Sagehen Mesa- Season 2 - Episode 5 - Sheriff Rae's Assault Investigation

 I have some news for you! I'm getting married! No, not to that scumbag Trever. He's safely behind bars now. Good riddance if you ask me. If you recall, I stumbled across Cliff's oldest son Clancy. He's all grown up now and quite handsome!

He's nothing like his father. Clancy is so good and kind. He's always putting others first. When Cliff kicked Tess and the baby out, Clancy went with her. While still a teen, he took a job at the grocery store to help his mother make ends meet. Now that Cliff is on the run and his brother Tim is pretty much a teen living alone, Clancy is foregoing his shot at post-secondary training in order to move back in with Tim, so child protective services doesn't put him in foster care. You'd think Tim would move in with his mother Tess and stepfather, but Tim refuses. I think Cliff has poisoned the boy's mind against Tess. It's such a shame. 

Anyway, as I was saying, I met Clancy and we clicked. We started seeing each other, and before I knew it we were engaged! I knew tongues are wagging over our age difference, but I'm not the only one in town pairing up with a younger man. Hannah Baum has started dating Hector Lopez, who is the same age as Clancy. 

Hannah and I joke that we are going to form the "cougar club" and only invite women who date younger men. I really like Hannah. We have a lot of the same interests such as mystical creatures and fantasy stories. 

We're both first responders with her being a firefighter and me being the sheriff, so we also have that in common. I'd really like to get to know her better, but I've been so busy with trying to track down Cliff. And now I get this report from Mrs. Whiting, the owner of the Art Barn, that Cliff assaulted one of her customers. I went to investigate but both Cliff and Mrs. Whiting had left the premises. 

Ruben Roland had offered to watch the store for Mrs. Whiting, because she was so shaken up over the incident. He said she went to the Pit Stop to get something to eat and wanted me to meet her there. 

Tess was also on the premises, so I asked her if she witnessed the incident. 

I shared with her that I was officially the sheriff as of today, and asked her to confirm that Cliff was at the store. 

"Oh, yes. I saw him alright. I didn't actually see the fight, but the Leona Whiting told me she saw him beat up on an old woman. I assume it had to be either Josie or Kellee, and it's Josie that Cliff has a beef with. His issues with her go back years! He always accuses her of trying to mother him and he resents it. I wish I could be more help, but I didn't actually see the fight. I only know for a fact that he was here."

"That's okay, I said. At least I have a witness placing Cliff at the scene. By the way, I wanted you to know that I love Clancy and will do everything I can to make him happy."

It was clear that this was the first time she heard about how serious we were.

"Clancy asked me to marry him. I said yes," I explained. "I hope we can have your blessing?"

"Of course! Congratulations. My son is quite a catch you know. I would be honored to have a police officer as a daughter-in-law." 

What a relief. But I knew I'd better head over to the Pit Stop and get Mrs. Whiting's statement. 

Leona Whiting looked very stressed out and tired. The incident had clearly taken a lot out of her. 

I told her I had confirmation of the perp from his ex-wife, and I asked her to describe the victim of the assault. "She was an older woman, wavy gray hair, dressing up in a blue dress and some rather substantial jewelry," she responded. 

"You are going to catch that awful man, aren't you? He's a menace to society."

"I assure you we are on the case. He's a person we have been tracking for some time now. His rap sheet is growing by the day," I said. Unfortunately, I think I divulged too much information. Instead of assuring the woman, I think I made things worse. 

"You mean he's committed other crimes as well?!? And you haven't caught him? I thought my family would be safe here in a small town!"

"Don't you have some way of locating him? This is a SMALL TOWN, how hard can it be to find a masked man?" she fumed. 

"Ma'am, we've been putting in overtime, tracking the perp's whereabouts, but it's not as easy as it seems. 

We have to do everything by the book, or he'll be set free on a technicality. I assure you, that we will make an arrest very soon."

I had better go check on the victim now and take down her statement.

But first I need to eat something. Sam's here. I'd better update him on the situation and see if he has had any luck tracking Cliff. 

"Sam! I'm glad you're here. I just got a report that Cliff has assaulted someone. Have you had any luck spotting him lately?" 

"Sorry Rae, I've been out to his mining claim but he was no where to be found. Then I thought I'd stake out the junkyard in case he tried to slip in and grab a free meal from the fridge there. Who stocks that fridge anyway? 

Unfortunately, my cover was blown when the new pastor spotted me. 

I described the perp to the pastor, but he's new to town, so may not have recognized him even if he saw him. Nobody hanging out at the junkyard admits to seeing him." 

"I see, well good work Sam. Like The Cat in the Hat says, "The best way to find out where something is is to find out where it's not. Keep me posted."

My next stop was the home of Josie Toledo. 

"I heard you had an altercation with Cliff Mahon this afternoon, Josie. Are you hurt?"

"Any information you can give us might bring us closer to making an arrest," I assured her.

"Oh, please don't make a fuss on my account," she said. "I've known Cliff all his life, and I know how he was raised. His mother deserted the family when he was just a boy, and his father was a mean old cuss. It's really no wonder that Cliff is the way he is. I'll make a statement, but only because Luis insists that I do so, but I don't want to press charges. So if you can't get him on any of his other crimes, don't expect me to be the cause of his demise." 

I can't do much if she won't press charges, but if he assaults anyone else, her statement might be of help, so I took her statement.

"Well, I arrived at the store, and I saw him there, but decided to ignore him. Guadalupe was also there, so I was chatting with her, when he came up to me and started accusing me of trying to have him arrested. All I said was, 'You'd better make yourself scarce, son, or the police will get you.' I think using the word 'son' triggered him. He told me not to call him that, then he went to presumably browse some merchandise. Then, the next thing I know, . . .

. . .  he came storming over and started swingin'! We had quite the tussle, and I guess you know who won." 

"And then Tess came around the corner, and he skulked off. That's all there was to it." 

Thank you, Josie. So Guadalupe was there to witness the altercation? I'll get a statement from her as well. I appreciate your candor. 

It was getting too late to pay a visit to Guadalupe that night, so I'll need to do that tomorrow. In the meantime I made plans to meet up with Clancy. 

I told him about my day, and he seemed shocked that his father had gone that far with his beef with Josie. I told him I wanted to take some pictures for wedding announcements. Clancy is really shy, so we will probably just have a private wedding. But I'd like a sweet picture for the paper. Sometimes Clancy can be very immature. 

I guess we'll have to try again later. He's obviously not in the mood to take this seriously!

Clancy was awfully stand-offish tonight. I tried to give him a hug and kiss, but he freaked out. I know he's not into public displays of affection, but we were the only people in the room for crying out loud!

Clancy needs to come out of his shell a bit. Maybe the news of his father has got him stirred up.

 I got home to type up my reports, and it looks like Rita has broken my computer. Aaarrgh!