Page 148 of The Woman Left Behind

“When I had time, I was going to talk to you, Wade and Karen. We need at least another investigator, with the growth in this county, it’d be better to have more. This means I need one, or all of you, to sit the detective’s exam.”

“We got money for that?”

Harry tapped the stack. “We’re up to our necks, Sean, and I suspect that isn’t going to end anytime soon. I’ll find the money to promote when you pass.”

“You think I’m ready for that?”

Sean was one of Harry’s hires. He’d done three years as a beat cop in Seattle before his wife got pregnant, and both of them decided they wanted to raise their kids somewhere safer and quieter than the big city, and not incidentally, Sean’s job would be safer too.

This meant he had seven years of police work under his belt.

“I’m not sure why you’re questioning it,” Harry remarked.

“I thought you’d go for Wade.”

“As I said, this county is growing. Rus is the best at what he does, but he’s not Superman.” Harry indicated his computer with his hand. “And I’ve got to have half a mind to budgets, liaising with town councils and the County Commission, and twenty other admin tasks I can’t let slide. I’ve got a jail to run, traffic to maintain, warrants to serve, a courthouse to keep safe, parole officers to support. It’s time to promote, and you three have what it takes, so I want you three to consider this and make a decision.” He tipped his head to the two files. “You can start with those. I want Rus focused, and considering I don’t have a conflict of interest with anyone in those cases, you can run things with me. But yes. You’re ready for it. And yes, I want you to start with the basics on those files and work up.”

Harry leaned into his forearms on his desk and finished it.

“Link that gun to Abernathy or Farrell. Link Tremblay to Dern or Farrell. Connect the dots.” He sat back. “If there are no dots to connect, find what dots there are and show them to me. I’ll supervise, but you’re driving on this one, Sean. Let’s get some good work done.”

Sean nodded, one side of his lips lifting up, before he took the files and walked out of Harry’s office.

He nearly ran into Harrys’ dad as he left.

“Sorry,” Sean said.

“Takes two to tango,” Greg Moran replied good-naturedly.

Sean smiled at Harry’s dad, nodded to him and disappeared.

Greg came in.

“Surprised you can walk straight, considering you’ve spent the afternoon with your crew at The Hole,” Harry joked as he watched his father take a seat.

“My boy’s the sheriff. Not feeling like getting a DUI. It might be embarrassing for him.”

Harry grinned. “Obliged.”

“Caro’s going to stay another day, as planned. I’m gonna run her into Seattle, then come back, stay at the old place,” his dad announced.

Harry wasn’t a fan of that.

And he saw that his father wasn’t over his concern of the day before.

“Dad—”

“No, Harry,” Greg cut him off. “You still got my old shotguns. I’ll replace the camera with something that gives me a heads-up I got company. I’ll oversee the replacement of the windows once the insurance company gets itself sorted. Though, I reckon whatever weaselly-assed coward pulled that shit, he did it because he knew you weren’t there. Probably not gonna pull any more shit if someone’s there.”

“And he might,” Harry pointed out.

“So he’ll get some buckshot in him if he does,” Greg returned.

As sheriff, no matter he wouldn’t mind Karl Abernathy running from a shotgun pointed at him, he couldn’t condone anyone pointing a shotgun at anybody.

“Dad—” Harry tried again.

“Let me save you the time and trouble,” Greg interrupted. “You can talk, and you can talk some more, I’m not going anywhere, but I am gonna stay there. This is not about me doubting you can handle yourself or your job. I know you can handle both. This is deeper, and we both know it.”

---