Fred, who had been taking it all in, gave a snort of laughter. Dean himself smiled and shook his head. "Of course not. That's preposterous!" He added, "And offensive."
"Why did Mrs. Shipton choose Bird Song to visit?"
"Ask her. She chose Ouray, at least according to Ryland, because he was her son's father and he was coming here to ice climb." He added, "I have no idea how she picked my inn."
"Why did you tell Jerome Shipton his wife wasn't registered here?"
Dean sighed. "Look, Edith Shipton had just poured her heart out to my wife and me that she had run away from an abusive husband and was hiding. She was petrified he'd follow her, by tracing her credit card receipts, so much so she'd registered under an assumed name. I thought she was just being paranoid, like some bad TV nonsense. Then five minutes later, some guy calls asking for her, by name! I didn't lie to him when I told him no one named Shipton was registered at Bird Song but I saw no reason to go out of my way and help him either."
"You know," Corday said. "Us guys in law enforcement see so much shit, sometimes it gets to us. I can't really blame the ones that step over the line once in a while. We know, we're the damn law, aren't we? That ought to count for something, give us a little leeway. Sometimes we just have to act on what we see, don't we? Screw the rules. Some asshole like Shipton, he doesn't deserve to be around. Just waste him. Nobody much gives a damn anyway. Right? I bet you've seen stuff like that back East, seeing as you were a big city cop and all. We know you and your good buddy Jake Weller played it fast and loose last summer when that guy Glick got killed. Who's gonna blame you here? You say this shithead was feeling up your wife right under your nose. Hell, I'd have been pissed too if someone was trying to pork my woman. I'd probably have wasted him myself."
A myriad of emotions flooded over Dean as Corday spoke. First and foremost was an overwhelming urge to punch his lights out but past similar responses hadn't produced positive results. He could feel himself getting redder as the man spoke, but for once, he held his temper. "I won't even give that speech the benefit of a response," Dean answered, trying to sound calm.
Corday just shrugged and began asking questions about Dean's background. Dean assumed Corday already knew most of the answers. The conversation droned on for twenty minutes but Dean was never read his rights nor, surprisingly, was the interview recorded. Corday never volunteered any information and when Dean asked him outright if Shipton was still alive, the officer ignored the question and changed the subject. Few queries were related to the other guests and Dean withdrew from volunteering as much information as he had in his opening monologue.