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"Not same as me. I went into these hills with my father when I was four. He left me out there and made me find my way home. "
I frowned. "You never told me that. "
"It was. . . private. "
"It was child abuse. "
"What?" Grace appeared genuinely shocked by my comment.
"If someone called you and said a four-year-old girl had been left in the woods alone, on purpose, what would you do, Sheriff McDaniel?"
"Find the kid. "
"And then? Would you give that kid back to the people who'd abandoned her at an age when she should be watching Big Bird instead of dodging his relatives as they swoop down and try to eat her eyes for breakfast?"
"You've been watching too much Hitchcock. Birds don't usually do that. "
"I might not be 'heap big hunter' like you, but I know what vultures do, and scavengers of any type prey on the weak. " Boy did I know that. "You could have died out there, Grace. I would have been really pissed off. "
She smiled. "Thanks. "
"So what else did your dad do in the name of tradition?"
She shot me a look that had me tightening my lips over any further questions. I guess we'd shared all we were going to for one day.
"I'll let you know what I find out there," she said. "Meanwhile you can search for that info. "
"I'll need the talisman. "
She reached into her pocket and slapped the icon into my palm. "Don't lose it. "
"Have I ever lost anything?"
"Your mind," she muttered as she walked out of the room.
Chapter 14
I meant to go straight to the office, but I became sidetracked.
As mayor I needed to make an appearance at the sidewalk sale, so I walked up and down each street, peering at every table, speaking with the merchants, being complimentary while managing to refrain from buying a single item lest I show favoritism to anyone.
Politics.
Returning to Center Street, I discovered a line trailed out of the cafe, blocking the sidewalk so that people had to divert into the street to pass. This caused a backup of traffic that had ruckus written all over it. I hurried over and suggested another place to eat to those at the end of the line, then wound up getting yelled at by Bobby Turnbaugh.
Talk about a ruckus.
I was only able to mollify him by promising to hold the next four town council meetings at the cafe.
A trio of kids had set up a lemonade stand at the corner of Center and Bailiwick. They were cute as puppies, so eager to please they became downright wiggly when I gave them a dollar instead of a quarter for a glass. I took a sip and sprayed it onto the pavement.
The three stared at me with wide blue eyes. "We just made the lemonade the way our granny does. "
"What's your name?"
"McGinty. "
Great. Their granny ran the biggest moonshine operation in the county. No wonder my teeth felt like the enamel had been eaten off.
