Page 181 of Things Left Unsaid

“We’ll stand shoulder to shoulder.”

“I’m sure Terry Reilly will love that.”

“Sucks to be him. Anyway, I can make my ranks up myself. Wondered if you could help me with that.”

I rub my cheek as I think about the town’s occupants. “What numbers are you talking about? What’s your jurisdiction?”

“Twenty. And it’ll be covering Louisville and Grangetown and the twenty-mile perimeter around the three towns.”

“What about the Marguerite Lake community?”

He grins at me. “Yup.”

I hide a smile. “Let me guess, those on high don’t want the tribe on board but you’re going to shove that shit on its head?”

“Oh, yeah. They hired me because of my name. Let’s face it.Iwas given the job for a reason. If Cole had retired this season, they’d probably have approachedhim.”

I hoot at the idea of my hockey-boi brother being the local marshal. “Let’s be thankful for small mercies.”

“We have a large Métis population in this area, but they’re never represented and this marshal service is a concern. The First Nations’ councils are gathering about it because they know they’re the ones who will be shafted.

“I was going to do a recruitment drive in Marguerite Lake. You still get along well with the chief, don’t you?”

I nod. “Gabriel hasn’t spoken to me in a while though.”

“Why not?”

“Theo dated his sister.”

“Not your fault,” he points out. “Plus, Theo’s Métis.”

“His mom is.” I shrug. “But Gabriel said I should have warned him. I probably should’ve but Theo’s good people. If you or Cole had been sniffing around her heels, I would have.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“You know it’s true.”

“You’re no monk,” he complains, bringing me full circle to my earlier thoughts.

“No,” I concur. “I’m not.”

His expression is knowing enough that he’s lucky he’s using a crutch. Still, he doesn’t have a death wish. “You willing to speak to Gabriel for me?”

“Sure, but it might not work in your favor.”

“I think it will. He has to know what your reaching out would mean. It’ll be a relief, I figure. The powers that be don’t know how close our ties are with the Métis.”

I hum. “True. They would if theylooked. We’re descended from them thanks to our great-grandma, and our workers are eighty percent from the reserve.”

“That’s higher than during Uncle Clayton’s guardianship.”

“Clyde’s a racist asshole. He cut the numbers and that’s one of the reasons we suffered for a long time. No one knows the land in this area better than the Métis. It took me a while to get them to trust me again, but they did and slowly, I’ve brought them in.

“Gabriel only ascended to chief during the last election so he knows I’ve been working hard on that front.”

“If you only have them out on the range, does that appear discriminatory?”

I snort. “Who said that I only have them out on the range?”

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