Dead Widow Road by Amy Cross

Author:Amy Cross [Cross, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Today...

“Goddamn cellphones,” Robert Law muttered, holding his phone a little higher as he sat at the foot of Henge Cliff, still trying to get some service. “You'd think they'd invent one that works when you're a little off the beaten track.”

He watched the screen for a moment longer, before hearing a huffing and puffing sound coming from nearby. He turned just in time to see the somewhat disheveled figure of Joe Hicks struggling to make his way down the steep slope, and he watched as Joe finally stopped at the bottom and paused to get his breath back.

“What are you doing here?” Joe snapped.

“I could ask you the same question,” Robert pointed out.

“Don't try being smart with me,” Joe sneered. “We're not in your office or your morgue now. I asked you a question. What are you doing here?”

“Why is that any of your concern?”

“I -”

“What are you gonna doe, Joe?” Robert continued. “Threaten to arrest me? As far as I'm aware, you don't have that authority anymore, do you?”

“You're treading on thin ice,” Joe muttered, clearly annoyed as he began to make his way past, looking out into the forest.

“Do you want to know something?” Robert asked. “All those years working with you, I had to keep things professional but now I guess I can say what I really think.”

Joe turned to him.

“You're a toad,” Robert said firmly. “You're a barely-human relic of the past, a corrupt cop who never did anything good for this town. Worse, you were a terrible sheriff who – thanks to a combination of malice and incompetence – probably never actually caught a criminal who wasn't already in your pocket. You're a small man, Joe, and only smaller men have ever looked up to you.”

“You been waiting to say that for a while?” Joe asked. “Is that the best you've got? I'd have thought with all your fancy education, Doctor Law, that you'd have saved up some good insults for me, but apparently you can't even manage that. I'd show you how it's done, but to be honest I don't care enough. What I do care about, however, is whatever nonsense is going on in this forest. Has that damn fool Tench gone wandering out there?”

“He and some officers are searching for a missing woman.”

“And you're keeping guard?”

“Bad leg,” Robert pointed out, briefly raising his walking stick. “I'd only have slowed them down.”

“I knew this would happen,” Joe muttered. “I tried to subtly warn him off, but that Tench man just doesn't have any good sense or instinct. Now he's blundering around, getting mixed up in something that really isn't any of his business, and he has no idea how much trouble he could cause.”

“Feeling left out?” Robert replied, raising an amused eyebrow. “Worried that the new guy's gonna show you up? The people of Sobolton might not be so friendly to you, Joe, once they see how a real sheriff operates. John Tench is a good man. He's certainly a much better man than you could ever be.

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