Bluest of Grey Skies

Chapter Fifteen

Regina sat at her kitchen table with the two agents, Jones, and Kathryn early in the morning. She hadn't gotten any more sleep than what she'd had before Emma had woken her up because Jones had been lurking around the house and she was beyond exhausted. For the last several hours, she and the agents were discussing a plan of action while Jones snored loudly in the chair, sleeping off the alcohol he had drunk. Kathryn Midas was called in just after six in the morning when Regina told the agents that she was someone that they could trust to help them.

"We do this tonight," Chapman said as he thumped a fist down on the table. "After today, there is no telling when everything will fall apart on us. Gold has eyes and ears all over this town."

"Jones," Regina said and she rolled his eyes when he was unresponsive once again after falling back asleep sitting up in his chair. She kicked the chair and he fell to the floor with a thud. "Jones, are you paying attention?"

"We're doing it tonight," he muttered and he pulled himself up off the floor. "I can take Chapman in just before the shift change. Gold will be there. He's always there when the shift changes. Makes sure no one that doesn't belong there isn't there when that happens."

"What'll you tell him about Chapman?"

"New hire," Jones replied. "We've been looking to replace a couple of guys for a while."

"He'll believe you?" Regina questioned and Jones scoffed. "Right, he trusts you," she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Jones, we need you to tell us what you know about the former sheriff's murder."

"We're not going to arrest you now," Chapman said quietly. "Although we'll have to after we take Gold out. You are an accessory to murder and you destroyed evidence."

"Before you take me away, Agent, can I at least see her one last time?"

"That will be discussed when the time comes, Jones," Chapman replied and he rapped his knuckles on the table and motioned to his partner to start writing down his testimony. "Tell me about the day the former sheriff of Storybrooke was murdered."

Regina watched Killian Jones carefully as he cleared his throat and ran his fingers over the back of his prosthetic hand. "I got a call that morning, just before nine and just before I was on my way out, headed down to do my shift at the cannery as I do most days. It was Gold and he had a different job for me to do that day. He already suspected that the sheriff was on to the operations down at the cannery and vowed that he would see to it that he was taken care of and the operation was protected by all costs. Of course I knew what that meant, I just had no idea who was going to be the one to pull the trigger. Knew it also meant we could be digging ourselves into a hole we couldn't climb out of this time.

"Gold told me to find someone unsuspecting to make a set-up call just after ten that morning. He was vague of his plans until afterwards," Jones said and he licked over his lips before continuing. "Drove out to the Nolan farm and spoke with the old man there, Bill I think his name was. He was nothing more than a drunk who slacked off and took advantage of the Nolan's and could be bought off easily with a pinch of rum."

"Was?" Regina asked, picking up on the past tense term immediately.

"Died a few days later. Alcohol poisoning. We didn't dirty our hands with that one," he replied with a scoff. "Got him to make a call to the station about livestock in the road not far from where Gold told me the sheriff would be hunting that day. Went down to the station after making sure he understood to make the call after ten that morning by all means necessary. You know, I always hated going down to the station when Bobby wasn't around, it makes me itch."