The Ursulina by Brian Freeman

Author:Brian Freeman [Freeman, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

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At the end of April, I went back to work. No, not as a deputy. Jerry got his wish. After my behavior on the night of Jay’s death, the sheriff could have fired me. Even Darrell wouldn’t have defended me for leaving the scene of a suicide and not reporting it. But Jerry didn’t like the optics of firing a deputy for dereliction of duty while she was in a hospital bed after being raped and nearly beaten to death by her husband. So I got a reprieve. Jerry was actually very sweet, visiting me a couple of times during my recovery and making sure I had everything I needed. As I say, people can surprise you.

However, I’d be the first to admit that I couldn’t do my former job anymore. I was feeling better and getting around pretty well, but that didn’t mean I was anywhere close to the physicality needed to be a deputy. Plus, I was pregnant, so even as my body got stronger, I was already suffering from what the sheriff considered a disqualifying disability. He couldn’t imagine that I wanted to come back to work at all, but I had bills to pay, and so he agreed to take me back in the role I’d had before. Mrs. Mannheim transferred to a job in the county licensing bureau, and I became the office secretary again.

The rest of the deputies treated me better after that, partly because of what I’d been through and partly because I was back in a woman’s job. I missed being out on the road, and working with Darrell, but I didn’t miss the abuse. At that point in my life, I’m not sure I could have handled it.

And the murder investigation? The death of Gordon Brink?

Jerry closed the case. He did it while I was in the hospital and unable to offer any kind of protest. The sheriff interviewed Ben Malloy, who told him about Jay’s confession to the murder before the boy killed himself. Maybe Ben couldn’t hear everything that had been said between me and Jay on the ice—the wind had been howling the whole time—or maybe the sheriff had twisted around Ben’s statement to suit what he really wanted to do, which was put Gordon Brink’s murder to bed. Had anyone asked me, I would have said that Jay made up the story to protect Will, but by the time I was in a condition to say so, nobody cared. Darrell hadn’t objected. Neither had Norm and Will. I suspect Norm had a long talk with Will about it, because as a result of Jay’s false confession, Will went back in the closet. I’m not sure anyone believed it, but most of the town pretended, and Will was able to live his life again without violence. In another year, he’d go away to college. I doubted he would ever make his home in Black Wolf County after that.

So we’d found the killer. He was dead, and that was that.

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