Evergreen by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 3

Christine made her rounds of the town. On most weekdays, Evergreen’s activities were focused on the mill as well as the lumber camp several miles to the west. Returning to her office, she sat at her desk, and he immediately noticed a message on her answering machine. But as she was about to listen to it, her office phone rang.

“Sheriff’s office.”

It was the standard, professional response. Not that she relied on formality. Not in a town the size of Evergreen. Holding the receiver between her ear and shoulder, she began sorting through some paperwork she’d been putting off. The voice on the other end was from the state’s law enforcement agency in Augusta.

“What?” she asked in disbelief. “You know how small this town is? Why the hell would I need a deputy?” She paused as the voice on the other end of the phone continued. She spoke up as a break in the conversation occurred.

“Well, can’t you put him someplace else? Send him to Franklin County. I hear there was a woman killed on the highway near Bigelow Mountain a while back. They even had to fly a chopper out there,” the voice continued. Christine quickly realized that she had no choice in the matter and what was worse was that she’d be getting a rookie. In a small town like Evergreen, training a rookie cop would be more of an elaborate babysitting job and Christine was not a patient person. She had been solely responsible for the people of Evergreen for the last five years and knew herself well enough to know that she did not work and play well with others. Hanging up the phone, she brought her hands up to her forehead in frustration. There was no arguing with the bureaucracy. The fates of politics tend to do what they will with the many controlled by the few and although Christine already knew this, every once in a while she would get a rather heavy-handed reminder of what the powers that be can do - whether that authority lay in the right hands or the wrong hands. But, orders were orders. As long as the deputy knew who was in charge and didn’t take the badge too seriously, things would probably work out. Two weeks later, the new deputy walked into the Sheriff’s office and introduced himself as Chuck. He looked as though he had arrived straight from the academy and gave Christine the impression that he was still quite wet behind the ears. But, Christine had never trained anyone. Fortunately, a small town like Evergreen didn’t offer a significant challenge, with a couple of exceptions - accidents at the mill and winter storms. However, during the warmer months, Evergreen, at least on the surface, became a small idyllic utopia; lost to the outside world - self-sufficient, self-contained. The conversation went on for a couple of hours. She needed to get to know him, and he needed to know how things were done in a town like Evergreen. They agreed on several points. But, the one thing they agreed on the most was that there was no room for ego in the job of law enforcement.

A self-righteous attitude generally resulted in the abuse of authority. That’s when people get hurt. “Oh, Sheriff,” he began. “I noticed that old house as I was driving into town. It seems a little out of place, doesn’t it?”

Christine never considered that. She just wanted to keep the eyes of the curious away from it. She once had it boarded up, but a week later, discovered that every piece of plywood was gone - every nail, every screw. Even the holes had disappeared. It was as though the old house had never been touched. Perhaps, it didn’t want to be. Christine hesitated while searching for an answer that would be as brief as possible. No one wanted to talk about the house.

“Well,” she began. “It’s been there for a long time.” She stood up from her desk and offered the deputy a tour of the office.

“There’s not much to see. We’ve only got one cell and the only time we use it is when someone needs to sleep off a night of drinking. Other than that, Evergreen’s a pretty quiet place.”

They made their way to the front of the office. Christine planned to give Chuck a drive around town. It was important that he know his way around and as small as Evergreen was, Christine surmised it would take little time for him to learn. The most difficult part would be in getting the townspeople to accept him.