“Lloyd, can you…”
“Yeah, I’ll move it.”
I step into Savvy’s path, intending to block her.“Bess is fine.She wasn’t home at the time.”
Savvy strains to look around me, and I know she’s caught sight of her friend when she pokes a sharp finger in my chest.
“Then how come she’s in the back of a fucking ambulance?”
“The place was filled with smoke when we got here.She’s getting checked out as a precaution.”
“She shouldn’t have been in there in the first place,” Savvy points out.
I nod.“Right, you try telling her that.”
She grunts in response.
“All I heard from Tate when Carson dropped her off was there was a break-in at Strange Brew.It wasn’t until I got behind the wheel and turned on the radio, I heard all the chatter.Get me up to speed.”
I do as she asks, filling her in on everything up to the fire chief’s preliminary report of suspected arson.
“Well, this sure wasn’t Chance,” she reacts, echoing my own conclusion.“Two businesses, a little over a block apart on the same side of the street.What the hell is going on here?What are we missing?”
I’m wondering the same thing.
“Can’t think of anything an auto shop and a coffee shop might have in common that would generate a common enemy.It doesn’t make sense.Could be random, but whatever it is, we need to increase patrols of the downtown.”
Savvy groans.“We don’t have a hell of a lot of room in the budget for the extra man hours, we hardly have enough bodies, and given my earlier phone call with Don Merrick, I’m pretty sure a supplement to our budget is not in the cards.”
Our mayor is a fucking tool, more interested in optics than safety or efficiency or anything other than what makes him look better.
“What about a neighborhood watch?”I throw out there.
I bet we could have at least a handful of volunteers who’d be willing to help monitor Main Street.
“Last thing we need is a bunch of vigilantes running around wild in town,” Savvy grumbles.
“I was thinking more along the lines of concerned citizens,” I suggest cautiously.“And by organizing them, they wouldn’t have to be running around wild.”
She sighs.“Well, I’m not sure where you think you’ll find the time, because it won’t be me doing the organizing.Nate already threatened to shackle me to the bed if I don’t follow doctor’s orders.”
Good luck to him, trying to manage Savvy.
“I don’t,” I admit.“But I’m thinking the retired Sheriff Colter might be able and willing to take it on.”
“Dad?”She’s quiet for a moment, a faint smile spreading on her face.“That might actually not be a bad idea.I’ll give him a call, but let me check in with Nichols and our guys first.”She looks over my shoulder and jerks her chin.“You can drop her off at my place or you can take her home, but Bess can’t stay here tonight.Either way, she won’t want to listen and fight you, but I’m trusting you to take care of her.Handcuff her if you must.”
I bite off a grin.I don’t think Savvy will appreciate the irony of her suggestion.
When she goes in search of the fire chief, I turn around to see Bess being assisted down from the ambulance.
“All good?”I ask, turning to Jim Turcotte, one of our veteran paramedics, when I get elbowed in my side.“Ouch.”
“I’m right here,” Bess snaps.“And I can talk for myself.Yes, I’ve been checked out and I’m fine, thank you very much.”
Jim grins as he quietly retreats to the ambulance.Wise man.
I, however, appear to have blundered into it with my size thirteens once again.Rather than making excuses and risking secondary offenses, I go straight for the apology.
