Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(24)

“Careful. I’m all sweaty,” I said.

She just squeezed tighter. “And you reek too, Nancy Drew.” God, I hated that pet name. They all called me that when I worked at the station. Even before I made my bimonthly visits. Joyce finally released me only to scan me up and down. “You look great! Much better than on those news reports months ago. Still too skinny, though. Ten more pounds should do it.”

“You sound like my grandmother.”

“We take pottery together, you know. Don and I were over at their house two weeks ago for dinner. Are you staying with them? How long are you in town for? I should have you all to dinner!” she said in rapid succession. It appeared she was still on an all-coffee diet.



“Maybe. We’ll see. Everything’s a bit open-ended right now.”

“Well, tomorrow night you’re coming over for dinner. That’s final. I’m thinking steaks on the grill. Oh, is your boyfriend here too? He doesn’t look like one of those vegans, but you never can tell.”

“If you’re talking about Luke, a: he’s not my boyfriend, and b: he is not here.”

“Well, that’s a damn shame on both parts, Nancy Drew. That man almost died trying to save you. He deserves a little somethin’-somethin’ for the effort. Good men are hard to come by. You find one and you grab him and never let him go for nothin’.”

Okay…“I will keep that in mind.”

Joyce nodded. “So, what’s in the box?”

“Ridiculously expensive pastries.”

“So you didn’t come here just to be lectured by an old lady? I’m heartbroken.”

I opened the box. “I’m sure first pick will cure that. There’s a chocolate croissant with your name on it.”

She took it. “There is nothing sugar cannot cure, that is true.”

“Except diabetes,” I said as I closed the box.

“So what can the humble Grey County Sheriff’s Office do for the world-famous Dr. Iris Ballard today?”

“I have kind of a big ask. Hence the bribery,” I said, holding up the box. “Is the sheriff in?”

“He is. What’s going on? This about Billy?”



“Yeah. You know about that?” I asked.

“Faye came in the other day raising hell after the sheriff told her his hands were tied. I thought she was gonna slap poor Timmy. Thank God her husband was with her. He seems to be the only person on Earth that’s ever been able to calm her down.”

“Yeah, he’s a good guy.”

“Well, I’ll buzz you back. Sheriff’s in his office. You know the way. And you are coming to dinner tomorrow.”

“If I can, I will. I promise. Thanks, Joyce.”

“Go on back.”

Joyce returned to her counter and buzzed me back into the station. I’m sure she didn’t wait for the door to close to call my grandmother to ensure I’d keep my dinner promise. I owed a lot to Joyce. She was lovely during my early pestering days, giving me candies and answering all my questions. She even helped me get a job at the station and trained me. And when the abortion nightmare happened, she was one of only a handful of people who told me I’d made the right choice. I should have been the one cooking her dinner.

Like the front of the station, the bullpen hadn’t changed, still just two rows of desks with two uniformed officers at their ancient computers. When I worked as a clerk/secretary twenty years before, there were fifteen full-time deputies and thirty part-time or volunteer officers for the whole county. Last I’d heard, the county was almost bankrupt, and the full-timers were down to two and the other fifteen were volunteer only. Not great. Meth, like in most downwardly spiraling low-income towns, had been a growing problem even when I lived there, and I later learned it had reached almost epidemic proportions. The police didn’t stand a chance even under ideal staffing conditions.



The two officers looked up from their desks as I passed, both with puzzled expressions as they tried to place me. I just kept walking toward the back office. Sheriff Timothy Hancock had the phone pressed to his ear when I strolled in. As the years progressed, he resembled his father more and more. Same broad yet handsome face, tan skin, trim beard, and thick dark brown hair. I had such a crush on him during the Armstrong mess, well until he began dating Mom. I quickly convinced myself to let the crush go and viewed him more as a father figure/hero. The six months they were together were wonderful. I learned to shoot a pistol, he answered all my law enforcement questions, and he made great tuna casserole. Mom’s neediness eventually drove him off, but he was still kind to me even after the dust settled. He let me look at his case files and actually listened to my advice or corrected me the few times I was wrong. I wasn’t surprised when I heard he’d taken his father’s mantle as sheriff. Grey County couldn’t have been in better hands.

It took Hancock a second to recognize me as I stood in his doorway, but when he did his jaw dropped. If I had a nickel for every time that’s happened, I wouldn’t have to be writing a damn book, I thought.

“Uh, Larry, just email me the damn thing. I’ll do what I can,” Hancock said into the phone. “I’ll call you later, okay? Bye.” He hung up and gawked at me for a second. “Iris?”

“Live and in the flesh,” I said as I took a step inside his small office. “And I come bearing gifts.” I set the pastries down on his cluttered desk. “How’s Mrs. Hancock doing? And little Aiden?”