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“Hey, guys. Gather round,” I call once I’m close enough for them to hear me. I have my own stack of paperwork to wrap up before I leave for the evening, and I wanted to swing by Maisie’s to see how they’re doing since I didn’t see them before I left this morning.
“Festival?” Stella asks.
I nod just as Betty comes around the corner, her color of the month — magenta — hair leading the way.
She glares at Johansen’s burger and fries before snarking, “It wouldn’t kill you to eat a vegetable now and again, Benjamin.”
“Aw. Come on, Bett. There are veggies on the burger.”
“Iceberg lettuce doesn’t count. Tomatoes are berries. You’re never going to get your cholesterol down if you keep eating like a college student.”
Betty’s the longest standing employee of Everette and pseudo-mother to the station at large. And though she doesn’t admit to more than sixty years, I’d put money that she’s a decade past that — at least.
“I have all of the major macros here, protein, carbs, and fats.”
Her beaded glass earrings sway as she shakes her head at Johansen and his choice of lunch.
“As riveting as Johansen’s eating habits are...” I wait for the team to turn their focus to me. “The Country Crossroads festival is due to start day after tomorrow and we’re backing up the resort and event security,” I start.
Every summer, anywhere from ten to twenty country bands tour through our resort town. My office backs up the venue security for the rowdy crowds when they drink a little too much or get too much sun and not enough water. The local fire department and volunteer staff are also on standby, and it’s one of the bigger tourist attractions in our area for this time of year.
“Arrhythmic Records’ security is covering the actual concert times — which start at eleven a.m. and go until midnight to finish. You all have the proposed plan they sent over in your emails. We’ll only be called in if we’re needed or if someone gets too rowdy and the event security can’t handle it. We have two DUI checkpoints planned for the main roads leading out of the fairgrounds. Stella, Deke, Johansen, Myers, Bennett, and Sloan, you’re on those. Divide up how you see fit, two man teams. Four on, two off alternating the nights of the event. The rest of you are on call as needed for the next four days. The resort also sent over tickets for us to attend, if you’re off-duty and want to catch one of the shows.”
“Sweet,” Wayne says. “The wife will like that. The festival sold out in less than an hour when the tickets went up.”
I nod. People from all over come to our little neck of the woods to see the latest and greatest country stars.
“We’re keeping our standard shifts, but keep your phones handy in case we need backup there or here at the station. Bett has the non-emergency line covered, and we have a few volunteers coming in to help if it gets to be too much for her.”
“I’ve been handling these phones longer than you’ve been alive, sheriff. I don’t need any help.”
I ignore her grumbling. “Something you never let us forget, Bett, but I’d rather have ’em and not need ’em, than need ’em and not have ’em.”
Her lips purse, but instead of arguing with me further, she quiets.
“Any questions?”
“Not about the festival. What’s going on with Cormac?” Sloan asks. I turn toward the young deputy, barely out of police academy, and I should have seen the questions coming.
Johansen nods. “Yeah. What’s going on with that?”
I scratch a hand through my beard and mentally add a note to trim it up tonight since it’s getting bushy.
“He’s running for sheriff,” I start.
Stella snorts. “No shit. His face is plastered on every corner of town at this point with those dang election signs.”
“He’s within in his right to lobby for support through town,” I say and hold up my hands when mouths drop open to argue.
“I don’t have any inside information on what’s going to happen. His father is part of the town council, and when the reelection came up at the last meeting, his running for office was announced. I haven’t heard anything more than that.”
“It’s bullshit. He hasn’t lived in town in years. He’s a city cop,” Myers says snootily.
“Yeah, and he’s a fucking creep,” Stella says.
“Did something happen that I need to be aware of?” I ask.
Stella shakes her head. She’s not the only female deputy for the town, but she is the most outspoken one. “He’s just being an asshole. Me and Bennett were on a traffic stop earlier when he wanted to ‘have a word.’ Tried to pump us for information on you.”
