Page 47 of Sterling Stone

A sharp crackle on the radio attached to the vest over my uniform causes me to jump.

“Sheriff?” Fern is our new dispatcher, and she’s still learning the ropes.

“Fern,” I state, squeezing the sides of the radio.

“Sorry to contact you like this, sir, but you weren’t answering your phone.”

Reaching for the device in my back pocket, a few notifications pop up, all missed calls and text messages from the department.

Sir, I need you to call in.

This is urgent but not an emergency.

Sheriff Stone?

“What’s going on?” As I read the messages, my brows cinch. Urgent but not an emergency?

My thoughts leap to Hudson.

“It’s Trudy Wallace, sir. We got a call this morning from her grandson. She’s been taken to Milton County General.”

Our small-town community is roughly forty minutes from Huntington, and the hospital is just outside the larger town’s limits. We have a clinic in Sterling Falls for minor emergencies but rushed to the hospital sounds like something major.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Massive heart attack, sir. I thought you’d like to know.”

“Where’s Simon?” The boy is ten now. Trudy is his entire world, next to Judd and Genie.

“He demanded to be allowed to go with Trudy.”

“Copy that. Over and out,” I click the radio as I rush toward the front door.

The department has strict orders to contact me regarding anything related to my family and Trudy Wallace. The list of strict-order-contacts could go on and on, but I narrowed it down to my siblings, their partners, their children, and this one woman because of all she tried to do for us. All she’d been to our mother.

Thick as thieves, my mom used to tell me.

Violet Beauchamp moved to Sterling Falls during her high school years. She’d say starting a new school felt like the most difficult thing in her life. Then she had children.

For half a second, I can almost feel my mother tapping the tip of my nose and witness the smile on her lips as she teases.

Trudy was the first person Mom met when she came to Sterling Falls. My father was the second.

It was not love at first sight, Mom would say.

It was definitely love at first sight, he’d argue.

Settling into my department-issued truck, I speed out of the gravel driveway, kicking up rocks, and head for the highway leading to Huntington.

“Call Judd,” I grunt to the voice-activated equipment in the truck that links with my phone.

“Stone.” Judd sounds breathless.

“I got a call from⁠—”

“Simon called me. I’m already on my way.”

Logically, both of us don’t need to be headed to the hospital, but Judd’s relationship with Simon kicks him into big brother mode.