Page 2

2

T he sheriff’s station was only a few doors down from the newspaper office where Kai Oliver produced the once-a-week paper that his grandfather had run for over fifty years. Back then, it had been printed every day, of course, when people read newspapers in the morning with their coffee. Kai didn’t know how his Grandpa Mitch had found enough news to fill a daily paper, but somehow he had, from all around the area.

Kai, on the other hand, struggled to fill the weekly issue with enough pertinent news to keep people buying it. Which was why he was standing in the middle of the sheriff’s station. It was the first day for the new sheriff of Harper, and everyone was talking about it. Once again, the Reilly family was smack-dab in the middle of the gossip mill.

Yesterday, Kai had attended the retirement ceremony for Seth Reilly. The retiring lawman had been given a gold watch, a party, and several send-off speeches praising their longtime sheriff. Considering Seth Reilly had been instrumental in capturing not just one, but two serial killers, he could have left this little backwater town a long time ago for greener and more lucrative pastures. Many of his friends had, but Seth had always said that his roots were here. Now his young daughter was taking over.

Lulu Reilly.

When Kai had visited his granddad in the summers, he had a few memories of Lulu when she was much younger. Even then, she’d been a force of nature, somehow organizing all the neighborhood kids into doing whatever she wanted - hide and seek, kickball, or hanging out at her mother’s coffee shop and eating free cookies.

Kai had seen that Lulu was a born leader who didn’t have a fearful bone in her body. She walked through life supremely confident, and damn, if things didn’t usually work out for her. Now she was the new head lawperson in Harper, without any experience at all.

Unless he counted her being the daughter of a legend. Did that count? He wasn’t sure. Either way, he was here to see if she would agree to talk to him for an article in the paper. Sort of a way to introduce herself to the town, not that she needed any introductions. He was planning a light piece, maybe talking about any plans she had and how much she loved the town. Something feel-good that would have a positive tone.

There were already a few voices that weren’t happy about her new job.

It was mostly men, to be honest. Kai had stopped into Leon’s for a beer last night, and a few of the regulars were bitching that women shouldn’t be cops. That it wasn’t natural. That sort of bullshit. They’d made a few jokes of getting her an apron and a rolling pin. Kai was pretty sure that Lulu knew exactly what to do with a rolling pin.

Hit stupid guys upside the head with it.

Kai was trying to keep an open mind about her appointment. It was true she didn’t have much or any experience but the job, for the most part, was fairly routine and uneventful. If it hadn’t been, he would have had more to put in the newspaper.

If she needed to break up a fight on Saturday night, she had a few burly deputies to help her out. If she needed to look into some cattle rustling, that involved more brains than brawn. Honestly, only time would tell if Lulu had what it took to succeed. He’d heard there hadn’t been any other people wanting the job either. The deputies didn’t want the responsibility, and more experienced lawpersons wanted more money. So, they’d hired Lulu.

“Hey, Kai. What’s up?” Deputy Steve asked. “What can we do for you?”

“I was hoping to talk to Lulu. Is she here?”

The sheriff’s station wasn’t large, just a few desks in the main room, the sheriff’s personal office, which was more like a closet, a few storage rooms, and an interrogation room in the back with a table and chairs. Upstairs was a small apartment where Lulu’s mom had lived when she first moved to Harper. At least that’s what Kai had been told. There were a lot of stories from back then, and he’d always wondered if they were all true.

The town grapevine had said that Lulu was now living there with some guy named Henry.

“She ran upstairs for a minute, but she’ll be back down. Help yourself to some coffee and relax. I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you.”

The old story was that Presley put a fancy coffeemaker in the sheriff’s station and people began hanging around and visiting. Then she opened a coffee shop a few blocks down, but the coffeemaker at the station had been replaced as the years had passed. Everyone knew they could always get a hot cup of good coffee there, along with help for whatever they needed.

“Don’t mind if I do. I left the house with only half a cup under my belt.”

“The pot’s fresh.”

“What do you think of your new boss?” Kai asked as he poured himself a cup. “I’m sure you’re going to miss Seth.”

“We will,” Steve said, his expression sad. “He’s a good man to work for, and we all respect the hell out of him. But it was his time, you know? He deserves to have some fun in his retirement. As for Lulu, she said she’s not going to make any big changes for a while. She wants to see how things run, so I’m not too worried. I’ve known her since we were both kids. She’s not a tyrant, and she’s always fun. It should be fine. It’s not like we’re a hotbed of crime here in town.”

That had been one of Kai’s questions. What changes was she looking to make? He still planned to ask her and get the answer straight from her lips.

“Do all the deputies feel that way?”

Steve chuckled and rubbed his chin at the question.

“If you’re looking for dissension in the ranks, I don’t know what to tell you. None of us wanted to be sheriff, so we’re not mad that she got it. If someone doesn’t want her to have the job, they aren’t being vocal about it.”

Kai hoped it stayed that way. The last thing Lulu needed was a deputy that didn’t have her back.

“Were you surprised about her being named sheriff?”

“Hell, yes. But so was her daddy. You should have seen his face.”

That might be the story. Right there. How did Seth feel about all of this?

“He didn’t know?”

“Apparently not. He was as shocked as we were. They all went to his house this morning, and they must have worked it all out because she came back and got right to work looking through open case files.”

The door to the stairwell that led to the apartment opened, and Lulu entered the main station. She was wearing blue jeans and a beige uniform shirt, just like Seth always had. Except that the former sheriff hadn’t had a fantastic figure and face. Lulu took after her mama in the looks department, and she was every bit of a beauty that could turn heads. Long light brown hair, sky-blue eyes, and legs that were made to wear blue jeans and cowboy boots had made Lulu Reilly the prom queen her senior year.

At over sixty, Presley Reilly was still a stunning woman, too. The whole family had won the gene pool lottery from what Kai could see. Ben and Chase weren’t exactly ugly either, and both had broken a few hearts along the way.

“Hey, Lulu,” Steve called. “Kai was hoping to talk to you. Got a minute?”

“Sure,” she said, her gaze intent as she walked toward him. “My mom told me that you’d taken over your granddad’s newspaper.”

Her tone was neutral, not making his actions sound good or bad. He’d heard plenty from his friends and some of his family about how stupid it was, coming back here to save a tiny local paper that should have been out of business years ago. So far, he hadn’t had any regrets. Yet, anyway.

“About six months ago,” he replied. “I’ll get right to the point. I was hoping to do an article about you coming back to take over for your dad. Why you did it, your plans. How you feel about being back in your hometown after a few years away, that sort of thing. And then maybe a day in the life, as well. Honestly, I’d love to have a regular column about what’s happening from the sheriff’s point of view.”

Her eyes had narrowed as she’d studied him, perhaps to see if he was serious. He was, and he hoped it showed.

“A day in the life might only be a few sentences,” Lulu said, a smile finally blooming on her face. “You might want to make it a week in the life, or maybe even a month. So far today, I’ve ordered coffee, looked through active cases, and I’m currently headed out to talk to a citizen about blocking their neighbor’s driveway. Is that what you had in mind?”

“Believe it or not, yes. I think it would be a good human interest story and positive publicity for the sheriff’s office.”

Kai knew how to persuade people. At one point in his life, he’d been a hell of a lawyer. Too good. But that was his previous life.

“Fine,” she said. “I plan on running a transparent office here, just like my dad. So, let’s go.”

Wait, he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

“Go?”

“You’re going with me, right? You said you wanted to write a story about my day. Well…this is my day. Are you coming?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

He didn’t have anything else that was pressing to do today. Life was pretty boring in Harper most days.

He followed Lulu out to her official SUV, climbing into the passenger side as she slid behind the wheel. He had a feeling this had been her dad’s truck before because she had to pull her seat up several inches to reach the pedals.

She turned off the main road and appeared to be headed toward the small suburb that had sprung up outside of town about ten years before.

“I remember you.”

He was surprised. He was an introvert at heart, and he hadn’t spent much time with the town’s kids who often ran in packs all day during the summertime. He’d liked to spend most of his time with his grandpa Mitch.

“I spent most of my time at the newspaper office.”

“You played softball with us. You were a good hitter.”

“I think you’re being kind. I wasn’t much of an athlete back then.”

In college, he’d had a roommate who got him into fitness, but until then he’d barely broke a sweat.

“Do you like running the newspaper?”

“I do,” he replied. “Very much.”

“I heard you were a lawyer in Los Angeles.”

“I was,” he confirmed. “Now I’m not.”

Her lips curved into a smile at his reply.

“Got it. That’s not a subject you talk about. How about you ask me a few questions for your article, and I’ll answer them while I drive. Sound good?”

It did, so they chatted a bit as she drove. He hadn’t known Lulu all that well when they were kids. They could barely be called acquaintances, to be honest. She’d always been welcoming when he’d played with the other youth in town, but they hadn’t spent any time one on one. He hadn’t been sure what to expect talking to her. She’d always come across as supremely confident, and it was the same today, except…

It was tempered with a maturity and humility that he hadn’t anticipated. Lulu was talking about wanting to do a good job, to be worthy of the title of sheriff. There was a quiet confidence, but it wasn’t a foolhardy one.

Determination. That’s what it was. She was determined to do a good job, and she was going to do whatever it took to make sure it happened.

“Failure isn’t really an option,” she replied, answering another of his questions. “If I fail, then the town suffers. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Plus, who wants to fail? No one.”

Shit, he shouldn’t have said it like that.

“Sorry,” he quickly said. “That was more about me than you.”

“Got some baggage from LA?”

“Kind of.”

“Relax, I didn’t take offense. No, I don’t want to be a failure. I want to succeed. This job means something to me.”

“Because of your dad?”

“Sure, because of my dad.”

They’d pulled up in front of a two-story home outside of town. The whole neighborhood looked almost the same, with only a few differences between the houses. This one had a Winnie the Pooh flag hanging from the front porch along with some begonias in window boxes.

“Your answer didn’t sound very convincing,” he observed. “Is that what you want me to print?”

“You can print whatever you want, Kai,” Lulu said as she exited the vehicle.

“You don’t care what I print?”

She stopped and turned to look at him. She wasn’t upset or mad. If anything, she looked…amused.

“Is my level of caring going to change what you write?”

“Probably not.”

“Then I’m not going to waste any energy on it then. You seem like a reasonable person. From what I’ve heard you’re well-liked in town and people think you do a good job. Do I need to be worried? Are you planning a hit piece on me?”

“That’s not my sort of journalism.”

“Then we’re fine. Okay, let’s see what the problem here is.”

The problem was two neighbors who had several cars between them, and sometimes one of them would park his car across the bottom of the other person’s driveway. Perry Jenkins and Stan Walters had started out as buddies but recently the relationship had gone downhill. They were now hissing and being nasty whenever they’d see each other.

“It’s illegal,” Lulu told Stan. “You can’t park at the end of his driveway and block it. Even if it wasn’t illegal, it’s rude. C’mon, Stan. You know that. What’s going on here?”

The arguing between the two men had been going on for a good fifteen minutes, and Lulu had let them have their say. Each of them had made their arguments while calling each other a few not-so-nice names as they were doing it.

“He’s got too many cars,” Perry said in a heated tone. “That’s what’s going on here. And now he’s trying to make it my problem. I’ve got problems of my own, Lulu. Your dad knew that. Seth told him to stop, and he hasn’t.”

“You don’t know what problems are,” Stan shot back. “My daughter and that no-good son-in-law live with me now along with the baby, and there’s nothing but crying and yelling all day and all night. I’m about ready to grab my camping gear and go live in the woods to get away from it all.”

Perry and Stan went back and forth for a while more while Lulu mostly listened, only interjecting a few words here and there. Eventually, both of them went quiet. They seemed to have exhausted themselves, complaining about each other and the issues in their lives. Lulu had nodded at the appropriate moments as if she understood.

“Sounds look you guys have your hands full. Things are a bit out of control, and you’re not sure what to do. Amiright?”

Stan shook his head wearily.

“Lulu, you have no idea.”

“Damn, Stan. I didn’t know it was like that,” Perry said, clapping his neighbor on the back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I dunno. Didn’t want anyone to know it was that bad,” Stan replied, his head hanging. “I’m at the point I don’t know what to do. I’m ready to kick them out, but Willa would kill me.”

There was more silence as the men seemed to have come to some sort of crossroads. Eventually, Perry nodded, rubbing his hands together.

“I’ll tell you what. You can park your car next to mine in the driveway. That way you can get in and out to go to work easily. In the meantime, I can put a bug in Gail’s ear about it. She and Willa talk every day, so maybe she can drop a few hints.”

“You’d do that?” Stan said, a smile beginning to bloom on his face. “Damn, Willa just might listen to Gail. She sure as hell isn’t listening to me.”

“It’s her daughter. That’s got to be tough,” Perry said. “Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll talk about it?”

“Can I assume that my services are no longer needed here?” Lulu asked.

“Sorry that I called you out here,” Perry said. “I guess things got out of hand a bit.”

“It’s fine. It was nice seeing you both today. Stop by the station and have a cup of coffee with me next time you’re in town. We can catch up. In the meantime, call me if you need me.”

“Tell your dad and mom to have a great time on their vacation,” Stan said. “Have they left yet?”

“Not yet, and I can just get back in time to see them off before Chase drives them to the airport.”

“You better skedaddle then,” Perry grinned. “We don’t want you to miss that. One more thing before you go,” Perry said, his gaze moving to Kai who had been watching all of this unfold. “This isn’t going to be in the paper, is it? Because we don’t need anyone sticking their nose into this.”

“When I write the article about Lulu’s first day, I’ll just say there was a small disagreement between neighbors, but it was all worked out. How about that?” Kai asked.

The article was about Lulu, after all, not a parking dispute.

“Thanks,” Stan said. “We appreciate that.”

The men disappeared inside of Perry’s house, and Kai and Lulu climbed back into the SUV.

“You did good back there,” he said as they drove out of the neighborhood. “You must have some magic secret to calming people down.”

“They just wanted to be heard, that’s all. They felt like no one was listening to them.”

“And you know something about that?”

“I’m the middle child. Plus, I swear my poor mother had to mediate arguments between me and my brothers when we were little. There was always some disagreement going on. Now when we’re mad, we just ignore the person in the family group chat. Kind of passive-aggressive if you ask me.”

“Well, what you did worked. Do you and your brothers get along now?”

“For the most part, we do. We are very different people though.”

“How? Please pardon the nosy question. I’m an only child who always wanted a sibling.”

“Be careful what you ask for. As for how we’re different, I guess Chase is the most laidback of all three of us. Nothing ruffles his feathers, nothing gets him upset. He was a happy baby from what my mom said.”

“And your older brother?”

“What can I say about Ben?” Lulu replied with a sigh. “He was born a grown-up. Or it seemed that way. Always the responsible one, a little adult by the time he went to kindergarten. I once heard my parents debating whether he acted like that as a reaction to me being so wild, or whether I acted wild as a reaction to him being a short adult. I guess you can take your pick. Either way, he makes it a point to disagree with me on just about everything including the color of the sky.”

“With Chase stuck in the middle?”

“Chase makes it a point to never be in the middle. He may be the smartest of us all.”

Lulu had pulled the vehicle up to the front of the sheriff’s station where her parents were standing outside chatting with an older woman who looked familiar, but Kai couldn’t quite place. He was still learning everyone’s names.

“Can we call it for today?” Lulu asked when Seth waved at them. “I think my dad wants to talk before they leave for the airport.”

Kai had a feeling there was far more to what she was asking, but that wasn’t any of his business. He wasn’t writing that sort of article.

“Sure, should I come by tomorrow?”

“Anytime. I’ll be here.”

Kai thanked her for letting him come along before climbing out of the SUV and heading down the street toward the newspaper office. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Seth was now sitting in the passenger seat that he’d just vacated.

It was the changing of the guard in a way. Seth retiring, and his daughter taking over. How did Seth truly feel about that? Steve had said that her father was shocked. Was he giving Lulu some last-minute advice?

One thing was for sure, this town was never going to be the same. Change was happening whether they liked it or not.