Chapter Three #2
“Then I can do it too. This may be a small town with small-minded opinions, but times are changing. We need to change with it, or the rest of the world will leave us behind.”
She blows out a shaky breath, her eyes going to the man sitting at the edge of the stage, watching her with the same intensity my men watch me with. Henry winks at her, making her grin and giving her the confidence to carry on.
“I’m tired of waiting for this town to fix itself.
If we want things to change, then it’s time we became the change.
Nobody talks about what’s been happening, the good or the bad.
But I’ve visited Miss Jackie, and I’ve seen the beautiful flowers adorning her property.
I’ve seen signs of life appearing everywhere, and do you know what the common denominator is?
Or should I say who, the common denominator is?
” She looks my way, nothing but hope and determination on her face.
“Bad things have happened in Crowhurst, truly heinous things, but there has been good here too. Beauty and wonder. And I’m here now, ready to nurture that, asking you all to join me in making that change. The festival is just the beginning. Let’s make it the best one yet.”
She steps down and retakes her seat as Shepard moves into me, his lips next to my ear. “That sounded part graduation ceremony speech, part eulogy, part I’m running for mayor.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “I’d vote for her.”
“After that ringing endorsement, how could you not?”
I turn back to the front as the next speaker steps up.
I half-listen as they complain about parking.
I gaze around the room, catching Dawn as she looks over.
She waves, looking nervous but not scared.
Still, I make a point to double-check the room to make sure my father isn’t lurking around here somewhere.
He’s like a bad smell that won’t go away.
And I just know he’s biding his time as he gets ready to make his next move.
I’m wary because having people I care about means having people he can use as leverage against me. He’s proven he’s cruel enough to do it.
The speaker sits down when they’re done, which is when Harry gets back up to the podium. “On a serious note, and while we have Sheriff Shepard here today, I’d like to address the spate of missing people of late.”
“Not missing people, missing men!” someone calls out.
“Not just men. My sister’s friend’s niece went missing too,” a woman shouts.
“She ain’t missing, she’s running from that cheating man-whore husband of hers,” someone else pipes up as the room dissolves into chaos.
“Be right back,” Shepard sighs, kissing my temple before getting to his feet. He eases past Jackie before heading up to the front.
“I wouldn’t want to be him right now,” Riggs groans.
“I’m not sure he even wants to be him right now.”
A piercing whistle has everyone shutting up. Shepard pulls his fingers from his mouth and steps up to the podium, nodding to something Harry says. He braces himself before he begins. “As I’m sure all of you know by now, I’ve only just started back today—”
“After you attacked—”
“That’s enough, Glen,” Harry snaps from his seat. “Shepard was cleared of any wrongdoing, and you know that, or he wouldn’t be standing up here right now.”
Glen huffs out a laugh. “A lover’s quarrel. If his woman wasn’t spreading her legs for every Tom, Dick and Harry…” His voice drifts off as Shepard gets down from the podium without a word. He walks down the aisle, his jaw tight, ignoring the loud whispers.
I get to my feet as Riggs and Jackie do the same. We head toward him, and I notice Dawn is following too. Sarah and Henry are next, heading down the aisle toward us. Before you know it, more and more people follow suit.
“Order, people,” Harry snaps.
“Where the hell is he going?” I don’t know if it’s Glen who asks or someone else, but as I reach Shepard and slide my fingers through his, I realize I don’t care.
“Sheriff, please!” Harry calls out.
Shepard stops, his eyes locked on mine, silently asking me what he should do. I give a little shrug. It’s his call.
“The name-calling doesn’t bother me, Sheriff. It’s always small-minded bigots that shout the loudest.”
His lips twitch as he turns to face the front of the room. Sarah and Henry reach us and move aside so they’re not blocking Shepard, and the people behind them follow suit.
Shepard looks at Harry and sighs. “What’s the point, Harry?
Most of the people here don’t give a fuck about the people that are missing.
They just want to use them as cannon fodder to pick apart my relationship.
I put my badge on today for the first time in weeks, and it’s never felt so heavy before.
When I came to Crowhurst, it felt right.
I wanted to make a difference and find my place, and for the most part, I thought I had.
Like Sarah, I have a soft spot for this town.
Even though I could see the writing on the wall, I refused to jump ship.
But this place has always taken more than it has given.
It took watching the way you treated my woman for me to truly open my eyes.
I’m a cop, so I did what cops do best. I dug into Calliope and the history of this place.
I’ve had nothing but time on my hands after all. ”
He squeezes my hand tightly, an apology of some kind as he airs my dirty laundry. The truth is, it was always laid out for people to see. They were the ones who closed their eyes to it.
“I looked beyond the case that convicted a traumatized sixteen-year-old girl of murder, delved further back to her childhood to see what could have been done differently. What could have saved my girl from losing fifteen years of her life?”
“She shouldn’t have shot her daddy!” someone yells.
Shepard turns his head slowly to look at whoever called out, but I can’t see who it is.
“You shot at a man who accidentally trespassed on your land because one of your signs had fallen down. You walked away with a year’s worth of probation after nearly killing an innocent person.
Calliope shot the man who had spent most of his adult life trying to beat her to death.
It blows my mind that you all knew. That you saw this child beaten and broken on a regular basis, and you did nothing.
Calliope wasn’t this town’s downfall. You were.
You see, Martin Hart wasn’t the only man to abuse Calliope. ”
I tense, but he smooths his thumb over the back of my hand.
“Sheriff Andrews did too, every time he joked about her bruises. The doctor at the clinic abused her when he failed to report his findings, again and again. The teaching staff at the high school pretended nothing was amiss when a beaten and bloody Calliope came to school, only for them to stand back and watch her get bullied further by her peers. Adults avoided her or called her names in the street. People spat at her,” he chokes out.
Though it’s true, I have no idea where he got all this information.
“You see, I’m not sure I can protect you all anymore. Right now, I’d love nothing more than to watch you all burn in hell for what you did.”
“It’s your job,” someone heckles as the rest of the room absorbs the blow he just delivered.
“My job is also to arrest anyone who breaks the law. And looking around now, I can see I’ve been far too lax with you all.
If you think I don’t know about the moonshine, illegal hunting, fishing, and under-the-table cash payments for goods so you don’t have to pay your taxes, you’re out of your minds.
I’m done being the nice guy, so I hope you all have your affairs in order for when I come knocking. ”
“You can’t—” someone starts to call out, but Shepard turns on his heel and leaves, dragging me along with him. The others follow behind us, Riggs at my side.
Once we spill out into the early evening air, Riggs steps up to Shepard and squeezes his shoulder. “You good?”
“Fucking fantastic,” he snaps before snorting. “I will be. I’m done with all this bullshit—Sarah’s right. Something’s gotta change. We’ve gotta change.”
“I really like hearing how right I am all the time,” Sarah pipes up, making him laugh. She squeezes through to hug me before getting up on her tiptoes to kiss Shepard’s cheek. “Well, I for one am proud of you, Sheriff.”
“Here, here,” Jackie says, clapping her hands. Before you know it, the crowd that followed us out joins in.
Dawn moves up beside me and gives my hand a squeeze. I look around and, despite the ugliness of before, I see the change Sarah was talking about already taking place.
I don’t even try to hide my grin as Riggs looks down at me with a smirk of his own. “You want to tell him what we were up to today, or should I?”
Shepard groans. “Oh god. What did you do?”
I look around at the people watching us with interest and think, fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I may or may not have bought a few properties.”
“Wait, what? Where?”
I turn and point. “Right there, the three on the end. I figure I could open a store to sell my concoctions, which I’m hoping Dawn will help me run,” I add as I look at her.
Her mouth drops open in surprise. “Really?”
“Hell yes. I could think of no one better. I was thinking of turning the shop next to it into a florist and then the one beside that,” I turn to look at Jackie, “into a pie and tart shop. If only I could find someone who’d be interested in running the place.”
“Me? You want me to run it? You’re serious?”
I nod. “It’s time for change.” I wink at Sarah, who flushes. “And on that note, I think Sarah should run for mayor.”
The crowd starts cheering, much to Sarah’s shock, which has me shaking with laughter.
People move away, giving me and my guys some space. Shepard wraps his hand around the one Dawn just let go of, while Riggs slides his hand onto my hip. I smile. Today turned out to be a good day after all.
And that’s when gunfire erupts.