Free The Territory: A Novel by Tricia Fields Page A

city council member was sitting on the wooden bench out front under the window. Smokey Blessings, married to Nurse Vie Blessings, was thirty-five. Smokey drove a county maintenance truck, and Josie both respected and liked him. A slightly overweight father of two, he had a calm disposition and plenty of common sense. Vie was five years older than Smokey, and ran his life like she did everything else—with bossy efficiency.
    He squinted up at Josie and stood as she approached. The noon sun was in his face, and he looked sweaty and nervous. “Chief.”
    “Smokey.”
    “Can we talk a few minutes?” he asked.
    Walking upstairs, they talked about how Vie was handling the stress from the shooting at the Trauma Center.
    “I was out at the maintenance barn, and one of the guys came running in. Told me the Trauma Center was under attack. Wanted to know if Vie was working. I said, ‘Hell yes, she’s working!’ She’d just sent me a text saying she couldn’t meet me for lunch. She didn’t bother to mention she’d just lived through a gunfight.”
    They reached the top of the stairs, and Josie opened the office door and flipped on the lights. She pulled out chairs at the conference table as Smokey continued.
    “I told Frank I was going over there. I was hell-bent on pulling my wife out of that operating room. I knew she wouldn’t do it herself. She’d get herself shot before she walked out on a patient. Frank finally talked sense into me. Told me I’d get in the way. Get myself arrested, if not shot.”
    Josie got them both a bottle of water and turned the fan to blow straight at them. The window air conditioner took the edge off, but it didn’t actually cool the room. Smokey sighed and seemed to relax a little.
    “I don’t know anyone who handles stress any better than Vie does. She’s a perfect fit for her job. I know yesterday was over the top, but no one could have handled it any better than she did.”
    Smokey shook his head. “She brushes that stuff off like lint. Nothing fazes the woman.” He paused and smiled. “Except Donny.”
    Josie laughed. Donny was their fifteen-year-old son, who took Vie’s exuberance for life to the next level. Josie didn’t say so, but she was fairly certain she would see Donny in the back of a police car before he graduated high school.
    Smokey finally drained his water and grew quiet again, apparently thinking through what he came to say.
    “I want to apologize, Josie. About the meeting that the mayor called this morning.”
    Josie nodded.
    “I had nothing to do with that, but I should have told you and the sheriff about it. When the mayor called me this morning, the whole thing was already done. I was just told to take a seat behind him to support him. All the council was supposed to be up there. I was just the only one that could make it.”
    “How did he get the word out?”
    “He had a group of volunteers making phone calls last night to get people there. I just figured you and the sheriff already knew about it.”
    Josie raised a cynical eyebrow. “The mayor does nothing without an ulterior motive. So, why didn’t he invite the sheriff or me in on his show?”
    Smokey shrugged and stroked his chin where the stubble of a goatee was growing in. He cleared his throat but didn’t answer.
    “Come on, Smokey. The snub was too obvious and too public. What was his point?”
    Smokey tipped his head back and blew air out in frustration. “I asked him why you and Martínez weren’t up there with us. He basically said this is his town. The law officials aren’t doing enough to keep the people safe, so he’s stepping in.”
    “I don’t care about sitting on a podium. I care about this town, though. If he has ideas for how the sheriff and I can keep Artemis safer, then he needs to tell us. All he did was undermine what we do.”
    “It’s not exactly a secret how you feel about the mayor. I’m not saying what he did was right, but I can’t blame him for not wanting to