“Hmm, that makes things interesting, for sure—any word from the Sheriff on what he plans to do with him?” asked James.
“Nope. There’s been no word, but he’s been in a cell since yesterday and refusing to eat, from what I hear.”
“Thanks for the heads up, and let’s just keep this little conversation between us. Agreed?”
“Yes, James. I was hoping you would say that.”
Jason showed him out, locking the front gate behind him.
“Who is that, Daddy?” asked little Billy, jumping up into James’ lap.
“Oh, just somebody Daddy works with. How about you get your mom and Aunt Lauren? Uncle Jason and I need to talk to them.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’ll find them.”
* * * *
James, Janice, Lauren and Jason sat on the front porch sipping iced tea, minus the iced part, and discussed their options.
“Jason, what do you think?” asked James.
“I don’t…well, I don’t really know. This is all just a shock—something I wasn’t expecting.”
“Let’s start at the beginning,” suggested Janice, “so we are all on the same page.”
James told her and Lauren everything they knew so far.
“Hmm,” said Janice, without elaborating.
“Hmm, what?” asked James.
“To be honest, I’m not surprised at all about this,” she replied, with Lauren nodding in agreement. “We knew things were headed south between those two, and it was bound to come to a head. What I’m concerned about is that the arrest happened at some point between our ranch and Weston. I wonder who all knew he was coming here to talk to you guys.”
“That’s a good point, honey,” said James.
“Jason, you and I will head into town tomorrow morning and stop by the jailhouse.”
“Are you sure you’re up to that?” asked Janice.
“I’ll have to be. You know I always want to know upfront what’s headed our way. Plus, we owe it to the girls and Billy to always make sure we’re one step ahead of everyone else.”
All agreed with a head-nod while watching the four young children play a game of tag out by the main barn.
“In fact, let’s make a day of it,” James continued. “We will head to town together, and you all can drop Jason and me off at the jailhouse. We will meet you at the restaurant for breakfast when we’re done.”
* * * *
At 7 a.m. they were off and headed to town. Jason drove and Chance stayed behind to keep an eye on the ranch.
They pulled up in front of the police station at 7:20, and Janice, Lauren, the girls and Billy headed on to the restaurant.
“You need a push?” asked Jason.
“Nope, this chair is not the best, but I’ll be the one to roll it.”
“Hopefully, we can fix that sooner than later,” replied Jason. “Maybe it’s locked,” he announced, as he tried the front door.
“Give it a couple of knocks; maybe the Sheriff is inside.”
Jason knocked on the door, getting a loud response from more than one man inside.
“Sheriff, are you in there? It’s James VanFleet and Jason Davis.”
The announcement set off a chain of overlapping responses, the loudest one announcing he was Judge Lowry.
“Well, there’s our response to the Sheriff when he asks how we knew about the Judge being here,” said James.
“James!” came the call again from the Judge. “You need to get me out of here. He’s going to kill me! You owe me that much after all I’ve done for you.”
Jason was getting nervous. James didn’t respond.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” Jason asked.
“No, Jason. This is where we stay quiet and don’t say another word.”
There was ten more minutes of Judge Lowry’s ranting before Sheriff Johnson pulled up in his truck.
“James VanFleet,” he said, smiling as he exited his truck with his lead deputy. “Already back from the dead, I see. Hello, Jason.”
“We stopped by to say hi,” said James in a casual tone.
“Did you now? Have you heard anything interesting this morning?” he asked, as Judge Lowry continued shouting in the background.
Jason’s stomach tightened, but he did not speak. He would not speak unless James needed help, he thought.
“Just that,” replied James, pointing inside the building.
“Yeah, that’s complicated for sure, don’t you think, James?”
“I couldn’t say, sir, because I don’t have all of the facts yet.”
“Spoken like a true politician!” replied the Sheriff, laughing. “The funny thing is, I haven’t even talked to him yet.”
James gave Jason a look that said let’s take it slow and only reveal what he thinks we already know.
“What do you think I should do with him, James?”
“I don’t know; I’m not sure why he’s even in there.”
“That’s a fair statement, I guess. Maybe you have an idea, though, since he was at your ranch right before we picked him up.”
“Excuse me,” said Jason, exiting through the front door and running towards the building’s side with his hand over his mouth.
“I’m not sure he’s got the stomach for all of this business,” said the Sheriff, laughing.
“He’ll be all right,” replied James. “So, what now?” he asked, wanting to get to the nuts and bolts of the issue and how it would affect their families.
“Well, now… What’s next is up to you, James…well, partially. Come on in, and we’ll talk a bit. Can I help you inside?”
“Nope,” replied James flatly.
James rolled in, following the Sheriff. “Let’s talk in my office,” the Sheriff suggested.
“Sheriff, is that you?” called out Judge Lowry.
“Yep, just me and James having a little talk about the future of my town,” he replied, knowing it would set the Judge off.
He was right. Judge Lowry started hollering and threatening both him and James.
“All right, James,” the Sheriff said over the shouting down the hall. “Today is the day. You knew it was coming one way or the other, didn’t you?”
“Sir, with all due respect, everyone in town knew this day would come.”
Sheriff Johnson smiled without a response, pausing briefly to listen to Judge Lowry’s rant.
“When I told you, Sheriff, that your election was a landslide victory, it was true. What I didn’t tell you was that
