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“Dre, you met her in a bar in some off the highway town with a population of like twenty. You don’t really know anything about her. She could be looking to scam you, or she could be a huge danger magnet for all you know. No one, especially in their twenties, willingly lives in their car and works for cash only. Have you noticed any needle marks or her personality changing?”
“She’s not on drugs. I’ve seen her naked. I would have noticed needle marks, and if she was on drugs, she wouldn’t have been so exhausted over the past couple of days we spent cleaning this place and the mayor’s office. I can’t imagine she is looking to scam me. She had no rights to the land. She doesn’t want money at the end of the year, which I’ve already disclosed to you. I can’t see how she would be scamming anything out of me.”
I couldn’t picture Maya being some con artist. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t like we were married for real, and she could get half my wealth if we divorced, and she wasn’t on some life insurance policy. She didn’t even have any right to Zoey should I die. There was no way for her to get access to my money or Zoey’s trust fund. On top of that, what scam artist turns down the chance to make a shit load of money and all they have to do is pretend to be married for a year? That’s like a wet dream to them.
“As for the car situation, she told me last night that she grew up in foster care from the time she was born. I know she went to school for business after she aged out. I don't know if she graduated or what school, but it is possible she couldn’t pay back the student loans and is hiding from the IRS. Or she got sick and had to drop out and has been struggling to get back on her feet this whole time. I don’t need to tell you how judgmental people can be if someone goes for a legal job, and they have no address to put down. It’s not as simple as people like to believe that you can just walk in off the street and get a job that very day.”
“No, I know that. I just don't like the thought of you and Zoey being there with a woman who is using a false name. Maybe she is doing it for reasons like you said. Or maybe she is doing it because of a more dangerous reason, and it is those reasons that concern me.”
“And they would concern me as well if I thought that was what we were dealing with. But why don’t you look into her? I sent you a photo of her yesterday. Don’t you have a program that you can use to see if her face comes up somewhere?”
“It’s called facial recognition and yes. I will run it and see. I will let you know what I find.”
“Hopefully it is nothing. While I have you on the phone though, quick question.”
“Shoot.”
“There’s no police in Rose Falls. Does that mean it should be state police or do I need to start looking for a sheriff?”
“You need a sheriff. If you reach out to state police, let them know that you are the new mayor. They will handle any major cases like if one of your townspeople decides to murder someone. But you need a sheriff for petty stuff, especially if you want to grow the town. I’ll email you a list of some guys that are on the force and looking to retire to some small town where they can still work, but they don’t have to worry about getting shot or blown up. Solid guys that would be happy to work as a sheriff for you.”
“Okay great. I would appreciate it. This place is a complete clusterfuck, and it’s going to take a long time before it’s all sorted. Longer than a year, that is for sure. Guess there’s no chance of you retiring and coming to be my sheriff eh?” I phrased it as a joke, but I was dead serious. It would have been great for Lucas to move down here and work as my sheriff. Not only would I have someone I could trust down here making sure everyone was safe, but Zoey would also get to spend more time with him. He was getting older, and I was worried about him being out there on the street chasing down criminals. Being a detective didn't make him any less of a target out there.
“Tempting, but I got way too many cases open right now to just jump ship and run.”
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” I could feel my heart sinking at his words, but I couldn’t hold them against him. I knew he loved his job, and he cared about every single person that came across his desk. It was one of the reasons why I loved and respected the hell out of him.
“I’ll see what I can dig up on your mystery girl. Keep me updated on your end.”
“Will do. Be safe.”
“Always,” he said before he ended the call. I hated that he was now in Houston on his own, but that was a choice I had made, and I had to respect the choice he was making to stay. Maybe one day that would change, but for now I had a little girl to get off to school and a literal mountain of paperwork to get sorted.
Maya
Ihadbeenhopingthe walk-in fresh air would help to settle my stomach as I made my way towards the office. It did not, and I had no idea what I was going to do at this point. I had felt like crap for almost two weeks now, and it made absolutely zero sense why I was feeling this way. It couldn’t be because my body was adjusting to getting proper sleep and food. Sure, maybe the first week and even then I would be stretching my belief. Two weeks though, there’s no way. Not to mention I felt like crap before Charlie found me on the side of the road. It couldn’t be that I was sick and rundown from not enough sleep and food. Plus being sick because I was getting too much sleep and food now. That was fucked up. If this kept up I was gonna have no choice but to use the free clinic that was in town.
That was something Charlie and I were shocked over. There wasn’t a set doctor’s office or a dentist office, but there was a free clinic that had both options within it. It was good to know that the town had a doctor and a dentist, but it also meant we had a lot of work to do in terms of getting this town to the proper level of function that it should be. We were gonna have to go around and talk to pillars within the community to see what we could do to get them in the right place. The free clinic should be utilized, but we also needed set doctor’s offices and dentist offices. They needed to make money as well and with trying to bring new people into town, they were going to be too busy to just operate out of the small clinic.
I made my way inside the office and headed into Charlie’s office. Mine looked like a bomb went off in it. It was going to take a long time to get it cleaned out. My guess was that it had been used as a storage/dumping ground for anything that the previous mayor didn’t want laying around. Like a massive closet that you had in your home that you threw everything in when someone randomly decided to visit. I was half expecting to find at least a dozen dead mice in that place. Charlie’s head snapped up when he heard someone coming towards him.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked with concern which confused me because he didn’t give a damn last night when he was yelling at me for looking at a photo album.
“Fine. What do you need done?” I was just looking to keep things professional between us. I knew he knew I had been sick this morning. He left a note letting me know he had taken Zoey to school and that I should rest today, and he hoped I felt better. Nowhere did he apologize for acting like a maniac last night, but I guess I shouldn’t be expecting that. I had foolishly gotten caught up in the life that he was living. I had gotten lost in being with Zoey every day and working with Charlie to keep the house clean and cook. We were playing house, and I had to remember that it was just playing and not real. Him and Zoey weren’t my family. I didn’t want Charlie to be my family, and I needed to remember that fact.
“You didn’t need to come in. You still look a bit pale. Why don't you let me bring you back home and you can rest? You might have caught a bug,” he said as he moved around and approached me.
“I am fine. I don’t need sleep. It’s not the first time that I have been sick. It’s been a long couple of years; my body has just hit a wall that’s all. I’ll be fine and working helps take my mind off not feeling great. So, what needs to be done?”
I wasn’t gonna go home and just sleep the day away. Would I have loved to, maybe. Yeah, it might have been nice to just rest up and not do anything, but I wasn’t going to be doing that. I had a job to do and every day I was at work was a day I was making money. I couldn’t afford to not make as much as I possibly could. I couldn’t guarantee that I would be able to be here for a year, and I needed to be ready.
“Alright, but if you change your mind let me know. I can drive you home. And look, about last night.” he started, but I cut him off. I didn’t want to hear some half-assed apology.
“It’s fine. It was a long day yesterday, has been for a couple of days. Plus, it was my mistake; one I won’t make again. Let’s just move on from it.”
I could have reamed him out, but really it wasn’t going to do any good, not right now. All I wanted to do was focus on getting my work done. Whether I liked it or not, he was my boss here, and even back at the house. That was the contract that I agreed upon, and I wasn’t the type to complain. I made this bed, and I was going to lie in it.
“Very well. I was hoping to get a list going of all the people that would like to open a business locally. If you could create some flyers and put them up, that would be great. That way we'll know who has an interest in it and who doesn’t.”
