Beastly Winter — Chapter 15

Will propped his feet up on the desk and sighed. No news was not good news.

In Lily’s tiny office to the side, she could be heard forwarding his instructions to Deputy Branscom. When Lily had mentioned her misgivings about this morning’s unusually light church attendance, Will decided to have Dale check a few stores to see if business had dropped off.

Will had also noticed less-than-ordinary traffic, and at breakfast the town’s best cafe was nearly deserted. The storm couldn’t account for it completely. This area had experienced storms before. Probably, flu season had arrived with a vengeance.

Deputy Zellner had gone back go check on Lance Thompson fifteen minutes ago, and Will wondered what was taking him so long. Those bruises on Lance’s face troubled Will. He needed to ask the man how he’d received them. Mistreatment of prisoners was grounds for termination. Not only did the deputy not perform to standards, he wasn’t someone Will would want watching his back in an extreme situation.

“Sheriff,” Lily called out. “The Somerville Chief of Police is on line three.”

Will let his boots drop from the desktop and picked up the receiver, stabbing the blinking button.

“Hello. Sheriff Harris.”