Chapter 45 2025
“Come,” the sheriff says futilely as the flopping ball of fur darts away.
The puppy has chewed through the sheriff’s favorite work shoes, peed on his favorite chair, and slobbered on every surface in the house. And for the first time in months, the sheriff has found himself laughing a dozen times a day.
“It was time,” Grace had said when he arrived home to the squirming black pup.
She has always known exactly what he needs when he needs it. He supposes it had to do with how he went on about Ed and Earl, Meryl Fairbanks’s and Elwood’s Labradors. The dogs had reminded him so much of Maggie.
“Freeze!” he tries in his most authoritative sheriff’s voice. For good measure, he sticks his finger out like a gun.
The puppy dashes under the bed.
He gets down on all fours and looks under the frame. The puppy looks back with delight.
“Ugh!” the sheriff says, straightening. “Fine. You win. Chew up the house. I need to go.”
He sits on the mattress and pulls on the work shoes he hates, the ones that have pinched his toes since he bought them. The puppy comes out and nuzzles his toe with her black, wet nose.
He snags her. “Got you,” he says, holding her high in the air as she wriggles, then he pulls her close and snuggles her against his chest to feel the warmth of her squiggling body against his.
“You’re with me today,” he says, “in case I need backup. We’re off to see a soldier.”
“So you’re talking to me because I’m tall?” US Special Forces Major Kai Peterson says with a smirk.
They sit at a picnic table outside Camp Ripley’s administration building.
The major wears his fatigues and has a sheen of sweat on his skin from the training exercise he just conducted with a group of new recruits.
He’s been stationed at Camp Ripley for nearly a year, a transfer he requested so he could be near his ailing father.
“Pretty much,” the sheriff answers. “Because you’re tall, you were at the memorial service, and because you have a gun and know how to use it.”
The major smiles a lopsided grin. His face is oddly shaped, his forehead oversize and his jaw misaligned, like the bones didn’t set right when he was born.
“You knew the reverend?” the sheriff asks.
“We both went to Gaines when we were kids. So yeah, I knew him. But I transferred after elementary school and never saw him again after that.”
“So you were at the service for Heddy?”
“She and I dated a bit in high school, and we stayed friends. I figured, since I was nearby, I should show my support.”
Beauty and the Beast, the sheriff thinks involuntarily. Yet he also sees it. The major has a way about him, like he’s a great guy who finds life endlessly amusing but also like he could reach out at any moment and snap your neck like a twig.
“Moosewood’s a pretty small place,” the major says as if knowing the sheriff’s thoughts. “And she and I have known each other since we were toddlers. We were curious. It didn’t last long, a few weeks.”
“So it wasn’t serious?”
The major laughs a great guffaw. “If Heddy and I had stayed together, you’d have, for sure, had another homicide on your hands. Likely her killing me. I’m not built for serious, and Heddy’s one hundred percent Mother Goose.”
The sheriff likes the guy. He’s always appreciated people who know who they are and don’t apologize for it.
“And what was your opinion of the reverend?” he asks.
“The guy was a tool,” the major says plainly.
“So you weren’t too fond of him?”
“Nope. And while I am tall, and a hell of a shot, and would like nothing more than to take credit for ridding the world of its scourge, I was out of the country at the time. But I’ll tell you, Sheriff, if you figure out who it was, let me know and I’ll be first in line to shake his hand and thank him. ”