The Bleeding Edge by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2012-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

It didn’t take long for the news to spread about the community of Dry Wash being included in the proposed boundaries for the new town of Shady Hills. Once the media got hold of it, they blew the story out of proportion as usual, blaring headlines such as VIGILANTES SEEK TO EXPAND LAWLESS EMPIRE. Stark just shook his head in disbelief at that one, and Hallie commented wryly, “I guess once the town’s incorporated you’ll have to run for emperor instead of mayor, John Howard.”

“If I was emperor there’d be some changes made, that’s for sure,” Stark said.

“You remember the story about the emperor’s new clothes? He was naked, as I recall.”

Stark changed the subject in a hurry.

The story wasn’t done evolving, of course. A few days later, Stark got a phone call from a man named Carlos Arizola, who introduced himself as the principal of Joseph P. Gonzalez High School, which was down the highway between Shady Hills and Devil’s River. Stark had passed the school dozens of times, but he had no idea what the principal wanted with him.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Arizola?” he asked.

“I’d like to meet with you and your friends, Mr. Stark, and talk about this new town of yours.”

Stark managed not to grunt in surprise.

“Just what is it you want to talk to us about?”

“You may not be aware of this, Mr. Stark, but the school isn’t in the city limits of Devil’s Pass.”

Stark hadn’t ever thought about it, but he knew that Gonzalez High was a couple of miles north of town. It had been built there to accommodate new growth in the area when the school district’s student population got to be too big for the original Devil’s Pass High School. School districts in Texas never liked to split their students between two or more high schools, because the new schools always dropped into a lower classification athletically. But sometimes the numbers made it impossible to do otherwise, and that was the case in Devil’s Pass. The new high school, Gonzalez High, had opened several years earlier, before Stark moved to the area, but he had heard about it.

Principal Arizola went on, “The new housing developments that have grown up in this area aren’t in the city limits, either, but Devil’s Pass has its eye on annexing all of us. We don’t want that, Mr. Stark. If we’re going to be part of a city, we’d rather it be Shady Hills.”

“Shady Hills isn’t even a real town yet,” Stark said. “What in the world could we offer folks like you?”

“You intend to have a police department, don’t you?”

“Well, sure. To be honest, that’s the main reason we decided to incorporate.”

“What about a fire department?” Arizola asked.

“I don’t know when we’d be able to afford a real fire department. I imagine we’ll have to rely on a volunteer department for a while, just like we do now.”

“With a greater tax base, you could at least afford some equipment of your own.

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