Tyler Snell - Small-Town Face-Off

“I’m so sorry, Mara.” Cassie didn’t take her eyes off Leigh’s retreating back. “I don’t know what came over her.”

That clinched it. Cassie didn’t know who Mara was.

“Thank you,” Mara said, honest. “But it’s alright. I don’t blame her one bit.” Without explaining herself, Mara took Alexa and left the department.

It wasn’t until they were locked inside the car, “Jingle Bells” playing over the radio, that Mara broke down and cried.

Leigh’s husband had been gunned down while trying to stop an armed robbery almost three years ago. His killer had been one of Bryan Copeland’s drug dealers. If Mara had tried to turn her father in the moment she found out who he was and what he had done, then Leigh’s husband wouldn’t have bled out in the convenience store on Cherry Street. Mara knew that.

And so did Leigh.

* * *

A HALF HOUR LATER, Mara was letting the laughter of her child soothe her wounds as best it could.

They had gone from the department straight to Anthony’s Park. Not as green as it was in the summer, the three-mile stretch of trees, walking paths and recreational spots was located near the town’s limits, closest to the city of Kipsy. Because of that fact, Mara had often visited the park when she’d first started to meet up with Billy. They’d sit in the parking lot, huddled in Billy’s late father’s old Bronco, and try to figure out the best way to stop her father and his drugs.

Are you sure you want to do this? I can take over from here. You can go home and I won’t ever fault you for it, Billy had said one night. Mara still remembered how he’d looked at her then. Concern pulling his brows together, eyes soft, lips set in a thoughtful frown. Compassionate to a fault, Billy had offered her an out.

And would you go home if you were in my place, Billy?

Despite his lower rank back then, in hindsight Mara realized Billy Reed had always been a sheriff at heart. The resolution that had rolled off him in nearly staggering waves as he’d answered had helped Mara come to terms with her own choice to stay.

No. I would see this through to the end.

Mara smiled as Alexa began to giggle uncontrollably at the sand hill she’d just made. Who knew that seeing it through then would have resulted in a daughter.

“You’re brave.”

Mara jumped at the new voice behind her. Afraid it belonged to Beck, she didn’t feel much better when she saw it belonged to another man she didn’t know. That didn’t stop her from assuming he was into some kind of drug, either. Thin, with red, almost-hollow eyes and stringy brown hair, there was a restlessness about him that kept his body constantly moving. He rubbed the thumb of his right hand across his index finger over and over again but, thankfully, the rest of him stayed still on the other side of the bench.

“Excuse me?” Mara said, body tensing so fast that she nearly stood.

“You’re brave to let her play in the sand box,” he said, motioning to Alexa. The little girl looked up from her spot a few feet away but lost interest immediately after.

“How so?”

Mara slowly moved her hand to the top of her bag. The playground they were at was out in the open, which made it very easy to see how alone the three of them were now. The man could have looked like George Clooney and Mara still would have been trying to get her phone out without being noticed.

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