At the time, Judd Bailey, Palmerstown’s sheriff, had been investigating him quietly over issues with their mayor and the corruption that’d coincided with our own mayoral problem a few months ago. What’d come out since his death… even I was rocked by it.
However, the man had a wife and three-year-old daughter who had no idea where the extra money they’d been living on had come from. They only knew how much they loved him. So it was probably best that the fact the best friend who was sobbing beside them was his mistress stayed a secret.
Until they had enough proof to back up the accusations, they had to treat him with full honors. And that sucked even more. Part of me wanted to rebel against doing it, turn my back on him like he’d turned his back on both towns while he ‘supposedly’ did what he had.
It was innocent until proven guilty, though, and it was plain to see we were all reminding ourselves of that today. Of course, it also wasn’t P.V.P.D.’s problem unless Judd called us in to assist, so the finer details would only be revealed if he chose to do it.
I had to grit my teeth as Mrs. Parks wailed through the service, and his little girl kept pointing at his photo and yelling, “Hi, Daddy! Where’s Daddy gone?”
And I continued doing it as we all saluted his coffin as it was lowered into the ground.
Life wasn’t easy, and no one person took the same path as another. Whether you chose the right path or the wrong one, that was up to you.
I’d chosen a path that’d ended up helping a lot of people who would’ve drowned under what the people had set up for them. But, in the end, it’d drowned me. I was only just making my way out of it, but not once would I have stabbed my brothers in the back and put a town full of people at risk.
Lives mattered, they were precious, and we took an oath to protect all of them. I took that oath seriously, which was why I’d put myself in the shitty situation I had. So, in short, I couldn’t understand people like Damien Parks, who took the wrong path for money like he had.
Because it wasn’t our town, we were able to leave afterward, but it was clear on the faces of the P.T.P.D. officers that they were struggling mentally under the weight of what the weeks ahead held for them all. The piecing together of evidence, finding out more information about Damien, and whether or not it was as bad as it looked. I felt for them.
Just as we crossed back into Piersville, DB rang on my cell.
“Don’t forget to drop that form into Tabby. She needs to hand it in by the end of the day.”
Fuck, I’d forgotten about the piece of paper he’d handed me as I was leaving. He hadn’t attended the funeral because he had a video meeting being that he couldn’t miss. Knowing I’d be passing the school, he’d given it to me to hand in to her.
Fortunately, I was just coming up to the turn for the school.
“I’ll wait in the car,” Carter sighed, stretching his legs out. “I kind of like having a chauffeur, you know. It’s like you’re my own personal Uber driver.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I got out and jogged up to the doors, smiling at the receptionist as she unlocked them.
“I just need to hand this to Tabby.” I waved the piece of paper around.
“Oh, I’ll take you down to where she is just now,” the receptionist offered, waving at Carter as she locked the doors again. “Did you hear that we’re getting some work done over summer vacation?”
At my blank look, she smiled widely. “Yes, they’re going to expand the school so we have separate campuses, but they’ll all be close to each other.
“I mean, it makes sense because we’re a bit full now that they’ve added the middle school into the campus, and parents who’ve got kids in different locations won’t have to freak out about leaving times and making sure the kids get here in time…”
I tuned out as she went on about it all. It was helpful information, but I didn’t need to know about parental logistics considering I didn’t have any kids at the school. Sure, in a few years I’d have a grandkid here, but by then, it’d all be built and operational, so I’d catch up with the extra details then.
Fortunately, Tabby’s office wasn’t far away from the entrance, so I was able to quickly drop it off and make my way back to the doors. But, as I passed the nurse’s office, Cody came walking out of it, his face pale, his steps small, and his back hunched over.