challenged and felt it was time to start slinging mud.” Muscles flexed in his jaw. “All right. I’ll be blunt. Five months ago, when we first started the search for a new police chief in the wake of Gary Bystrom’s resignation, I was disinclined to hire a candidate from within the department. We had some issues that I cannot discuss without interfering with ongoing investigations. I chose to go with an outsider. I have since apologized privately to Captain McAllister. I have become convinced he would have been a top-notch police chief. My original hesitation had nothing to do with Captain McAllister himself, not personally and not with his job performance. He has my full support in this campaign. That’s all I have to say.”
The camera cut back to Alec, who was saying, “I’m aware of the frustration many sheriff’s deputies feel with inadequate equipment and salaries, a substandard crime lab and a lack of support from the top. It’s my belief Captain McAllister is exactly what this county needs to upgrade the department. As chief of the county’s largest city, I look forward to working closely with him once he becomes sheriff.”
“There we have it, Peter,” the reporter said, shaking his head in apparent bemusement. “The full support of Angel Butte’s mayor and police chief—but no real answers.”
The anchor thanked the reporter, and the channel went to a commercial. Alec turned off the television.
“That was you,” Liana burst out. She draped herself over his shoulder. “Why were they asking you questions, Uncle Alec?”
Julia saw him look sideways toward Matt, who had taken the buds from his ears and was listening, too, even if he didn’t want anyone to realize he was.
Alec hugged her. “Because I’m an important man around here, sweet pea.” More seriously, he explained that he had two captains who worked directly under him at the police department. One of them was campaigning to become sheriff of the entire county. Reporters were asking some questions about him, and of course one of the people they’d want answers from was Captain McAllister’s boss.
“That’s you,” Liana said in her often solemn way.
“Right.”
Julia had been absorbing everything he said, wanting to know what he did every day and about the people with whom he dealt. He’d already told her a bit about Noah Chandler, the mayor, who didn’t sound all that likable. She sensed undercurrents to this news story that she hoped he’d explain when he had a chance.
Alec smiled at Julia and Liana, then turned to include Matt. “Anybody hungry?”
“Yeah!” Liana bounced a few times on the bed, bobbing her mother and uncle up and down. Matt didn’t say anything, but got up and shoved his feet into the sloppy athletic shoes that made his feet look enormous. As usual, he left them untied.
Alec suggested pizza tonight and took them to a place that was already a favorite of his. After their order was in, both kids snatched the money he offered and disappeared into the small video arcade, from which beeps and roars and yelps of triumph already emerged. Matt dropped back, undoubtedly to be sure no one watching would think he was with some little kid, and a girl at that. Julia hoped there was an appropriate game for Liana. She’d have followed to help her get started, but knew Matt would resent having his mommy trailing him. Also—she couldn’t help it, but she wanted time alone with Alec, who was frowning as he took a drink of beer.
“So, was the television piece halfway fair? Or did they leave out the stuff you really wanted the public to see?” she asked.
“Huh?” He focused his dark chocolate eyes on her. “Oh, no. It was fine. In fact, I’m a little surprised they slipped my endorsement in at the end.”
She thought about it. “Do you suppose the news team is secretly anti Sheriff Brock?”
“That’s a possibility,” he said. “The guy’s scum.” He glanced quickly around as if to be sure no one was close enough to hear, then smiled crookedly. “I didn’t say that.”
“Of course not.”
“I confess, I didn’t realize small-town and rural-county politics were as dirty as the big-city version.” He shook his head. “Naive of me, I know.”
“Oh, we had a hideous mayoral race when I was in high school.” She laughed. “The challenger was a woman, which outraged the guy who had held the office for something like twenty years. According to my parents, half the time he’d run unopposed. He was heard to make some highly sexist remarks that may have appealed to the good old boys in town, but offended female voters. When she roared ahead in the newspaper poll, he dug up the fact that she’d had an abortion many years before. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t done his research. She did have an abortion, but only after she and her husband did some soul-searching and decided not to go to term with a fetus doctors knew was unlikely to live much past birth. No matter their politics, most people sympathized with her. Mayor Anderson was thereafter doomed.”
“Deservedly so,” Alec said, amusement curving his mouth.
“Indeed. Even my father, who is terribly conservative, voted against him. Or so he claimed, anyway.”
“Your mother?”
Julia took a deep breath to combat a stab of pain. “Oh, Mom probably voted for him. I doubt she thought a woman should be in office, either.”
Alec raised his eyebrows and watched her thoughtfully. When she clamped her mouth shut, he stirred. “Isn’t it your mother you have the difficulties with?”
“Yes. Oh, both, to some extent. They’re...” She tried to think how to explain her parents. “For one thing, they’re older. I suspect I was an ‘oops’ baby. My brother and I are ten years apart, and Mom was forty-two when I was born. She’s seventy-five now, Dad a year older. They were always stricter than my friends’ parents, more rigid. Big on gender roles. To this day, I know nothing about cars or how to get a lawn mower started if it stalls.” She shook her head in frustration. “They were shocked when I wanted to go to college. I had a high school boyfriend who planned to keep working with his father on the family dairy farm. He asked me to marry him, and they were stunned when I said no and not only left for college, but went all the way out to the West Coast.”
“I didn’t know any of that.” A couple of lines had formed between his eyebrows that made him look perturbed. “You were only nineteen when you married Josh.”
“Yes, and I blame my parents for that.” She grimaced at his surprise. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved Josh. But we didn’t have to rush out and get married. I should have gotten my degree first. But in retrospect I realize that, once I did commit to a man, childhood conditioning kicked in. The little woman should step right into the support role. So much for the great escape from my past. Josh was already navy, and he wanted me with him when he was transferred. I could keep taking classes, he insisted, but, oh, gee, I got pregnant right away.”
“With the demon spawn,” Alec murmured, a smile forming.
She laughed. “You didn’t say how the night went.”
“Let’s just say I have a new appreciation of the Craigslist option.”
Oh, dear. Their number was being called, and the kids came bursting out of the arcade as if they’d been wandering in the desert for a hundred days and suddenly saw the vision of a feast laid out before them.
Julia
