Jack drove into the parking lot of Edmond High School in Oklahoma City to find a half dozen Sooner Baseball Boot Camp buses parked. Hundreds of kids were running around while parents unloaded duffle bags, equipment bags and youngsters. Camp counselors milled around with clipboards, answering questions and doing a lot of pointing and directing.
"Do you have everything?" Josie asked.
Alex rolled his eyes. "You've been over the list a thousand times, Josie. I have everything on the list plus some."
"Call me at the first opportunity," she exclaimed, as Jack and Alex pulled canvas bags out of her truck.
"No phones calls are allowed for two weeks unless approved by the Camp Director," Jack and Alex said at the same time, quoting from the camp list of rules.
"I'll be all right," Alex moaned with twelve-year-old exasperation. "We've checked, double-checked and triple-checked. I'll be okay."
When Josie didn't look appeased, the boy tried again.
"I'll be great! I'll have a great time, and I'll learn a lot!"
"Everyone, grab a bag," ordered Jack. They trudged off toward one of the clipboard-waving counselors who checked Alex's name off the list and assigned him to a bus. Before they could toss the bags into the pile, Jack pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed-dial number. A cell phone went off trumpeting the infamous 'Strike' ringtone. Both Jack and Alex looked at Josie.
"What?" Josie exclaimed. "I thought he might get homesick and need his phone!"
"No cell phones allowed!" Jack and Alex grumbled together as they searched the duffle bags until Alex came up with the offending contraband and handed it off to Jack.
"She's your problem now," Alex said, grinning. "You get to ground her for ignoring the rules!"
"Ha, ha, funny, I'm right here." Josie laughed and hugged Alex to her. "Seriously, Alex, I don't care about the rules. If you need something, anything at all, you march yourself right into that Camp Director's office and demand to call me. I'll be there ASAP!"
"I know," Alex groused. "We've been over this a million times. I'll be okay! It's baseball camp, Josie, not reform school! Jack, get her out of here before she starts blubbering all over me, and all the guys will think I'm a sissy!"
"Will do, kid," Jack said, putting the boy in a headlock and giving him a knuckle razz.
"You're it, Josie," Alex grinned, holding up a baseball card.
"Darn it," Josie complained. "What did you hide?"
"No fair, you have to figure it out," Alex grinned. "It's hidden in plain sight."
"You two, and your games," Jack said, shaking his head. "Kid, if it's the TV remote, I'll be coming after your hide! The last week of July, we'll be here for the playoff games. That is a promise."
Josie watched over her shoulder while Alex boarded the bus, and she waved like crazy as the boy ignored her.
"Come on," Jack grumbled, steering her back toward her truck.
"Wait, we have to see him off," Josie complained.
"He's fine and you're embarrassing him. You're acting like a mom," Jack said.
"Really?" Josie said and sniffed. "I am!" She whirled around for one last look at the bus. "I feel like his mom. He'll be safe there, and he'll have fun."
"Very few people know where he's going to be for the next five weeks," Jack agreed. "We're not telling anyone and you have Mrs. Tarry's promise that her people won't give out his whereabouts without a court order. That's not likely to happen. If his mother surfaces, she'll probably be tossed back into Centreville Retention Center. Give it up, Josie. For the next five weeks, you're single, hot, sexy, and all mine."
"Hot and sexy?" Josie repeated, jumping into the cab of her truck. "What are you going to do about that?"
"Oh, I've made plans. It's a surprise," Jack promised, "but not here in a PG-rated parking lot. We're heading for Holbart."
"You did plan this," Josie crooned, lying back in a large Jacuzzi tub filled with pink bubbles.
"I did," admitted Jack as he nuzzled her neck. "I called the three largest hotels in town to find one with a big Jacuzzi tub. Now it's my turn for make-up sex from you. You've been a brat all week."
"I had my reasons," Josie protested half-heartedly.
"A brat," Jack whispered, gripping her bottom and pulling her to him. "I'm going to deal with you."
"How?" she mumbled as he touched her, igniting yearnings and possibilities.
"You'll see," Jack promised.
She did see. He made her body delight with the need of him, writhe with pleasure, and thrill with every stroke and plunge of his searching tongue and fingers. He mastered her body and controlled her desires to make her repeatedly climb and desperately crave that elusive peak of release. He pulled her back from the edge over and over again, taunting her body, but not allowing her over that crest until she was quivering uncontrollably. He plunged his engorged penis into her hard, thick, and relentlessly as he pushed her over the edge into an orgasm that seemed to stretch into forever. He felt her muscles binding him, suckling him. She felt him plunging clear to her center; his thickness stroking her clit and continuing her orgasm as she bucked from ecstasy and the throbbing agony of pure pleasure.
Ten minutes later, Josie rolled over. "Are we in sex-induced comas?"
"Nearly," Jack agreed with a satisfied smile. "You can't be ready for another round of make-up sex?"
Josie moaned. "I may never be ready again. That had to be the ultimate of sexual experiences. We can't top that—ever."
"You underestimate us," Jack groaned. "I have to admit though, that I do need time to recover. Besides that, we have an appointment this afternoon, and I hate to succumb to pitiful human needs, but I'm starving."
"Hmmm," Josie mused. "So am I. I want the biggest, most audacious cheeseburger in this town."
Jack's head came up with a frown. "This from a woman who said veggie burgers were better for me?"
"They are. I was trying to set a good example," Josie admitted.
"Alex said you were a vegetarian!"
"I lied," giggled Josie. "He's twelve and a cave-boy carnivore, but he needs vegetables and whole foods."
With a growl of indignation, Jack sat up and hauled her across his naked lap. "I'm giving you one whack for every lousy, stinking veggie burger I've eaten since I came back!" Jack declared and landed a hard whack to her bare backside.
"Ouch!" Josie yelped and giggled. "Ouch!"
"Last Monday I ate three of those lousy things, and I was still hungry," Jack complained landing several more whacks.
"You should have snuck out to Cherilynn's Café and got a burger," Josie giggled. "That's what I do!"
Jack landed several more hard spanks to her backside, but Josie was laughing too hard for them to make any impression. He hauled her up and kissed her. "When cave boy gets back from camp, I'm ratting you out and I'm putting a side of beef in your freezer!"
"Our freezer is full of vegetables!" Josie laughed, escaping from his clutches. "We don't have room for your macho side of beef!"
"We will by the time Alex gets back," Jack promised. "I'm going to get one of those big chest freezers, and it's going to be filled with beef—steaks, hamburger, and ribs! Good God woman, you made me eat tofu surprise whatever the hell that mess was!"
"You said you liked it!" Josie said, howling with laughter.
"We lied. We didn't want to hurt your feelings," Jack responded, laughing, "When you left the room to find the phone, we both chucked it in the trash bin!"
Josie jumped him. "You lied? You, Mr. always tell the truth!"
"Yeah, well, I was trying to get Alex to at least try it," Jack groaned. "That stuff was disgusting! I'm getting a grill too, the biggest he-man grill I can get my hands on!
"So how do we find the best burger in this town?" Jack asked when they had dressed and were cruising around town.
"That's easy," Josie admitted. "We find a cop and ask him. Cops always know where to find the best food in town."
That strategy worked as Jack pulled i
nto a parking lot, and Josie ran over to a parked police car and came back with a scrawled map. Thirty minutes later they were inside a hole-in-the-wall joint with a flashing neon sign of 'best coffee in town' in the window. The coffee was the best, but the burgers were even better. Soon they were chowing down on some seriously good cheeseburgers.
Halfway through the huge burger, her appetite appeased, Josie dragged a French fry through a blob of ketchup. "So what is this appointment we have this afternoon?" she asked.
"It's with Sheriff Malone and Kiowa County Homicide Detective, Rich Webber."
"Why wasn't I told?" Josie demanded sharply.
"You had other things on your mind. Don't bitch at me about it. You and I are only there at the request of Sheriff Malone. He thought since I was the main suspect, and you were not officially off the books as sheriff when the body was found, that we should be given the results of the investigation so far. Detective Webber will be talking to Sheriff Malone first, and they'll decide if and what they're going to tell us depending on the results of the medical examiner."
"Sheriff Malone saw fit to tell you and not me. Why was that?" Josie demanded.
"You'll have to take that up with him," Jack said, finishing off his double-decker cheeseburger. "Remember, you are out of the law business now."
Later Josie walked out of the Holbart Police Headquarters and over to a small park area. She sat down on a bench feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Jack and Sheriff Malone followed her.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen in Rawlings," Josie said in disbelief.
"This kind of thing happens everywhere," Sheriff Malone said gently.
"No, it doesn't. Rawlings has domestic arguments. People run stop signs and have food fights. There has been one stabbing in the last fifteen years, and an outsider did it. The only shooting in the last twenty years was LeRoy Hastings, who shot himself in the foot while cleaning his gun.
"Now someone has assaulted and raped a woman, choked her to death, brought her to Rawlings, and set her on fire. What kind of sick monster does something like that?"
"The point is Detective Webber thinks it was a random thing," Sheriff Malone said, rubbing the back of his head. "A crime of convenience he called it. Someone murdered that girl two days before torching the house with her body in it. She's been missing from Texas for five days. Someone was driving by, saw an empty house isolated off by itself and thought it was a good way to dispose of the body and eliminate the evidence. They dumped the body, set the house on fire and drove off."
Josie bolted from the bench and went behind a tree to throw up. Sheriff Malone handed Jack a clean handkerchief, which he took to Josie.
"After looking at those photographs, I wasn't feeling so good either. Well, I'm going to head back," said Sheriff Malone. "I'll see you two back in town. I didn't expect this kind of thing of a small town either."
Josie nodded. "Jack, let's go home."
"I thought we'd spend the night in Holbart, go back in the morning."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry to ruin your plans, but I want to go home. I want to be in my home, feel safe in my hometown. I don't even know if I can do that ever again."
"Come on, Josie, this was a fluke thing," Jack said. "You heard what Webber said. Rawlings is still home. It's still a boring little town where people get into cupcake fights. That hasn't changed."
"I thought I left all the ugliness behind in Washington," Josie said. "I didn't want to be around that kind of thing anymore."
"Ugly comes in many forms," Jack said gently. "You've lived through your share of ugly right in Rawlings. It's a small town, but it's a long way from perfect."
They checked out of the hotel and headed home. Jack had barely passed through the Rawlings town limits when Tyler Johnson, one of the younger deputies, flagged him down.
"You'd better head over to the sheriff's office, Josie. Georgina has put out a call looking for you. She said you weren't answering your phone."
Josie dived into her purse. "I forgot to turn it back on after our meeting," she complained as Jack pulled up in front of the office. She jumped out, and he followed her inside.
"Where in the Sam hell have you been?" Georgina exclaimed.
"What's wrong? Is it Alex? Is he hurt?" Josie demanded.
"Calm down, honey, it has nothing to do with Alex," Georgina exclaimed. "It's Sheriff Malone. He was in a car accident. He must be hurt real bad because they called a life-flight helicopter to transport him to Trauma One at Oklahoma City Medical Center."
"We couldn't have been that far behind him," Jack said. "We didn't see anything."
"I think you were ahead of him," Georgina corrected. "He called me when he was leaving and said he was going to check out a boot store on the way out of town. He said he wanted to buy some boots, and he'd get back on the road. He didn't make it. Someone ran a stop sign and broadsided him on the driver's side. I got a call from the Holbart Police when they checked his credentials and sent him off to the hospital."
Mayor Aiden Roland stepped through the door. "Josie, you're going to have to take the badge back."
"Do you know something Georgina doesn't?" Josie demanded. "How bad was Charles hurt?"
"I don't know, but I do know this town can't be without a Sheriff," Aiden complained.
"You might want to find out what's going on before jumping to conclusions," Josie snapped. "Georgina, see if you can get through to Captain Will Harper, he's the Chief of Police in Oklahoma City. He might be able to get information out of the hospital that they won't give us. Until we find out how serious this situation is, we don't need to panic. Georgina, pull the sheriff's file and contact his family. Aiden, appoint Clay Tucker as temporary Acting until we find out more."
"He won't take it," Aiden complained.
"Don't give him a choice," Josie snapped. "Clay should have been in charge all along."
"But, Josie!"
Josie gave the mayor a look that made him look away.
"All right, Georgina, find Clay and tell him to come to my office, but he's not going to be happy."
Josie wasn't too happy four hours later when she returned to the sheriff's office. Charles Malone was in critical condition. He had not yet regained consciousness, and the severity of his injuries would keep him out of work for many months. He had a broken hip, broken pelvis, both a broken leg and a broken arm, in addition to a long list of other broken parts, and those were not the serious injuries. He had internal injuries to his kidneys and was on the operating table.
The entire Rawlings town council, all five members, the mayor, three deputies, Georgina and Josie, were squashed into the small sheriff's office.
"Josie, you've got to do it," Mayor Aiden Roland insisted.
"I don't have to do anything," Josie snapped back. "There's no reason Deputy Tucker can't take the badge. Clay has been wearing a deputy badge for fourteen years, and there's no reason he can't step up to do the job!"
"I don't want to be sheriff," Clay Tucker said slowly as was his way. "I'm fine working under a sheriff, be it you, Josie, or anyone else."
"See," Aiden exclaimed. "You have to take the badge. It will only be until Sheriff Malone comes back!"
"Aiden, that it could be a year or more with his injuries, if ever! Call a special election instead of hiring someone. The job of sheriff should have been put on the election ballot years ago."
"We decided a long time ago that the job of sheriff should not be an elected official, but a person with the background and experience to do the job," interrupted Mrs. Freeman, the Victor Rawlings High School Principal and leader of the town council. "Even if we decided to do that, it doesn't change the immediate problem. We need a sheriff now, and you need to step up and do your duty, Josie."
"Why me," Josie demanded, but she automatically dropped her eyes when the older woman gave her a steely look she'd perfected on misbehaving teenage students over the last thirty years.
"Because sometimes we have to step up and do what's
right," Mrs. Freeman said. "Don't we?"
Josie knew defeat when she was faced with it. "Yes, ma'am."
There was an almost audible sigh of relief in the room.
"But, only until you hire someone to replace him," Josie said stiffly. "I am not taking on the job of sheriff again for an undetermined period!"
"Good, that's settled. Thank you, Josie," Mrs. Freeman said, turning to leave the office with the rest of the council members following her.
Josie snagged the mayor by the sleeve and held him back. "Not so fast!"
"Now, Josie, you agreed," Aiden said, trying to inch his way closer to escaping.
"Temporarily," Josie snapped, "and you'd better get on the phone with the state people and get an extension on that inspection of the sheriff's department because I am not doing it. Got that?"
"I'll try," Aiden promised.
"No, you'll do it," Josie threatened as she slammed the door behind everyone, sat down in the leather chair, and spun around furiously. She was never going to get rid of this damn job!
Josie picked up two large, thick steaks on the way home, where she found Jack painting a second coat over the graffiti on the back of the garage.
"Is it going to cover this time? The black fluorescent spray paint keeps bleeding through," she said, holding up the grocery sack. "I brought steak."
"You took the job back, didn't you?" Jack asked.
"I had to. Mrs. Freeman ganged up on me and gave me the evil eye," Josie whined.
Jack chuckled. "I ran into her one morning jogging by her place. She's scarier now than when I was in school."
"If she hadn't shown up, I could have beat Aiden and the council down. Mrs. Freeman still makes me feel like I'm thirteen, and caught smoking in the bathroom."
Jack grinned. "Did she make you scrub the bathrooms or use the paddle on you?"
"I had to scrub the bathroom. I don't think she ever used that paddle on anyone or at least on anyone that has ever admitted it. Although it's still legal in most Oklahoma school districts. She keeps that thing front and center on her desk as a scare tactic, and it works." She shuddered.
Jack kissed her on the top of her head. "I'll give you an exemption for caving. Mrs. Freeman still scares me, too."
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