I wish I had a before. I don’t. My before, after, during, it’s all this town.
I park behind the Vesper Call and get out with a stretch. Everyone else is already here from the looks of it. I walk up to Josie’s car and lay a hand on the hood. It’s cold, but I knew that from the undisturbed precipitation that rolls down her windshield. I glance at the car next to hers and see Lyle’s is exactly the same.
“These fuckers didn’t go home,” I groan and powerwalk to the staff entrance. The scent of coffee, ink, and stale fries hits me in the nose the second I walk through the door. I cross my arms and keep walking until I’m in the main office.
“Why did none of you go home last night?”
Josie’s head pops up from her desk and Mary’s does too. Josie’s computer screen is open to a document. What the hell are they doing over?
“Cause we didn’t want to get stabbed?” Josie tries.
Mary nods sagely. “She’s right. Not a big fan of it.”
“Not all of us have a strapping doctor to save us,” Greg adds on his way past with a cup of coffee.
Josie sees my face and holds up her hands. “I know, I know. We gotta know when to rest or whatever, but we really did think it would be best for all of us to stay together. Strength in numbers and all that. Besides, there were people here last night.”
“What people?” I ask, coming to her desk. There’s a police report on her screen and Aria’s puffy face stares back at me in the form of her mugshot.
“Protestors,” Mary tells me, leaning back in her seat.
“What the fuck are protestors doing here? What are they protesting?”
Josie hits Mary with a book. “They weren’t protestors. It was some family friends of the Sheeps. They were here saying the usual.”
“That I’m a murderer?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“So what else is new?”
“They were saying you murdered Brian,” Mary says softly. “Heard about it in the diner after they locked Aria up. Thought it would be best if we were here when they came to cause trouble.”
My blood runs cold but I don’t show it on my face. I put my hands on my hips and give her a raised eyebrow. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“That’s what I said,” Josie chirps. “They said he’s missing. We all know he’s just on a bender or stalking some new girl.”
There’s a fewtskswhen she says that but it’s the truth. Brian would be following some girl if I hadn’t beat his face in. How does his mother know it was me?
“I’m going to go into my office and catch up on emails,” I tell them. “Let me know when-”
“When we have something new?” Lyle asks and holds out a stack of files for me to go over. I’ve told them countless times to just send it to me on the shared drive but they never listen. It’s always hard copies that they give me. The joys of working with Gen X, I guess.
“What’s this?” I juggle the reports and l huff out a laugh. There’s a write up on Father Paretti, a character statement for him, an eyewitness account of Sheriff Dayton’s conference and a piece on Aria’s arrest. “You really did all of this?”
“Of course we did, what else were we going to do while we guarded the office?” Josie asks.
I look around the office. The four familiar faces of the staff, probably the last staff the paper will ever have, look at me expectantly. They really were guarding the office.
“Thank you,” I tell them. “I’ll pay you all overtime.”
Josie grins at me. “That was expected, boss.”
“Whatever. Get back to work. All of you.” I turn on my heel and head into my office before any of them can see my smile. I’m just sitting down to look over their work when there’s a knock at the door. It’s Josie.
“What is it?”
“The people that were here were trying to throw rocks through the front,” she tells me. “We filed a report so you might get a call from the police department.”
