Seated on a folding chair with disheveled clothing, a young woman with long blonde hair sat weeping into a hankie.Strips of gauze encircled both her arms and were dotted with blood.The local pharmacist, her boss, hovered over her, rubbing her back and murmuring encouragement.Beside her chair a dog sat panting.
Looking up from a file as Ben and Sarah came in, Chief King drew them out of earshot of the upset woman.“The perpetrator caught her by surprise in the alley.She’s a new employee, just hired, and was taking out the trash.He slashed her up pretty good.If not for the pharmacist’s dog, a German Shepherd, which she’d spent time petting and giving treats, she might be dead.”
“How bad are her injuries?”Ben asked.
“Not life threatening, thank God,” he said.“She tried to fight him off and received defensive wounds to her forearms.The dog got to him before he could do worse.”
Ben glanced over at the panting canine.“Any significant bites?”
“The woman, Annie, says it got hold of his left calf, but there’s no traces of blood in the alley.We checked.”
“Description?”Ben asked.
“She can’t tell us much.It was foggy, dark.She reports above average height, slim build.He wore a concealing hoodie.She couldn’t tell ethnicity.”
Wringing her hands, Sarah said, “May I speak to her?”
“Just for a minute.Her name is Annie Smith.We’ve already taken her statement.We’re taking her to the hospital to get stitched up.We wanted to take her right away, but she heard that you were on your way.She wanted to wait for you.”
Sarah approached and knelt at the weeping woman’s chair.“Annie?Hi, I’m Sarah.I’m so sorry you had this awful experience.”
“I know who you are,” Annie said, wiping at tears.“My friends told me about you.I just moved to town, for—for this pharmacy job.I was hoping to meet you.”She sniffled.“You’re famous.”
“Annie,” Sarah said, “the Chief says this horrible person, this man who attacked you called you Sarah.”
“He did!He kept repeating one thing.”
“What thing?”
“He said, ‘You don’t deserve to live, Sarah.You don’t deserve it.’”
“We have almost the same hair,” Sarah noted.“And you’re tall, like me.Do you suppose he mistook you for me?”
“Oh, definitely.My friends always tell me that I look like you—the famous fashion model.They say I look like Super Sarah.”
“You do.”
“Oh, no.I’ll never be as pretty as you.Never.”With that, she burst into renewed tears.
Just then, the door burst open and a diminutive, portly man rushed to Annie’s side.He wore a three-piece suit and dress shoes.What little hair he still claimed was combed over the top of his nearly bald head.Mayor Beekins bent over Annie.“Oh, my dear, so sorry this happened, and here in my town!”He straightened.“Chief King, you’ll get to the bottom of this immediately, do you hear?We can’t have knife-wielding assailants roving Mountain Wood’s streets!”
“We’re on the case, Mayor,” Chief King said, his tone long-suffering.
“This must be hushed up,” Mayor Beekins exclaimed.“Why, if this gets out, we’ll lose what little tourism we have!And the summer season is just about to begin.The Rhubarb Festival is nearly here.”
“We believe it’s an isolated incident,” Chief said.“I’ve called in extra officers from the county line.”
“You’ve got to catch him,” the mayor insisted.“Immediately!I’ll need to report his capture on my social media feed.”He took a cell phone from his pocket and started thumbing through screens.
“Mayor.”Chief King held out a hand.“Everyone knows you’re Mountain Wood’s social media source and ambassador of good will.”
“Yes,” the little man said, not looking up.“Yes.”
“Nonetheless, I’m going to have to ask you to hold off on posting anything about this until we can sort the mess out.”
The mayor glanced up at last.“Why, good man, I have no intention of reporting on this incident until you have the perpetrator in cuffs.The people would panic!We can’t have that.No, not at all.”
Ben took Sarah’s arm.To the Chief, he said, “I’m taking Sarah back home.There’s nothing we can do here.”
