulled his coat tighter around him; it was freezing! “I’m waiting outside for them to finish up. You want to come over? I could use a little company. This is taking forever.”
“I’ll bring some coffee and be there in a few.”
It took more than ten minutes for Hank to arrive, but when he did, he held two cups of something hot and steaming. Marsh was glad to wrap his hands around it.
“Hear anything yet?” Hank asked as he sipped at his drink.
“Of course not. I probably won’t hear anything until next week, even if they finish in five minutes.” It was an exaggeration, but Marsh wasn’t feeling his most upbeat at the moment. He took a drink of his coffee, relishing the heat as it flowed down his throat, warming him from the inside. “I just can’t get over one of the boys saying that I’m responsible for any of this. It’s insane.”
“Did you call a lawyer?” Hanks asked.
Marsh shook his head. “What’s the point? They won’t find anything, and then they’ll be out of my hair. Paying a lawyer two hundred bucks to tell me not to let them in without a warrant seems like a waste of time and money.”
Hank distracted Marsh with talk about pro basketball until a couple of the deputies came out, Trent in the front, carrying a big plastic bag. Marsh’s heart almost stopped when he realized they’d found something they thought at least a little incriminating.
“What you got there?” Hank asked.
“Drugs. Just like the ones we confiscated from the kids,” Trent said. His eyes shifted back to Marsh. “Sorry. I don’t have any choice.”
One of the men walked behind Marsh and grabbed his right wrist, twisting it back. “You’re under arrest for distributing drugs to minors.” He continued with the Miranda rights.
Marsh twisted his head, trying to get a look at what was in the black garbage sack. “You’ve got to be mistaken. No way did I have anything to do with this. You think I would just let you search my place without a warrant if I had something to hide? I could have had those flushed down the toilet faster than you could have talked to a judge.”
Trent’s face was grim. “It’s not my job to think about that right now. It’s my job to bring you in. We’ll work out the rest later.”
Marsh looked at Hank, who stood by helpless. “Call someone for me.” He had a sudden image of Karissa getting the news and freaking out. Would she think he had been lying all along? “Oh, no. Karissa. She’s going to wig.”
“I’ll go talk to her. Don’t worry.” Hank nodded and moved out of the way so they could lead Marsh to the police car. He already had his phone in his hand and was dialing.
The first flakes of the snowstorm started to fall as they forced Marsh into the back of the musty car. He wondered how someone had gotten into his locked house to plant the drugs, and how he was going to get out of this mess.
***
Chicken soup bubbled on the kitchen stove, filling the house with a comforting aroma. Karissa gave it another stir as the back door opened and Hank walked in. She looked up and smiled. “A little early, isn’t it? I didn’t expect you to get off work for another half an hour.” Her smile slipped when she saw the brackets around his mouth and the determination in his eyes.
“Yeah, well, things are going on, so I left early.” He stopped in front of her, gestured a little helplessly for a moment, then stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I had to come tell you, Marsh is in trouble.”
Worry zinged through her, but she held herself still for a moment. “What do you mean? Is he hurt?”
“No. He’s been arrested. Someone planted drugs at his house. They took him to be booked a little while ago. I called an attorney, but he’s in Denver and won’t be back before morning. The roads are already starting to get nasty and it hasn’t been snowing long.”
Karissa sat down hard in a nearby chair, trying to believe what she’d heard. Had she really known him so little that he could fool her like that? Of course Dennis had, but she really had thought better of Marsh, despite the knee-jerk way she had been acting the past few days. “He was selling the drugs all along?”
“Come on.” Hank’s words shot out hard and fast as bullets. “You don’t really think he did it, do you? I thought you knew him better than that.” The disgust in Hank’s voice was blatant. “He was framed. Had to be. No chance he sold drugs to kids. And I can’t believe you’ve been dating him this long and haven’t figured out the kind of guy he is before now. What’s wrong with you, lately?”
“I never thought Dennis would cheat on me, either, but he did,” she said. “It’s not like I have a history of making good choices where men are concerned. How can I be sure Marsh didn’t do it if they found the drugs at his place?” She felt sick at the thought that she might have been duped again, and even sicker when she thought that he might be innocent and Hank was right about the framing. What was she going to do? How could she decide?
“I thought you might be upset about what could happen to him in jail.” Hank’s voice was frigid now, his eyes hard. “But apparently I was totally wrong. You know, he thought you were ready for a relationship, for the chance to get to know someone and take a chance again, but I guess he was wrong. Never mind. You don’t have to come with me and talk to him. You stay here in your orderly little world.”
He turned and headed for the back door again.
“Where are you going?” Karissa hadn’t like his tone, but she didn’t know how to deal with any of this. And did Hank have to dump his own feelings on top of everything? Couldn’t he see where she was coming from?
“I’m going to help Dad, then I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do for my friend once he’s been booked.” The door slammed shut behind him, making the room echo.
“What was that?” Beth asked as she came into the kitchen a moment later.
“Hank. We…” Karissa didn’t want to tell anyone about Marsh, and Hank was right, she had to go to the jail to talk to Marsh herself. She wondered how long it would take to book him. They might be done by the time she arrived. “Look. I gotta go into town. I’ll explain later. Do you mind watching Paul?”
Beth came forward and laid a hand on her daughter’s cheek, concern etched on her face. “That’s fine. Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine. I have to talk to Marsh, if I can.” She set the spoon she’d been waving around down on a plate and headed out to gather her things.