Fire at Dusk: Part 21

Deputy Smith had spent the better part of the last twenty minutes or so consoling Jessie. Jessie finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep clutching a small, heart-shaped pendant that Dick had given her. Once she was sure Jessie was out, the deputy cautiously stood up and crept out the bedroom door.

She looked around the living room, expecting to see the sheriff, but Roger was the only one there.

“Where's the sheriff and Jim?” she whispered to Roger.

Roger chewed on his lip. “The sheriff took Jim down to the station.”

“The station?” Deputy Smith frowned deeply and glared in Roger's direction.

“Yeah, he... wasn't convinced that an animal killed Dick.”

“We haven't even-” Deputy Smith paused to collect herself. Two people were dead and somehow the sheriff was positive that Jim was the killer, even though the evidence she had presented him with pointed to animal involvement. She felt a twinge of anger well up inside of her as she thought about how bullheaded the sheriff was being on this. She was used to his bluster, but his behavior tonight went beyond that. He had crossed the line into reckless.

“I'm startin' to get worried about Buck and Shirley Sue,” Roger said, breaking Deputy Smith out of her thoughts. “I'm going to go look for them if it's all the same to you.”

Deputy Smith sighed “I know you're worried about them, but I need you to hold fast here with Jessie. She's not in the right state of mind to be left alone. I'll go find them while I'm out looking for Dick's body.”

“Okay,” he replied after a moment's hesitation, and then nodded at the deputy. “If yer going out there you should take the shotgun with ya. I'll hold down the fort with one of the others we've got here.”

“Thanks.”

The deputy slung the shotgun over her shoulder and grabbed a box of shells. She took a few steps toward the door. Butterflies welled up inside of her as the uncertainty of what she would face out there gnawed away at her fortitude. She grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Light spilled over the stairs into the darkness.

“Oh and Roger,” she said, looking back at him with a half smile. “Take care of yourself.”

“You too deputy.”

Deputy Smith exhaled as she closed the door behind her. Her fingers brushed against the frame of the door, driving a splinter into her middle finger.

“Dammit,” she cursed under her breath. How much worse could the night get?