Page 10 of Cold Light of Day

“‘To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ Micah 6:8.”

Just the words she needed to adjust her attitude. She had a job to do. Time to get back to the reality that was her world—sans Grier Brenner, at least for the moment.

Autumn’s day hadn’t gone anything like she’d expected, but, well, she should have expected her arrival back in town wouldn’t include fanfare. Instead, she and Carrie had been able to assist Grier in rescuing Sarah. Maybe there was nothing to look into regarding the young woman, but she would follow her instincts. In the meantime, she would bury her head in her work and try to put the disaster of her recent decertification behind her. She was still the Shadow Gap police chief until she wasn’t.

She stared at the pile of paperwork on her desk.

Go figure. Nothing about the daily grind magically changed in my absence.

That included politics. Per usual, city affairs got in the way of every aspect of her life, it seemed. Police work was no exception, especially since a member of the city council, Wally, had a second cousin on the Alaska Police Standards Council to whom he complained—as in, he provided a long list of Autumn’s alleged misdeeds.

That has to be the reason my certification was revoked.

At the thought, she clenched her jaw.

Everything had been misconstrued and spun in a way to make her look corrupt or like she was playing favorites, and honestly—even if that were true—she didn’t believe it warranted her losing her certification.

Nobody’s perfect.

And if someone were to go on a witch hunt looking to list her every little mistake, then that list could be made. The allegations—or to her way of thinking, slurs—had been stacked against her.

For one, she’d taken her intoxicated father home instead of arresting him for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. And she’d let him ride in the front seat with her—which, technically, was a violation. Though that was all within her discretion, if someone wanted to push it—and they did—she’d made the town liable by transporting someone who wasn’t under arrest.

Her pulse quickened.

If she let the accusations get to her, she would start fuming, because the stress level was high enough without having to deal with the previous police chief...

My father.

Another thing on the list was that she’d bid out the contract for the towing service the police used for accidents, DUI arrests, and abandoned cars to give someone else a chance instead of always using Wally’s brother, who hadn’t won the bid. She had nothing to do with it. Terence Unger’s business won the bid fair and square.

And lastly, or probably firstly, Wally had wanted his nephew, Officer Craig Atkins, to be the chief.

Oh yeah, Wally has it in for me.

Big time.

And ever since she was named in her father’s place, Wally had been needling her. Nitpicking at every small thing. And frankly, she didn’t have time for the games. She had this stack of paperwork, reports to read through, three officers to manage, and a town to keep safe. The Shadow Gap crime rate remained at 5 percent below the national average for US towns, and most of those crimes were tame in nature.

Maybe that’s why the nearly drowned woman intrigued her.

What happened?

She sighed, stood from the desk, and looked out the window at the back parking lot and the trees beyond. She thought back to her visit with Sarah, who’d regained full consciousness and was being pumped with warm saline via an IV in her arm.

Autumn had peeked through the door after getting a rundown of the situation from the doctor, HIPAA laws notwithstanding. She stepped into the room and smiled as she slowly walked toward the bed. Sarah looked like a woman in her late twenties, give or take. Her shoulder-length brunette hair was stringy but finally drying, and her big brown eyes stared up at Autumn when she walked into the room and widened in surprise as if she hadn’t expected to answer questions about her near-drowning. Autumn’s gentle query was nothing more than to confirm Sarah hadn’t tried to commit suicide. But what had happened?

“Hi, Sarah. I’m Chief Long. You got lucky today.”

Sarah swallowed but said nothing.

“I was flying in from Juneau when we saw you. Of course, the real hero is Grier Brenner, who happened to see you too. He had to dive deep for you because you went under. We landed on the water and flew you back to town.” Autumn studied Sarah as she listened. How much did she remember about what had happened? Sarah Frasier—the name she’d given—wasn’t a resident. She had no ID on her, and she hadn’t given her address or filled out any paperwork yet, Autumn had been informed. “Is there anyone I can call for you? Family? Friends?”

Without hesitation, Sarah shook her head. Autumn found that hard to believe. Who didn’t have at least one friend, if not family? Even those who lived off-grid in Alaska had an emergency contact.

“What do you remember about what happened?” Translate ... why were you there to begin with?

Sarah’s gaze shifted from Autumn to stare out the window as if she was remembering, thinking, and measuring how much to say. Before his big fall into insobriety, her father had taught her to listen to her instincts. To listen to what people said, and to what they didn’t say. Sarah hadn’t said anything yet, but shewas already speaking volumes with her body language—she was scared.

---