I knockedon Mayor Cameron’s door, a little surprised by how happy she was to see me. Standing, she walked around her desk with a huge smile on her face.
“You came! I’m so glad you decided to accept my invitation.”
“Well, I’m here, but only because I’ll go crazy if I have to come up with one more baby name to counter Clover.”
She grimaced, motioning for me to take a seat.
“Not a fan of the name Clover?”
“Not a fan of babies.” She walked around the desk and took her seat.
“So, no maternity leave in the future for you,” I grinned.
“Look, don’t get me wrong, babies are cute, but they’re also completely reliant on other people, and I have too much to accomplish to deal with a tiny person hanging onto me every second of the day.”
There was once a time I felt that way also, but then I’d been kicked out of my job, waterboarded, and almost infected with a deadly virus. A baby sounded pretty easy in comparison.
“So, what did you have in mind?”
“I would like you to be the city manager,” she grinned.
Shocked, I didn’t know what to say at first. “Um…I don’t even know what that person does.”
“Well, in a sense, you’re my right hand. You make sure the wants and needs of the city council and the mayor’s office are carried out. You would prepare and manage the budget, supervise department heads, make sure public worksare running efficiently, but most importantly, you’re a sort of liaison between the city council and the people.”
Ah, the clincher. She didn’t like dealing with the public. “So, holding town meetings and fielding questions about complaints.”
She smiled ruefully at me. “Well, that’s part of the job.”
“Let me guess, you hate dealing with the public.”
“Not necessarily. But there are a few people in this town who could drive me up the wall with their complaints. Plus, we’re a decent-sized town. There are so many more things we could be doing with the right guidance.”
“And you think I could be that guidance.”
She smiled brightly at me.
“Honestly, I’m not sure why you think I’m right for the job.”
“Well, I’ve read through what got you fired from the FBI. We need that kind of oversight in our town. Granted, we’re not Chicago or LA, but we need someone who will think about what’s best for this town, and always strive to keep our budget in balance.”
It still wasn’t sitting right with me. I was no one to her. Yes, I worked for the FBI, but it wasn’t like I was creative or could deal with the public in a diplomatic manner. I was more likely to piss people off.
“You know, I really don’t think I’m right for the job.”
I started to stand when she tossed a folder at me. It slid across the desk, landing right in front of me.
“I also need you to dig into this.”
Slowly, I opened the folder and read through the top documents. A picture of a little girl was paper-clipped to the corner of a coroner’s report. She’d been murdered, and if I was reading this right, they never caught her murderer.
“I’m not sure what you want me to look into.”
“Dakota Walker died out by Murky Falls a little over twenty-five years ago. She was strangled, beaten, and left to rot for the better part of six months before anyone found her body. See, she died right before a winter storm, and many assumed that she had left her house and was caught in the storm and had frozen to death. But as the snow thawed and her body was never found, the search for her intensified again.”
“Did they look into her father?” I asked since I hadn’t had time to read through the thick file in front of me.
“They did. They cleared him immediately. He was on shift at the fire station, and ten people can confirm his whereabouts for the entire night.”
