Free Widow Town by Joe Hart

door on the left stood open, a smell of old urine and disinfectant leaking out. On the right a window looked into a small office, a large desk standing in its middle, top covered in stacked papers. A man in a dark suit sat in the chair facing the opposite wall, greased hair plastered down to his head in a style resembling lawyers Gray had seen in the cities years ago. When he walked through the door, the man glanced at him.
    Mark Sheldon had an overly handsome face with eyes light blue and a nose that you could cut a straight line with. His even teeth flashed white, once as h e stood, more sneer than smile.
    “Sheriff, how are you this morning?” The district attorney extended a hand that Gray shook quickly, not wanting to think about if it had touched Lynn, o r where.
    “Busy, what can I do for you?” Gray settled in behind the desk as Sheldo n did the same across from him.
    “Just stopped by to see how things we re going with the Jacobs case.”
    “It’s going. W e’re exploring a few different aspects at this point.”
    “ Which are?”
    “Gathering leads in the form of suspects.”
    “And those are?”
    Gray blinked once at the other man. “We’re compiling them this morning.”
    S heldon nodded, his eyes closed, fingers steepled. “Gotcha, and the coroner’s report?”
    “Should be on my computer before noon un less Tilly ran into something.”
    “Tilly?”
    “Dr. Swenson.”
    “Ah.”
    The seconds ticked by and Sheldon smiled, nodding to the silence.
    “Is there something I can d o for you?” Gray finally asked.
    “Yes, there most certainly is,” Sheldon said, sitting forward. “You can remember who the one person is that can remove you from your elected job, Sheriff. And that’s me.”
    “Well, I very much appreciate you stopping in to refresh my memory, though I think you’re speaking out of turn since the county board has that right, but I have a case to work on.”
    “Oh yes, you do,” Sheldon said, still smiling. “You have this case to work on, this very normal, very average breaking and entering gone wrong. Mitchel explained to me some of the hints you’ve made in the past and let me tell you, Sheriff, fairy tales like the ones you’ve got in your head will do nothing but hurt this town and its people.”
    Gray unclenched his jaw before a tooth cracked. “With all due respect, Mark, get the fuck out of my office unless you’re prepared to handle this case yourself.”
    Sheldon’s smile flickered and then died under Gray’s stare. He stood from his chair, brushing his suit pants of nonexistent wrinkles. “I know why you came back to your hometown, I know your theories weren’t popular in Minneapolis either. But if you think you can shove your deranged fantasies onto a smaller town like Shillings, you’re dead wrong. This place will eat you up and spit you out if you try peddling that shit to the public. You’d be out of this office with hell on your heels before you could say ‘boo’.”
    “The door is what you walk through to leave.” Gray pointed before turning to wake his monitor. He heard Sheldon’s dress shoes snap across the floor and pause at the entry.
    “Enjoy your last term in office, Gray, and I’ll enjoy Lynn later tonight.”
    Gray looked down at his feet below the desk and counted to one hundred, listened to Sheldon’s car start outside before he glanced up. The first thing he saw was the digital temp control mounted on the wall. It read 86 degrees.
    Gray stood and p ut his fist through the screen.
    The plastic smashed into spider-webbed lines and plaster cracked around the control’s base. Mary Jo’s voice came through the small speaker on the side of his monitor. “Are you all right? Did you fall down?”
    Gray sat in the chair, gave his knuckles a look and leaned back. “Peachy. Send Joseph in when he gets back, we have work to do.”

Chapter 11
     
     
    “Are you feeling okay, son?”
    Ryan jerked out of his trance, the plate holding his bagel