Read When A Gargoyle Flies (Gargoyles Book 3) for Free Online

town was small, and if they needed backup, there was any number of volunteers he could call on.  Chris was also a volunteer firefighter – the town not having its own squad.
    In general, the three police officers worked at various times in the daytime, and one of them was on call at night, with the phone from the station forwarded to their respective cell.  However, there had been some complaints from certain townspeople – busybodies the lot of them – that too many calls during the day were missed if all three officers were out, and they insisted the station needed someone to man the reception.
    So, Chris had caved and advertised for a part-time receptionist.  The pay wasn’t great and duties included tending to Bob, the dog.  He hadn’t really expected anyone to answer the ad.  Really, he should have known better in such a small town.  He got twenty applicants.  Most were looky-loos.  Others were those hoping to work there and learn gossip about their friends and neighbors.  In reality, he only had two good candidates – Martha and Gwen.
    He leaned toward Gwen.  The quiet teenager had finished school and was staying at home to care for her mother.  She already worked a few hours in Bea’s antique store and was looking to pick up more hours elsewhere.
    Martha… well, she was big on community spirit, and big on insisting that everyone else get some community spirit – whether they liked it or not.  Bossy, hectoring, and strident were words tossed around when thinking of Martha.  Chris couldn’t really fault her – except for a hitherto unknown callousness to dogs.  She wasn’t exactly mean; she was just pushy.  She was also hankering after Chris to date her after they enjoyed a couple of meals together at the diner.  That kind of attention was not something he needed on a day-to-day basis, and feeling that Gwen needed the work more, he was all set to hire her until Martha’s cousin – head of the town council – intervened and not so subtly told him to hire his cousin.
    Martha belonged to a large, extended family that made up a sizable percentage of the town population, and on a side note included Maggie who was currently living up at the mansion with the gargoyles.  Although with the exception of her pastor uncle, Maggie didn’t seem to get along with most of her family – she was considered the oddball.
    Course, Chris was all set to ignore him completely and hire Gwen, but Gwen suddenly changed her mind about wanting the job, and no amount of cajoling from Chris could change it back.  He figured it had something to do with the head of the town council also being Gwen’s landlord.  The young woman wouldn’t want her sick mother being thrown out onto the street.
    So, he was now stuck with Martha.  She was efficient enough, but when someone called the station with a problem, he didn’t really like her giving advice down on the phone on how to handle the issue.  Ruefully, he couldn't deny that her interfering might be more helpful than a police presence for some of the petty arguments he got called for, but there was a chance her meddling could make it much worse, too.
    His phone rang, and he grabbed it.  “Devil’s Hang Police Station.”
    “Chris!  That is Chris, right?  Sorry if it’s not but you sound a lot like Chris.”
    He relaxed back into his chair and smiled.  “Hey, Melissa, how’s it going?”
    Melissa Sanchez was an old friend, an FBI agent he’d worked with back when he was a detective in Portland.  They’d gone on a few dates, but work always seemed to intervene, and it never got any further than a peck on the cheek goodnight.  He’d liked her a lot, but they’d both been more interested in starting their careers than settling into a relationship.
    “Good, good, can’t complain.  Well, I twisted my ankle a couple of weeks while I was out investigating a UFO sighting, but other than that, good.”
    When he met Melissa, she was a junior agent assigned to