An Interview with Sheriff Will Diaz – Part 21 – Digging Graves

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

Rich Muniz – One think you’ve kind of glossed over in the books and in other other interviews is how you left the Army.

Sheriff Will Diaz – There’s a reason for that.

Muniz – And what is that?

Sheriff Diaz – I’d come back from Germany with every intention of clearing Germany and getting on to my next assignment.

Muniz – Where were you headed.

Sheriff Diaz – I had orders already in hand for Ft. Meade.

Muniz – But what happened?

Sheriff Diaz – I think we already covered that. All I know is I was no longer deployable and that meant I was leaving the Army. I was the saddest day of my life when I left Ft. Carson. And that’s how I wound up back at the Sheriff’s Office.

Muniz – Okay. So, it’s territory we already covered. Here’s one for you then. Why are you dancing around it?

Sheriff Diaz – Because my temper almost got me into another mess.

Muniz – Want to talk about it.

Sheriff Diaz – Do I have a choice?

Muniz – “Confess your sins, one to another.”

Sheriff Diaz – There are times I hate it when people quote the Bible at me.

Muniz – You know there’s more where that came from.

Sheriff Diaz – Fine. I went looking for justice. I know.

Muniz – You what?

Sheriff Diaz – I followed the protocols. I reported the abuse to the police. They handed it over to the cops where my Ex was living. They tossed it in the trash can.

Muniz – What happened?

Sheriff Diaz – My Ex had left her boyfriend by then. And it was almost a year later. I took a drive. A long drive. I went to settle the score. Before you say it there’s the old proverb that says when you go looking for revenge, start by digging two graves. It’s true. Something will always be buried, and it was in this case.

Muniz – And?

Sheriff Diaz – I ended up leading him to the Lord.

Muniz – You what?

Sheriff Diaz – I led him to the Lord. I mean when I hunted him down, I wanted him to know why he was going to die. I’d thought it out in my head. What I was going to say.

So, I start asking around his town and someone gave me an address.

It was a hospital and he was lying in a bed dying!

Muniz – You never talked about this.

Sheriff Diaz – Well, you wanted stuff no one had ever heard. I became a Christian but I was a long ways from being a saint. I still crossed over into the darkside and part of that was fueled by my temper.

Muniz – I see. What did he do when he saw you.

Sheriff Diaz – The man had been in my unit. We knew each other well. And he was thrilled to see me.

Muniz – Wait. I didn’t know . . .

Sheriff Diaz – How do you think she met him.

Muniz – What did you do.

Sheriff Diaz – What could I do. One a lot of people like to quote is the scripture that goes, “vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” And here it was. I couldn’t have dreamed up a worst way to die for a person.

Muniz – I ask again, what did you do?

Sheriff Diaz – I pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. And we talked. I found myself telling him about all the good things God had done for me. Of the beautiful wife and children I had. The home. The responsibility and respect I commanded.

Muniz – And what did he do?

Sheriff Diaz – He talked about how he’d wasted his life. He and my Ex got into some stuff they shouldn’t have. He shared a needle with the wrong person and there you are. He told me he’d put people on what amounted to death row by his loose living.

And then he asked me for forgiveness for what he’d done to me. Stealing my wife, ruining my family.

Muniz – Did you?

Sheriff Diaz – Did I forgive him? Of course I did. And then I told him about what was written in John 3:16. I wound up praying the Sinners prayer with him and he accepted Jesus and his Lord and Savior.

Muniz – Crazy. Isn’t it.

Sheriff Diaz – When I got up to leave, he looked at me and got this look in his eyes. “You came out here to kill me. Didn’t you?”

Muniz – What did you say.

Sheriff Diaz – I didn’t deny it, but I remember saying, “I’m no longer your judge. God is. And I see we became brothers.”

Muniz – Then what did you do?

Sheriff Diaz – I hugged him and said Goodbye. Then I drove home and sat in judgment on myself. That day I buried my desire for revenge and judgment. Anger would take a little while.

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