Page 33 of Counter Attack

The room grew quiet as she stepped forward. “First, I wantto thank each of you for serving my grandfather so well. I know that will continue. I already know a few of you and look forward to getting to know the rest.”

She paused long enough to scan the room, making eye contact with each deputy, most of whom were male. Adding more female deputies was something she definitely wanted to accomplish. “I want you to know the door to the chief deputy’s office will always be open for anything you want to discuss. I hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity—I can’t fix a problem if I don’t know what’s wrong. I look forward to working with each of you. In the meantime, everything will run the same way it’s been running, since Sheriff Stone will be overseeing everything. He’d be the first to say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”

A ripple of laughter spread across the room, then an officer stepped forward, followed by his dog beside him. Mark Lassiter. Gramps had said if anyone might question her authority, it’d be him.

“Chief Deputy Stone.”

“Call me Alex, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

From his tone, she couldn’t tell if this was going to be the first test. She focused briefly on the trim German shepherd at his feet. “Yes, Mark?”

He seemed surprised she knew his name. “This is Gem,” he said, nodding toward the dog. “I think I speak for everyone here”—he looked around at the men behind him—“when I say we want you to know we’re here for you. You need something, just let us know.”

The other deputies nodded in agreement.

The words sounded good, but there was something about Lassiter’s tone. Like maybe he expected her to mess up and they could rescue her. Or maybe she was looking for trouble where none existed.

“Thank you. I appreciate your offer,” Alex said as a phone rang in the background. She waited briefly in case anyone else had something to say. When no one spoke up, she said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll go check on my grandfather.”

The door to her office opened, and Nathan barreled out just as the dispatcher called her name.

Alex turned toward the dispatcher. “Yes, Marge?”

“There’s a hysterical teenager on the line. Said she found a body at one of Tom Weaver’s rental houses. Kid’s pretty sure she’s dead, but the kicker is”—Marge swallowed hard—“the victim is holding a White pawn.”

19

Nathan pocketed his phone and burst from Carson’s office in time to hear Marge’s statement. In his bones he’d known George Smith wasn’t the Queen’s Gambit Killer, and the phone call he’d gotten from his sergeant, Jared Westbrook, confirmed it.

Alexis quickly dispatched her deputies, then turned to him with her fists clenched. “Do you think it’s a copycat? Or do you think...”

“The killer followed you here? We both had doubts about George Smith.” Even though he’d wanted Smith to be the serial killer.

“I know. I need to get there. If you’ll excuse me.”

“Hold on a minute. Tom Weaver’s place is in the Pearl Springs city limits.”

She frowned. “And Pearl Springs is in Russell County.”

“Just letting you know I won’t be shut out.” The sheriff’s department might have more resources than Nathan, but he had a vested interest in keeping a killer out of his town. “Do you have wheels yet? If not, you can ride with me.”

“I have Gramps’s SUV.” Then she grimaced. “But Gram is taking him home in it. I’ll find something.”

“Come on, it’ll be quicker for you to ride with me.”

“Oh ... okay.”

Probably agreed so she could chew him out. But they might as well establish expectations and boundaries right now. Might save hurt feelings in the future.

Instead of chewing him out, Alexis was on the phone, directing Marge to locate the two crime scene investigators and send them to the Weaver house. Nathan turned on the dead-end road just inside the city limits and pulled parallel to the house.

To his left, a female county deputy talked with a teenage girl Nathan recognized from the youth group at church. Mary Beth Meyers. She must be the hysterical teen Marge said had called in the crime. To his right, two other deputies hung crime scene tape around the yard while Nathan’s sergeant strung tape across the front porch.

He’d inherited Jared when he took on the police chief job. If Jared minded being passed over, the sergeant had never shown it. He looked up now. “I cleared the house. The victim is the only one there, and I didn’t find anything useful.”

Shorthand for no obvious evidence pointing to a suspect. “This is the Russell County chief deputy, Alexis Stone,” he said, nodding toward her. “Take us through what you do know.”

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