He stopped by every morning and every night to check on Susan, and they'd eaten a couple of meals together. Other than that, he kept his distance. Everyone in town expected him to step into Lowell's shoes, both personally and professionally. God knew he wanted to apprehend Lowell's murderer. And he was willing to complete his old friend's term as sheriff. But taking care of Lowell's wife was a complicated matter. If he didn't want her so damn bad … But he did. And that was the problem. Tracking down Lowell's killer was the number one priority of the sheriff's department. Carl Bates seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth, but Hank knew it was only a matter of time until one of their leads would uncover the white-trash drug pusher's whereabouts. Once they had the bastard in custody, the matter would be pretty much cut-and-dried. Two deputies had witnessed Lowell's murder. No jury on earth would render anything other than a guilty verdict. Yeah, once Bates was behind bars, his final fate would be the death penalty.
