Read Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 for Free Online Page B

trailed to the sink and set his plate inside. “I
hope it’s a good one.”
    The kid was acting like this was summer
camp.
    “You know, if we decide to stay in Sanctuary
then we’ll be living here until you’re an adult. So we’ve got to
think really long and hard about this decision. Can you do that for
me, Pat?”
    “Yeah, I know, Dad.” He wrapped his little
boy arms around John’s middle and gave him a hug, then went his
bag. “If I find my football, can we play catch in the street?”
    John smiled. “Sure, bud.”
    “When do you think Uncle Grant will have my
bike delivered?”
    “I don’t know.” John’s smile broke into
laughter. Did the kid ever get nervous about anything? He was
taking this whole move in stride, like he was on some grand
adventure. John should be feeling the same, shouldn’t he? New
beginnings and all that.
    But there was a note of caution somewhere
inside him that wouldn’t let the newness of it penetrate. He
chalked it up to being an adult, a parent and on a new assignment.
There weren’t many people in town. The ones who’d been criminals
previously were supposed to be turning over a new life. Crime was
low.
    What could go wrong?

     
     

Chapter 4
    By five forty-five, Main Street had filled
with groups of people all walking over to the meeting house. John
locked up the sheriff’s office, flipped the sign to closed and led
Pat out the backdoor instead. It was the wrong way out but he
wanted to get a look at his “vehicle”. That was the one thing he
didn’t like about moving here—having to leave his truck behind.
There wasn’t anything special about it. But he’d had the Chevy for
years and keeping it running had become a point of honor. Now it
was in storage with his couch, his bed and all the other furniture
he’d scrounged up after the divorce. If they decided to stay in
Sanctuary it would be sold.
    The air outside was chilled but not thin like
he’d thought it would be considering they were up in the mountains.
Maybe something about the circle of peaks surrounding them meant
air got trapped in the valley.
    Two vehicles were parked out back in the
marked spaces, both nineties model Jeeps the same color as the
uniform Grant had given him. The rear of the building had their two
spaces, plus two more. Another road ran the length of the back of
the stores and across from that was a row of houses.
    With Main Street as the center of the town,
someone had simply run the residential streets parallel to it on
both the north and south sides. It wasn’t particularly imaginative,
but it worked.
    Pat tugged on his hand. “Is that your
Sheriff’s car?”
    “Looks like it.”
    “Cool!”
    “You think so?”
    “Yeah.” Pat grinned. “You’re gonna be the
sheriff!”
    “That I am.” They went through the alley
separating the sheriff’s office from the laundry next door and
crossed to the bowling alley sized building with MEETING HOUSE in
big letters across the siding above the double doors.
    Inside, a crowd of people stood around a sea
of circular tables all set for dinner. The far end was lit up like
a stage, complete with a podium and microphone. To the side of the
stage was a set of swinging doors with circular windows which
looked to lead to a kitchen. Buffet tables were set up along one
wall, stretching front to back of the room. They were covered with
dishes of all shapes and sizes heaped with food.
    Pat gripped John’s hand as people turned to
get a look at the new sheriff. John gave them all a wave.
Two-thirds of the people were over fifty. There were a couple of
small children but not as many as John expected, given families
were gathering.
    “Sheriff!” The mayor strode over. “I’ll
introduce you when everyone is here. For now let me show you to
your seat.”
    John only followed since it seemed to be what
the mayor expected. Collins led them to a table on one side of the
podium just as a rotund woman strode out with a giant pot that
smelled like chili.