Free The Territory: A Novel by Tricia Fields Page B

talk to you about his ideas. You’d have probably shot them all to hell.”
    Josie stood and walked to the coffeemaker to pour a cup of burnt coffee and take a deep breath. He was right, and the heat in her face gave her away.
    “Josie, I have a lot of respect for you and Martínez both, but you two aren’t helping anything by antagonizing Moss.”
    She turned to face him. “His whole persona is designed to antagonize!”
    Smokey nodded, his expression weary. “I know that. I just thought you were above it.”
    Josie stared, at a loss for words. Her face felt red.
    “Look, Josie, you know I support you. I know Moss can be a real jackass. You’re a woman, so to him you’re automatically stupid. Look past that. The man wants the same thing you do. He cares about this town, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to save it. Same as you.”
    “I’ve been with this department for nine years, three as chief. I’m tired of proving myself. I need to make decisions based on what’s right, not what’s politically correct.”
    “No one’s telling you any different. You have council support, and you have the community’s support. Just don’t jeopardize your job over a petty grudge with the mayor. We need you. Right now more than ever.”
    *   *   *
    After Smokey left, she stood at the window in the back of the office and looked out onto a neighborhood of one-story ranch homes, small and shabby, cared for by people who were giving it their best against unbeatable odds. Following her initial move to get away from her mother, it was the people struggling to make it, the underdogs, who made her call Artemis home. She felt as if she’d found a place where she could make a difference to people who needed it.
    She had arrived in Artemis as a twenty-four-year-old woman with a past she wanted nothing to do with, barely able to envision a future, and had applied to be an Artemis police officer. Otto had hired Josie at the end of just one forty-five–minute interview. With Josie sitting across the desk from him, he had called her former supervisor with the Indianapolis Police Department and had a brief, positive conversation.
    Otto asked her what had drawn her to Artemis. Uncharacteristically, she shared personal information about her family and her desire to start over. Otto had hired her and invited her to dinner that evening to meet his wife, Delores. Aside from her neighbor, Dell, Josie privately considered Otto and Delores her closest family.
    Three years ago, Delores convinced Otto he needed to forgo another term as chief in order to reduce stress in his life. Josie was honored that Otto had recommended her to take his place.
    Josie heard a chair scoot across the floor and turned to see Otto sitting down at his desk.
    “How’s tricks?” he asked. He wore the standard blue and gray police uniform, minus the bulletproof vest that fit over his midsection only when he forced it.
    Otto had just logged on for the noon-to-eight-thirty shift. Officer Marta Cruz would come on at four thirty, when Josie’s shift was supposed to end but rarely did. The three worked staggered shifts, but arranged schedules so that once each week they met as a group to discuss current cases and share information. The city police coordinated schedules with the sheriff’s department in an attempt to ensure at least one officer was on duty at all hours, but with vacation schedules, even that was difficult to accomplish.
    Josie gave Otto a rundown on the morning. “I talked to the Assessor’s Office. Drench owns the land Winnings’ trailer is on. I’ll go talk to him tomorrow.” She pointed to the opened Gunner’s policy manual that lay in the middle of her desk. “You know how many guns Red had on the inventory he kept?”
    “It would appear, too many for his own good.”
    “Two hundred sixty-three.”
    “I’d think two or three would have been sufficient.”
    “Didn’t Hack Bloster make it sound like the whole stash of guns was