“What was the final buyout?”

“A million and a half big ones. I used it to put my dad’s company, Benedict Pulp Mill, back on its feet, which guaranteed a lot of folks around here continued employment and thereby, truth be told, got me elected sheriff of Jessborough. I’m the first woman sheriff of Jessborough or, for that matter, just about anywhere in eastern Tennessee.” She frowned at her boots, then said, “I don’t know if they would have elected me without the bribe.”

“It was more a by-product of the bribe, wasn’t it? It’s not as though you’re incompetent.”

“You’re a sweet-talking guy, Miles,” she said, laughing. “I’ll tell you the truth though, I was the best-trained candidate for the job.”

“Wade was the one who wanted to be sheriff, wasn’t he? The one you beat out for the job?”

She nodded. “Wade’s a good man, but he’s never worked on the streets of a good-sized city where there’s actual crime.”

Sam turned around and said, “Katie, since you’re the sheriff, can I be your assistant?”

“You know, that might not be a bad idea. But you might end up becoming something else, like president, so you just keep playing.”

Sam chewed on this a moment, then sprawled back onto his stomach, his nose nearly touching the spinner on the game board. They heard Keely say, “If I become president, I’ll make you vice president.”

Sam nodded. “Okay, that’d be cool.”

“I can give you orders all the time and you’ll have to listen to me.”

Miles sat back, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head. “You did good, Katie—the proper use of money. Well done.”

“Thank goodness I’ve had no complaints since I’ve been sheriff.” She frowned. “This is farm and dairy country—lots of cows—and tobacco country, you know, and that means lots of cheap cigarettes and lots of teenagers smoking. I’ve cracked down on that something fierce.”

“How are you doing that?”

“I know most of the teenagers. I see one with a cigarette in his mouth and I take him and his cigarettes to jail. I can’t lock him up since it’s not against the law, but I call his parents. You’d be surprised at what a screaming mother can do to a teenage boy, even the mothers who smoke. It warms a sheriff’s heart.”

He laughed at that. “If my mom had ever caught me with a cigarette, I’d have been grounded for a month. Now, as for your mom, she makes good tuna casserola, and she didn’t raise a dummy.”

She was pleased, and he saw it. “Thank you,” she said. “Casserola—what comfort food. I guess that’s why she made it for all of us Monday night.”

Katie rose and stretched. He was watching her, she felt it, and quickly lowered her arms, slouched forward a bit.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that in front of you.”

“Think nothing of it.”

“I mean, I didn’t mean to preen in front of you.”

“Maybe that’s too bad.”

30

There, that’s it. You’re going to be a dentist, Sam, and I’m going to be an astronaut!”

Katie came down on her haunches beside them. “Okay, career choices are set, let me tell you that it’s nearly nine o’clock. Time for you guys to get to bed.”

It wasn’t as much of a production as either adult expected, no more than five minutes of whining. After Katie settled Keely in, Miles did the same with Sam down the hall, they traded places, without thinking much about it, and that made Katie frown down at her toes. What did Miles think about tucking her daughter in and being pulled into reading the next chapter of Lindy Lymmes, Kindergarten Girl Detective?

She offered to read to Sam from one of Keely’s books, but that made him gag—loudly—so she gave him a big hug and kissed his ear. If she wasn’t careful, she thought, she’d fall in love with this little boy.

When Miles had gone to bed, she went outside to speak to Jamie and Neil, who’d gotten Cerlew’s Buick unlocked. She gave them a thermos of coffee she’d made, checked and locked all the doors and windows, and fell into bed.

The storm hit hard around two in the morning, rattling windows, slapping tree branches against the house. It was time for a shift change in deputies guarding the house. Katie checked on Keely, who was sound asleep, and went back to bed. Katie had always loved storms, and they never bothered Keely, but tonight, Katie was antsy and wide awake. She finally gave it up, went to the kitchen and put on the teakettle. She was standing in front of the sink, looking out over the thick stand of maple and poplar trees not more than ten feet from the house, leached of their beautiful colors in the heavy gray rain.