“Why are you worried, Duane? Do you know something?” She stepped closer to him. “You want to know something? Eugene said he took off with someone on Saturday night. I should talk to him again. Eugene said him and Nate went out to the cabin. Last night we went out there. Two people took off on a snowmachine before we identified them. One thing I know, Duane. The only Nate I know is someone you might know. I suggest if your son is involved in the ongoing business around here. He might want to find another place to live. Even if I don’t catch him bootlegging, if I get one whiff of him involved in this, I will arrest him. Do you understand? You want to relay that to him.”
The phone rang in Meghan’s pocket. She had carried the city police cordless phone with her outside. Meghan smiled and held up the receiver to show Duane. She wiggled it in his face.
“You think this is someone about the sign, Duane?”
“The city won’t pay it,” he said. Duane turned and marched across the gravel back to City Hall. He didn’t look back.
Meghan answered the phone as she looked at the new sign propped against the platform leading to the front door of the police station.
“This is Chief Sheppard Kinguyakkii Police Department, what can I do for you on this wonderful day?” she said into the receiver.
In front of her, neatly written in legible longhand, the sign read: $500 reward offered for information leading to indictment and arrest of anyone wanted for bootlegging.
Meghan felt it sent a very clear message. It was her town now, and she was coming for the troublemakers.
