Murder Deja Vu

business. He looked fit and tanned, wore an expensive suit. Golf, Payton figured. He didn’t know why, but that pissed him off.
    “What can I do for you gentlemen?” Klugh asked.
    Stone flipped open his badge. “J. C. Stone, Atlanta Police. This is Sheriff Payton, Harold County, North Carolina. We’d like to talk to you about Robert Minette.” Stone pulled out one of the visitor’s chairs. “Mind if we sit down?”
    “Naw, go ahead. Make yourselves at home.”
    “Where was I?”
    “Robert Minette,” Klugh said.
    His cocky grin pissed off Payton even more.
    Stone nodded. “Right. You know him?”
    “Sure, I know Minette,” Klugh said. “I’ve done work for him. But you knew that.” He leaned forward on the desk, folded his hands. “Since this isn’t Twenty Questions, why don’t you get to the point, which I assume is Robert.”
    Stone glanced at Payton. “Not exactly. There’s another reason. The murder of a woman in Harold County. Lurena Howe?”
    Klugh raised his hands in defensive mode. “Whoa. I don’t know anything about a murder in North Carolina, other than what I heard. Didn’t I read in the paper that you arrested the guy who killed her? Wait a minute.” He opened the paper, exposing the sports page he was reading, and flipped to the front page.
    Payton had heard on the news that Reece Daughtry lay in a Portland hospital, fighting for his life after his brother allegedly shot him in self-defense. The story sounded fishy. Payton planned to call Clarence Wright as soon as he finished his business in Atlanta.
    “Here it is,” Klugh said. “Bottom of the front page. Says here your murderer’s in Maine, Sheriff.” Klugh turned his newspaper to show Payton. “What’s his name? Yeah, here it is. Daughtry. That’s the guy who got off for killing some girl up north years ago. It says here that he’s a person of interest for the murder of the two women in North Carolina.” Klugh slapped the paper on his desk and focused on Payton. “So what’s the story?”
    Payton listened to Klugh with twisted admiration. The man was one cool customer. He didn’t miss a beat, acting like an innocent man should. Payton had a momentary flash of doubt. No, this is the guy , he convinced himself. Klugh had been role-playing long enough to believe his own hype. “Well, I’ll get right to the point.”
    “Yeah, why don’t you, because, you see, I’m getting a bad feeling here, wondering why the sheriff of Harold County is in my office, first asking about a client, now mentioning a murder in my client’s jurisdiction. I’m curious as hell.”
    Payton leaned back in his chair, hoping he looked more relaxed than he felt. “I think you murdered Lurena Howe, and I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
    Klugh belted out a raucous laugh. “Man, you have balls, I’ll give you that.” He laughed some more. “And I assume you have proof, right?”
    “Nope,” Payton said. “Nothing other than I can place you in Harold County the day of the murder.”
    “And that would be the day I visited Robert Minette about a job he wanted me to do.”
    “Yup.”
    “Okay, you got me. I was in Harold County. Actually, I was there twice. I don’t know if either day was the one of this murder you’re talking about, but I can clear up the date.” He flipped back his calendar and stopped at one of the pages. “Let’s see. June twenty-fifth and June twenty-seventh. Both times at a diner outside Regal Falls. Either one of them the day?”
    “Yup. The twenty-fifth,” Payton said.
    “Last time I looked, meeting a client didn’t make me a murderer. You’d better have more than that.”
    “I do,” Payton said.
    Klugh squinted, exchanging glances between Payton and Stone. “What?”
    “I’m collecting criminal evidence against Minette. I have a woman who’ll claim he raped her, and another person who owns a tape of someone threatening a witness on Minette’s behalf. The case never went to jury, but it’s still a crime, with no statute of limitations. The voice on the tape is disguised, but Detective Stone assured me new technology can identify a voice match. We believe the voice is yours.”
    Payton knew the voice recognition bit was iffy at best, but he hoped Klugh might fall for it. “Knowing Minette, and we both do, I think he’ll roll on whoever he can to make a deal for himself, especially with murder involved. I’m offering you a deal to roll first.”
    Klugh listened. Payton