“What is it?” I saw Caitlin glance over her shoulder at me as she went into the living room and sat on the couch.
“The two Bobs had a fender bender in the lot outside the mayor’s office.”
Bob McCall and Bob Jackson were longtime members of the town council and also members of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. Most days, the two of them were the best of friends. But every now and then, not so much. This was obviously one ofthosetimes.
“You know how they are,” Sofia said, and Ididknow. I’d had to escort Jackson from a town meeting one night after an argument with McCall got too heated. The two had an old feud that would flare up at odd times, though it rarely erupted into anything more serious than shouts and fist shaking. Sofia filled me in on the rest of what she knew before hanging up.
“I need to go deal with this,” I said as I stepped into the living room and dropped my hand on Caitlin’s shoulder. Sofia said that McCall was threatening legal action against Jackson and the town. I had no idea what the grounds for that lawsuit would be, but I knew I had to be there to sort it out.
I couldn’t walk out on Caitlin, though, not after what just happened with her father.
“Of course.” She gave me a smile that wasn’t quite real. “It sounded serious. You’d better go.”
“I’m sorry about cutting short our day,” I said, feeling torn between her and my responsibilities. “I don’t know how long this will take.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I get it. Go.”
I gave her a quick kiss and strode out the door, too aware that I was repeating what I’d just seen her father do. I was prioritizing my work over her, something she’d obviously had more than enough of in her childhood. But I’d find a way to make it up to her. Somehow.
TWENTY-FIVE
BRIAN
Ipinched the bridge of my nose trying to push off a growing headache. The two Bobs had agreed to move the argument inside, and we were now sitting in the mayor’s office with Amy behind the desk and the rest of us in chairs around it.
With Bob Lumley officially retired and his appointment of Amy as interim mayor, this was her first “official” meeting of sorts and it involved a couple of old men who couldn’t seem to let the past go.
The argument had devolved into bickering over something that’d happened before I was born, and I winced when my eyeroll made my head hurt worse. Amy saw it happen and gave me a sympathetic look before opening a desk drawer and sliding a bottle of ibuprofen to me.
I tossed two capsules in my mouth, then stood up, pushing my chair back hard enough it screeched across the wood floor, causing the arguing to grind to a halt. I went over to the small fridge nestled under the credenza hoping there was water in there but prepared to dry swallow if I had to. Relieved, I grabbeda bottle, twisted off the cap and drank down half the bottle before returning to my chair with a thump.
The Bobs were both staring at me in shock, so I took advantage of the silence to bring this argument to a close.
“So, if I’m tracking…” I waved my hand in their direction, “correctly, Bob Jackson rear-ended Bob McCall at the stop sign in front of the townhall and you’re claiming that both Jacksonandthe town is at fault somehow. Does that sound about right?”
Both men opened their mouths and started talking over each other. I heard something about the stop sign not being adequately visible and then there was something about McCall taking too long.
“Hold those thoughts right there.” I stood up and strode outside where both cars were parked in front of a very visible stop sign. While I was there, I also checked the bumpers where they collided. While there were some scratches on Jackson’s bumper, which was the newer of the two vehicles, McCall’s didn’t look any the worse for wear given how many miles he put on it driving on gravel roads around his ranch.
I snapped a few pics and returned to the mayor’s office. Tossing my phone down on the mayor’s desk, I pointed to the stop sign. “You’re going to tell me that this sign right here wasn’t visible? Is that the story you want to tell?”
Both men leaned over to look at the photo I pointed to but chose to keep peaceably quiet although Jackson was mumbling something about angle of visibility and the sun. I ignored him. I swiped to the next one, which showed Jackson’s, then McCall’s bumper.
“If you ask me, which I’m sure you were about to,” I started. “With all the excitement and success of the rodeo, the two of you are in need a bit of a break. If I’m forced to turn this over to the city attorney, I think you’ll find she’ll take a dim view of these shenanigans and I don’t need to remind either of you that the law takes a dim view of false claims.”
“Shenanigans? I was hit from behind. I could have whiplash or worse. I’m not a young man anymore,” McCall complained, and Jackson laughed at him, which set the two arguing again.
I wondered at the merits of shooting my gun off inside a building to shut these two up when a piercing whistle stopped everything and we all turned to look at Amy, who was glaring at the Bobs.
Amy pointed to my phone, which was still on the desk. “May I?” I nodded and she looked at the pictures. “From what I can see, neither of your airbags were deployed, is that correct?” She looked from one to the other waiting for them to nod. When McCall looked like he was about to say something more, she raised her hand to stop him.
“From what I recall from attending traffic school, the vehicle needs to be moving at least eight miles per hour for the airbags to deploy on impact. Does that sound about right, Sheriff?” Amy asked.
I grinned, knowing exactly where this was going. I wished I’d thought of it more than an hour ago. “That’s true but that also doesn’t mean there weren’tanyinjuries.” Admittedly, I was sure the majority of pain they were both dealing with had more to do with pride than the impact.
“All right. Then as interim mayor, which you both agreed to, I expect you both to present yourselves to Doc Murphyto get checked over for any potential—” she looked to me and I mouthed the answer “—soft tissue damage.” When they started to protest, she raised her hand again, silencing them. “Meanwhile, someone from the sheriff’s office will write up the accident report and make sure both of your insurance companies are notified.”
“Well, now, wait just a minute.”
