“Do you need me to give you a list?” Preston retorted, earning him a low laugh on the other line.
“Fine, you got me. I wanted to make sure we were set with security for the Fourth of July parade next month.”
“Yes, sir. Not that we’ve needed it in the last few years, but Alexis, Cliff, Dylan, and myself are prepared.”
“You can never be too sure. With the riff-raff that keep trying to destroy our little town, we can’t let our guard down.”
Preston knew Fred didn’t mean anything by his offhanded comment, but he was still struck speechless. As if the community as a whole keeping him at arm’s length, causing Preston to feel unaccepted by the town he would give his life for, he had to remind him of how he hadn’t stopped a mad man from kidnapping Alexis a few months back.
“You don’t need to worry, Mayor. We will be diligent.”
“I know you will, son.”
The door to his office opened and Jackie walked in carrying another stack of paperwork with a sorrowful look on her face.
Sighing, Preston said, “Is there anything else you need, Mayor?”
“Any chance you’ve changed your mind about the bachelor auction?” he replied and Preston could hear that the old man was grinning wildly at the thought.
“Not a chance in hell. Have a good day, Mayor.”
Laughing, Fred ended the call just as Preston lifted the first page from the stack Jackie sat on his desk. More of his signature, more of his statements, more of his time wasted. He couldn’t help but think that there was more to life than sitting behind a desk in a small-town issuing tickets to speeders down Main Street or answering domestic calls when someone wanted to scare their teenagers.
He thought the slower pace would give him a sense of home and ground him in the way he had been searching for since he left college. But something inside him was missing the heavy cases, the chase, the bullets. The adrenaline rush that came with his FBI undercover work was a high that no drug on the market could hit. Thank goodness he was still in contact with his agent in charge of the bureau. Every once in a while, he’d get to join in an investigation, but those opportunities were few and far between now.
Preston sighed to himself as he raked a hand through his hair; the naturally dark strands had lightened in the summer sun. With the downtime he had acquired in the last couple of years, he took up fishing on the local lakes surrounding their valley. It was one of the only hobbies that kept the nightmares of his past at bay.
His hand began to cramp by the time he made it through half of the stack; that was when Jackie walked back into his office with a grim look on her face. A manila folder dangled between her wiry fingers. The moment his eyes landed on the top corner, he knew immediately what she held in her grasp.
The Harposia case.
He wished the drug cartel would have ended its reign when its leader was put behind bars, but if anything, the group grew more vigorous. And now they not only meddled in drugs, but human trafficking, and weapons dealings. Even in solitary confinement, the woman in charge ran a tight ship. If she hadn’t been the person to change the course of his life, he would probably be impressed.
Sifting out the sheets, Preston skimmed through a new affidavit noting Lev Dison as a right-hand man to Harposia. Lev had been the most recent man in charge, but he slipped up when he tried to kidnap his daughter Alexis, who just happened to be an FBI agent and Preston’s new deputy.
Signing the sheet, he slipped it back into the folder before standing from his desk. It was a cool Thursday for June in Carson and he hoped that he could enjoy a nice stroll through town on his way to lunch.
“Here you go, Jackie. I’m going to grab something at Angie’s. Can I get you anything?”
“Aren’t you a dear? No, I brought leftovers today. I’ll handle the phone while you’re out.”
“Thanks.”
He dipped back into his office to grab his phone just as the phone rang from the local dispatch. Jackie spoke in hushed, muffled tones, but he immediately sensed that his lunch would be delayed.
“Sorry, sir. Accident on the main highway just past the Carson exit. No injuries. Asheville police in route as well.”
Instead of sighing at his lunch being delayed, Preston went back to his office to grab the keys for his cruiser. It wasn’t ideal, and he felt a bit bad at the driver’s misfortune, but at least this gave him something to do for the afternoon instead of pushing papers.
The sticky summer air clung to his skin the moment he stepped out of the building. That was something he was still struggling to get used to. The hot North Carolina air in the summer could be unforgiving and steal the breath right from your lungs.
His cruiser felt like a sauna as he slipped into the driver’s seat, but it was quickly remedied as the A/C pumped cool air into the cab. Taking a deep breath, Preston tried to rid himself of the melancholy feeling still swirling from the morning. Something was missing from his life, whether that be adventure or meaning, Preston wasn’t sure. But he knew he needed to keep his head on straight. Just because he was in a slower town didn’t mean that bad things couldn’t happen. His ex, and his reason for moving to the town, Sydney, could attest to that. Life could change at the drop of a hat and it didn’t care if you lived in a city of fifty or five million.
As Preston traveled the freshly paved road leading to the main highway, he began to wonder if the job was really what had him feeling out of sorts or if it was something else. Preston just couldn’t be sure what.
His mind flashed with the concept that maybe it was time for him to settle down, which only caused a burst of laughter to spew from his chest. He knew better than anyone that relationships were messy, but add in being married to your job and risking your life for others, and most women ran in the other direction.
No, a relationship wasn’t in the cards for him, nor did he ever want more than a woman to warm his bed here or there.
Arriving on the scene, Preston parked behind a mangled hunk of metal that had once resembled a silver sedan wrapped around the post of an exit sign. Usually, accidents of this severity were fatal, but off in the thoroughfare ditch stood a man no older than twenty with a phone pressed to his ear. Even from his distance, Preston could see that the man was unharmed.
Stepping from the car just as the fire department arrived, Preston shook his head as he took in the damage to the vehicle.
It was a miracle the driver could extricate himself from the vehicle, let alone walk. But crazier things have happened, miracles that couldn’t be explained.
Preston had seen it far too many times.
The young man began to approach and Preston could easily see the shock and fear rippling from him.
“Hi there, I’m Sheriff Savage,” he began. And for the next two hours, Preston’s lunch was long forgotten as he took statements and worked with the tow truck driver to remove the car from the highway.
It wasn’t until Joseph Connelly and his team of volunteers left with the fire truck that Preston was alone. Watching the boy’s parents rush to his aid had left a small ache in his chest, but he was confident the pang had nothing to do with wanting more from a woman. And as he got back into his car, Preston sent a text to a woman from Asheville to see if she was free over the weekend. He may not want a relationship but was still a red-blooded man.
Maneuvering his car back toward Carson, Preston had a bit more pep in his attitude, if only it didn’t wither away as he thought about the papers he needed to finish signing by the end of the day. And now, with the accident, he had even more work on his plate.