Tyler Snell - Small-Town Face-Off

On the same side of the table was the one face she didn’t recognize, a pretty young woman with curly blond hair and a smile that looked genuine. Before Mara could stop the thought, she wondered if Billy found the woman pretty, too.

“Mara, this is Cassie Gates,” Billy said, making the introduction. “She’s training to be a dispatcher.” Mara couldn’t stop the confusion that must have crossed her expression as to why a dispatcher, a trainee dispatcher, was in the room with them when the woman answered the question herself.

“I’m the youngest of six siblings, most of whom have a kid or two under their belt, so I’m very experienced in the art of keeping little ones entertained when their mamas need to do something important,” she said, voice as sweet as her appearance. She flashed a quick smile at Alexa and addressed the toddler directly. “And what’s your name? I bet it’s something pretty.”

The entire room seemed to wait as Alexa peeked out at Cassie. There was nothing like waiting for a toddler’s judgment. Seemingly based on some unknown factor, there was no telling how a child would react to something new. That included people. However, instead of hiding away again, Alexa seemed intrigued. She looked back at Mara for a moment, as if asking for permission.

“This is Alexa,” Mara introduced them with a smile, showing Alexa her approval of the woman next to them. She might have been a stranger to her but she wasn’t to Billy. Mara trusted his judgment. And Alexa trusted Mara’s.

“Well, what do you know. That is a pretty name,” Cassie said, animation in her words. It reeled in Alexa’s attention. The blonde reached for a bag next to her. From her seat Mara could see it was filled with books and toys. Billy had prepared for the morning, despite short notice. “If it’s okay with your mama, how about we go next door and play in the sheriff’s office? You could even help me read this.” Cassie held up the children’s book Pat the Pet and Alexa nearly lost it.

“Dog! Dog,” she exclaimed, already trying to get off Mara’s lap.

It earned a surprised laugh from Cassie. Mara reached into her own bag and produced the same book.

“Welcome to her favorite book,” she said to the trainee. “She likes petting the dog the most.”

Mara gave Cassie permission to go next door and play, since Alexa seemed to have lost any doubt about the woman as soon as the book had come into view. Mara didn’t miss the way Billy’s eyes stuck to the cover of the copy Mara had brought along. With more than a twinge of guilt, she realized that, like the stranger who was Cassie, he hadn’t had a clue in the world what his daughter did and didn’t like.

But Mara couldn’t change what she’d already done and turned to face what was left of the group. The men each gave her a friendly smile. Suzy, on the other hand, gave her a stiff nod. While the other two had known about their working relationship, Suzy alone had known about Mara and Billy’s romantic one and her sudden departure. As one of Billy’s closest friends, Suzy probably knew better than even her how he’d handled it, too.

“Now, Mara,” Billy started, setting a tape recorder in the middle of the table. “If you could start at the beginning, when the man named Beck visited you.”

Mara repeated the story she’d told Billy the night before, making sure to give them as clear a picture as she could of Beck. Before she could finish describing his clothes and car, however, a man knocked at the door. Despite his dark complexion, Mara mentally likened his expression to “looks like he’s seen a ghost.”

“Excuse me, Sheriff, we have a problem,” he interrupted. Like fans passing on a wave in a football stadium’s stands, Billy and his staff became visibly tense.

“What is it?” The man hesitated and looked at Mara. “It’s fine. Tell me,” Billy added, showing that Mara’s presence didn’t bother them with whatever news he had.

Which wasn’t good news at all.

“We just got a call about two teens who are being taken to the hospital,” he started. “They were both overdoses.”

Mara’s eyes widened. She asked him what everyone else was thinking.

“Of what?”

Bless him, he didn’t hesitate in responding to her, though Mara would have been happier if it had been with a different answer.

“Moxy. They overdosed on Moxy.”

Chapter Five

Billy tried to not feel like he was suddenly several years in the past, staring at the deceased Courtney Brooks in her car. But there he was, sitting in a conference room and feeling exactly as he had then.

Sad.

Guilty.

Angry.

If he had been alone, he would probably have thrown something. Instead, the best he could do was toss a few expletives in the direction of Deputy Dante Mills, who, thankfully, didn’t seem to take open frustration personally.

“They were at the abandoned drive-in theater out past the town limits,” Deputy Mills continued. “The owner of the gas station across the street saw their cars hadn’t moved in a while and decided to investigate with her husband. Neither had ID on them. As far as their status, it was unclear how bad the damage was, other than they needed medical attention ASAP.”

Billy had heard enough. He turned to Suzy, who rose at the same time.

“We’re going to the hospital,” he told her. Then to Matt, “And I want you to go to the theater grounds and look around. Talk to the gas station owner, too.” Billy turned to Dane Jones and a look of understanding passed between them. For his own personal reasons, Dane had taken himself out of the running for sheriff and, instead, applied for Captain of Investigative Bureau within the department after Rockwell had retired. He preferred fighting the good fight from behind a desk instead of out on the streets. Billy couldn’t blame him after what had happened to the man years before. Some cases just went south and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it. That was a lesson Dane hadn’t let himself learn yet.

“I’ll finish up here and see what we can do to find this Beck person. See if we can’t connect some dots to Bernie Lutz, too,” Dane said. “I’ll even give Chief Hawser a call and see if he’s had anything come across his desk.”

Billy nodded. It was a good idea to go ahead and touch base with Carpenter’s police department. Although Billy was sheriff of Riker County, the town of Carpenter and the city of Kipsy had their own police departments and anything that happened within those municipalities was their jurisdiction. Bernie’s body and the overdoses had been found just outside the town limits, which meant Billy was running the show. But he didn’t have an ego too big to not have an open dialogue with the local PD. He happened to be a fan of Chief Hawser, too.

Billy finally looked at Mara. Her expression was pinched and worn at the same time. He assumed the news had put her on the line between the present and the past, just as it had him, anger and guilt both squarely on her shoulders. He wanted to go to her, even took a small step forward, but caught himself.

“The sketch artist should be here soon,” Billy said. “You can wait in my office if he takes too long.”

Mara’s jaw tightened.

“As long as you figure out who’s doing this,” she said.

“Believe me. I will.”

Suzy wordlessly followed him to the parking lot and into his Tahoe as the rest of the department went on with their tasks. She kept quiet as he pulled away from the department and got on the main road that would lead them to Carpenter’s hospital. However, no sooner had they passed the first intersection when Suzy asked the one question Billy knew she would.

“Is Alexa yours?”

Billy had already resigned himself to following whatever lead Mara wanted to take about telling the department who the father was. But she hadn’t expressed herself one way or the other.