The Fix Is In (Torus Intercession 4)

Deputy Gage was out of the car in seconds, weapon drawn, holding it on the guy in the car, telling him to get out with his hands up.

I was impressed and a bit surprised. From everything I’d heard, I expected the deputy to be passive, not a jump-into-the-mix kind of guy.

As I walked over to Dennis, who was still not moving and unable to do so much as groan since he hadn’t caught his wind yet, the driver’s side door of the Charger opened, and Rais got out.

“Who is this guy?” he asked as he crouched, checked Dennis for a weapon, found nothing, and then stood back up to look at me.

“Dennis Schmidt. He’s the maintenance guy here. Been going in and out of one of the apartments through a hole in the wall behind the medicine cabinet. I’d be interested to know if it’s only the two women we were here to see, or if all the single women in this complex have an issue with him. My guess would be that it’s all of them.”

“Well, shit, Dennis,” Rais told him, shaking his head, “you get to go to jail for that, man, where you will learn all about true violations of privacy.”

Gage joined us then, having put Dennis’s buddy in cuffs and loaded him in the back seat of his SUV. “Could you fill me in on what’s going on, please?”

“Deputy Gage,” I said, extending my hand, “I have to say, sir, you’re not at all what I was expecting, given all the different accounts I’ve heard.”

He scoffed and took my hand. “That’s because I’m Gil Brasher, the new chief of police of Rune. Blackburn promoted me last night after the latest fiasco with the meth houses.”

“Chief Brasher,” I repeated so I’d remember it.

“There’ll actually be four of us here now: my deputy chief, two officers, and me,” he explained as another SUV drove into the parking lot and a female officer got out. “Blackburn has been working to remove Gage, you should see the paper trail, and the state police having to handle everything here yesterday”––he grimaced––“that was it. The final straw. Blackburn hit the roof, and he finally had everything he needed. I got the call, and we drove out here together last night so I could be briefed by Lieutenant Dix.”

“Rune is tiny, though,” I said as Rais grabbed hold of Dennis and dragged him to his feet. “How can it afford the salaries?”

“Rune puts on extra deputies come spring every year to deal with the traffic and the tourism and the general influx of people,” he explained. “The season runs from March through November, so the money’s there. It just needed to be allocated correctly. There’s also a lot of traffic that moves through this town, as it’s right off the highway, so the town council and the mayor agreed that, with some tightening of the budget, it’s in everyone’s best interest to no longer be dependent on the police departments around us, but to be able to take care of issues, like meth houses, ourselves.”

“You keep coming back to the guys trying to cook meth,” I said, grinning. “I feel like you’re kinda horrified about that.”

“You would be correct.” He clipped the words. “All Gage had to do was get off his ass and go check out the different locations, but it took a bunch of what, ghost hunters, to crack the case.”

I shrugged. “At least someone did.”

“And if you hadn’t known what you were—who are you, by the way? You and Mr. Solano? You guys aren’t from around here.”

“Rais didn’t fill you in when he came to the station?”

He shook his head. “We got as far as introductions before a 911 call came in for this address, and Mr. Solano flew out of the office.”

I turned to Rais and swatted him in the abdomen. “Thanks for having my back, buddy.”

He grunted, and I noticed his voice was a little raspy when he replied, “Always.”

“I didn’t hit you that hard,” I groused at him.

“You’re bigger than you think,” he assured me.

“Hello,” Brasher snapped at us. “Who the hell are you guys?”

I explained about Torus and the attacks on Benji’s life.

Brasher was scowling when I was done. “So you’re telling me Gage couldn’t even be bothered to protect one of our citizens?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you.”

“I guarantee you that’s no longer the case, and I would appreciate Mr. Grace coming down to the station to document every incident so we can begin investigating.”

“Certainly,” I agreed. “Though I will be here until the threat is neutralized.”

“Understood. You were here first. I certainly can’t stand on any sort of protocol.”

“We both know you could throw me out of town, but I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

“I don’t foresee that happening,” he said, glancing between Rais and I. “You and Mr. Solano are welcome here, and clearly know what you’re doing. In fact, do you two need jobs?”