A Time of Torment by John Connolly

Author:John Connolly
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Published: 2016-01-29T08:00:00+00:00

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Shortly after eight that same morning, Sheriff Edward Henkel turned his cruiser into the parking lot of Shelby’s Diner and killed the ignition. Since his divorce, and the decision not to haul the kids over to stay with him more than once every month, it had been his habit to take the early shift on weekends, if only because it gave him something to do. He had never been one for letting his deputies do all the hard work. Anyway, Plassey’s size and population meant that its sheriff’s department was small by the standards of the state, so everyone helped to carry the burden, Henkel included, which he was more than happy to do.

There wasn’t much to Plassey County, but it was his. He knew every corner of its speed-trap towns, every trailer park, every creaking shack. He saw the beauty of it, even in its decline. The small mine at Berber Hill was long closed, but Plassey still bore the marks of a coal county in the disused railway lines, the locked-up storage yards by the Colney River, and the roadside advertisements for lawyers specializing in cancers and other ailments caused by years spent amid darkness and dust.

Even when he wasn’t rostered, Henkel would sometimes put on his uniform and take a run along the county roads. Occasionally he’d pull someone over for speeding, or roust some kids who were indulging in a little illicit drinking, but mostly he’d just stop by homes and businesses, making sure that folks were happy, and if they weren’t, finding a way to do something about it. He had an election coming up next year, and was conscious of Channer breathing down his neck. Rob was probably still too young and unseasoned to be considering a run for sheriff, but it remained good politics to make sure people understood that new blood wasn’t always better than old.

Sheriffs in West Virginia were limited to two consecutive four-year terms, but Henkel was already grooming Ned Ralston, his chief deputy, to succeed him, assuming Henkel won the next election, which he fully intended to do. Ralston wasn’t even very keen on being sheriff, but Henkel had assured Ralston that he’d back him all the way, and stay on as his chief deputy in turn. Then, four years later, if Ned decided that he’d had enough, well, Henkel would be happy to run again. Henkel liked to think of himself as a modest student of politics, which is why he made sure to read something more than the comics in the papers every day. You could say what you liked about that Putin fella in Russia, Henkel believed, but he certainly knew how to hold on to power, even if it meant becoming prime minister instead of president for a while in order to get around those term limits in Russia. He probably hadn’t even moved out of his old office, but just found someone to switch the nameplates on the doors.

Part of Henkel’s weekend routine was

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