Free Luring Levi (Tarnished Saints Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Rose Page B

an hour late and they’re just about right.”
    “Damn.” H e ran a hand over the front of his shirt trying to look more presentable, and wondered what the hell he was going to tell them. He couldn’t very well tell them that he’d been having hot and wild sex last night with a vixen and that’s why he overslept. No, that would never do at all. “Ok, thanks Margery,” he said and headed for the lion’s den.
    “There he is,” said one of the council members as he walked up to the table.
    “Good morning everyone,” he said, then cringed, remembering it was already after noon.
    “Mr. Mayor, you missed the meeting as well as lunch,” said the Widow Durnsby who now acted as president of the town council since giving up her position of mayor.
    “Yes, I’m sorry about that,” he said, taking a seat next to her. “But I’m here now, so maybe we can review what I missed.”
    “Here,” she said, pushing a clipboard into his hands. “This is everything we’ve discussed, now go for it.”
    “Go for it?” he wasn’t sure what that meant, nor what he was expected to do.
    “Run the town,” she said. “You were the one to make all those promises, so now see what other things we had on the agenda that you never even considered.”
    “All right, I will,” he said, looking down the list. Margery walked up and placed a plate of food in front of him.
    “Here you go Mr. Mayor. Eat it in good health.”
    He looked down to the plate , seeing an orange and brown mess mixed with something that resembled overcooked noodles. “What is it?” he asked her as she walked away.
    “Cook’s surprise,” she answered. “And don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    He picked up his fork, starving, as he hadn’t had time to eat today. But after one mouthful, he spit it into the napkin.
    “Mabel,” he said, calling the ex-mayor by her first name, “what the devil is this? This place used to be so good.”
    “That’s what we’re trying to tell you,” she said. “You’ve been gone a long time and things have changed in Sweet Water. That last corrupt sheriff, Bert Grimkel screwed things up big time and we haven’t been able to recover from the damage he’s done to this town.”
    “Like what?” Levi asked.
    “Like bringing in his friends to open that strip joint,” she said. “Since most of us on the council are women, we had no idea what went on inside of there and when we did find out, our hands were tied. Being sheriff, he threatened us with tickets and false arrests every time we questioned anything he did.”
    “I see,” said Levi. “But how does that affect the state of the diner?”
    “He kept bringing in his friends to eat for free,” said Valerie Wolf, the head of the town’s school board. “After awhile they became so rowdy that people stopped coming in. And then poor Margery couldn’t afford to pay Carlos and he took off for the city.”
    “And how is the Sweet Water’s school systems going?” he asked.
    “We’re going to need to hire a teacher for the high school soon. The one we have is pregnant and will be leaving right after Christmas.”
    “And that’s a problem?” he asked.
    “It is when the kids have all turned into vandals and bullies, not to mention the pay is low. Everyone knows the reputation of Sweet Water High and no one wants to come in to teach. The only reason why Evelyn even stays there while she’s pregnant is because one of the students is her son and she wants to keep an eye on him.”
    “The police department is begging for a sheriff,” said Mabel, “and now you’ve promised them not only a town hall but a fire department as well. So tell me, how do you expect to pay for all this?”
    “Well, we’ll just have to bring in more people from out of town and bump up the revenue that way.”
    “How?” she asked. “Every year the fair has fewer and fewer people coming to it, and that is the one main big attraction we count on to bring in funds every