"It wasn't him."

The sheriff stops and turns to face the ghost child.

"Are you sure?" He asks her, raising a brow with his question. His eyes glance back at the old man who sits in the room the same as when he left.

"I'm positive. It wasn't him." Betty stares deeply into his eyes. "I've lived next door to him all my life. He may be racist and mean, but he didn't do it. And I still don't remember who did, but I know it wasn't him. That's for certain."

The sheriff smiles at how mature little miss Betty sounds. He fades away from reality for a moment to imagine how her parents would react if they could hear her now.

"Mister Sheriff sir?" Betty claps as she tries to pull him out of his trance.

"Oh." The sheriff blinks, "sorry about that, you just sounded so grown up." He smiles at her and attempts to pat her head, but his hand would go through her since she wasn't really there.

"Don't you have a date with Miss Mary soon?" The ghost child smiles deviously, making the man's cheeks turn a deep shade of red.

"It's not a date!" He crosses his arms, "and besides, her brother is going to be there too."

"Alright." Betty smirks before disappearing once more.

***

The sheriff adjusts his bow-tie before he knocks onto the door of Mary's house. Under his arm, he clutches a newly wrapped bouquet of red roses. He inhales deeply as his nerves make him shake.

He didn't understand why he was so nervous, it was only Mary and her brother. It wasn't a date. Just a little get together, right?

The door swings open and a man stands in the opening.

"Hello Will." The sheriff gives the man a soft smile, trying to hide the distaste he had for him.

"Hey Johnny boy! Are those roses for me?" Will chimes cheerfully.

"Urm...-"

"You shouldn't have!" Will cuts the sheriff off as he reaches for and grabs the roses from under his arm. "Hey Mary! Ol' Sheriff is here!" The man turns around and shouts into the house, "should I let him in?"

A soft voice from within the house would muffle a word before Will turns back around.

"Ah sorry, she said no. But because you're a friend I'll let'chya in." He says with a jokingly tone.

"Thanks." The sheriff mumbles as Will holds the door open for him. "So I heard you're only visiting for a few days, will?" He asks as he walks through the open space and begins to take his coat off.

"Yeah. I'm only here to torment my sister a bit and then I'm headed back on the road with my little Ford Cherokee." Will sighs before slamming the door behind the sheriff.

"Ah, so have you found your special someone yet?" The sheriff asks as he hangs up his coat on the coat rack before taking off his shoes.

"Nah, there's no one really who has caught my eye yet, what about you little johnny?" He jokingly punches the sheriff's shoulder gently, the sheriff having to catch himself from face-planting onto the wooden floor.

"Uhm..." The sheriff gets up from practically being knocked over and brushes his shirt. "I have my eye on someone, but I don't know if they like me like that back." His cheeks turn to a light shade of pink.

"Don't wait too long Johnny-boy! Or else someone else might swoop her off of her feet, like me." Will laughs, patting the back of the sheriff's back quite roughly. "Is she pretty?"

The sheriff stares blankly at the man before nodding at his question. "Why yes, she's exceptionally beautiful!" He looks at Will before turning away and looking to the ground, "and she's way out of my league."

"With that kind of attitude she is!" Will slaps the sheriff's back again, still pretty hard. "Here, let me teach you how to charm that beautiful lady of yours."

"Alright, but where's Mary?" The sheriff asks as he turns towards the kitchen, assuming that that would be where she was.

"Ah, she just popped out to the store to get a few things that she forgot to pick up earlier, she'll be about an hour so we have lots of time to talk together about your love life." Will smirks as he wraps his arm around the sheriff and casually pulls him towards the sitting room.

"Uh... okay." The sheriff mumbles as he is pulled.

"He doesn't seem so bad." The little ghost child appears and whispers as though everyone else can hear her too.

"That's all an act, it'll get worse since Mary's not here." The sheriff whispers back to the ghost child.

"Didjya say somethin' Johnny?" Will looks down at the sheriff. The sheriff looks up at the muscular man and smiles sheepishly.

"Nope, didn't say nothing at all!" The sheriff laughs a bit awkwardly as Will sits him down and then moves and sits across from him.

"Alright lover boy, so what's your lady's name?" Will claps his hands together, readying to help the sheriff with some love advice.

"Um..." The sheriff hesitates, sweat begins to pool upon his brows.

"Well...?" Will leans in closer to him, attempting to intimidate him into spilling the name.

"Um..." The sheriff wipes the sweat from his brows, but more pour out in it's place. "It's M-Mary."

"M-M-Mary?" Will mocks the sheriff, "Ya mean you got a crush on my sister?"

"Yes?" The sheriff looks down, his face red from embarrassment from confessing his love for Will's sister.

"That's wonderful, Johnny!" Will exclaims as he leans closer to the sheriff and ruffles his hair. "I think she fancies you too, and I think you'll be good for her!"

"Wow," the sheriff looks up at the man, surprised by his response. "That's really-"

"...And that means I can tease ya as much as I want to once you two tie the knot!" Will laughs as he nuggies the sheriff's head.

"Gyah...great." The sheriff sighs, pushing Will back away from him. Will sits back down as the back door sounds.

"I'm home." Mary's voice sounds from the other side of the wall, "Will, can you help me cut the chicken please?"

"I'm coming." Will winks at the sheriff as he gets up from his seat and moves towards the kitchen.

The sheriff leans back and rolls his eyes. He was alone for a minute before Mary walks into the room while removing pink stained white gloves from her hands.

"I hope Will wasn't too much trouble for you." Mary sets her gloves down onto the end table and sits down where Will sat, across from the sheriff.

"Nah. It was fine. Why are your gloves red?" The sheriff leans in, curious to know.

"It's from the chicken blood. The butcher was messy when cutting it and so it was still bleeding a bit when I carried it home." Mary smiles softly, "I was fortunate to not be chased home by some dogs." She lets out a light laugh before looking up at the sheriff. "So what did you and Will talk about while I was out?"

"Ah... oh... Um... we talked about the... Um... sports?" The sheriff stumbles to think of a good excuse, not wanting to tell her that they were talking about her.

"Sports? Really?" Mary laughs lightly, "you've never been into sports before. Are you finally trying to become friends with my brother?" Her eyes widen as does her smile.

"Um yes, yes. I'm trying to become friends with your brother." The sheriff nods and Mary squeals lightly.

"I'm so proud of you two!" Mary gets up and walks towards the kitchen again. "I need to get dinner ready, I hope you like it!"

"I'm sure I will." The sheriff smiles as he watches her leave to finish making dinner.

***

The sheriff puts on his coat and his shoes and waves goodbye to Mary and Will.

"Thanks for having me over for dinner, your chicken stew was wonderful Mary." The sheriff smiles warmly at the woman.

"I guess I'll have to make it for you more often." Mary smiles softly, letting out a light giggle.

"I'll be sure to stop by the station on my way outta town to say goodbye ol' Johnny boy!" Will grabs the sheriff and pulls him in to ruffle his hair.

"Alright." The sheriff pushes Will away and leaves the house. He then walks away down the street headed to his own home.

The brisk air brushes through his hair as he reaches into his coat pockets in search of some warmth. An out of place object catches the sheriff's attention as he pulls out a yellow paper crane from his pocket.

"That's strange." He thinks to himself as he notices some writing on the paper bird.

"You've got the wrong man." He reads the note written on it.