A continuation of the interview with Sheriff Will Diaz. Will Diaz is the central character in the four novels that currently make up The Lawman Series. The fifth book is expected out about Christmas of 2025.

Richard Muniz: Wait a minute. You proposed to her and she turned you down!

Sheriff Will Diaz: (Smiles.) Crazy, isn’t it. I’m a hell of a catch and she said “no!”

Muniz: That surprises me!

Sheriff Will Diaz: It turns out she knew what she was doing. Remember I told you she had her master’s in psychology.

Muniz: Had?

Sheriff Will Diaz: Well, she’s a Ph.D now so she still has the Master’s. But moving on. Jewell is a natural to the human condition. She can take a look at a person and almost right away know what’s going on with that person.

Muniz: How does she do that?

Sheriff Diaz: I haven’t a clue. But she’s awesome to watch in action. She can be checking out at Walmart. Between the time she says hello to the cashier and leaves, she gets the cashier’s life story, has given them advice, and prayed for them. If you ask her, she’ll say it’s a gift from God. I believe it. I know I can’t do that.

Muniz: But the question remains. Why did she turn you down.

Sheriff Diaz: Because I had work to do. She’d took one look at me and knew I was mess. She told me I had ghosts to bury.

Muniz: So she started counseling you?

Sheriff Diaz: No. No. She couldn’t. You see, her and I were in a relationship. That doesn’t work and there are ethics to consider.

Muniz: So, she sent you around to talk to Robert.

Sheriff Diaz: Yes. Pastor Robert Morgan. The guy who in school was voted most likely to spend his life in prison or be on death row.

Muniz: You’re kidding.

Sheriff Diaz: No. Pastor Morgan was no saint when he was young. In fact, he played for the other team. He smoked. He drank. He fought. He stole. He cheated. He did dope. He swore. He carried a knife and a gun. He rode the meanest horses and bulls he could find. He was with a different girl most every night. He was the guy if you saw him coming down the street, you crossed the road. He was the devil incarnate in size twelve cowboy boots.

Muniz: What happened to straighten him out?

Sheriff Diaz: Ask him. I know he had a couple of close calls. Maybe that convinced him. Or maybe the Navy taught him there was more to life than getting high and drinking and chasing skirt.

Muniz: Sounds like you guys go way back.

Sheriff Diaz: We do. We were classmates. When I found out he was the preacher at the Waverly Community Church I was stunned. I was even more stunned when I learned he’d picked up a master’s in counseling from Stanford.

Muniz: He went to Stanford?

Sheriff Diaz: Shocking, isn’t it. I guess they let anybody in that school.

CONTINUED

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Courtesy DOD

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