Outlaw Mountain

Stu

That summer, when tragedy had visited her friends in the form of Esther’s death, Joa

“What’s going on?” Joa

Maria

Marliss was a busybody columnist for the local paper and one of Maria

Maria

Maria

Struggling to find something useful to say, Joa

What can I say that won’t make things worse? Joa

But keeping quiet wasn’t part of Joa

Maria

Any other time, such a comment might have been nothing more than a light-hearted quip. Here it was no laughing matter. “What do you think?” Joa

“I already told you what I think,” Maria

Joa

“Have you thought about seeing a doctor?” Joa

“A doctor?” Maria

“I didn’t say shrink,” Joa

“I wasn’t hungry,” Maria

“And I’ll bet you’re not sleeping properly, either,” Joa

“And what good will that do?” Maria

“Not necessarily,” Joa

“Come on, Joa

“Maybe that’s what the sermon should be about,” Joa

“About what?”

“About being thankful for the black hole,” Joa

Before Maria

“Sheriff Brady?” an unfamiliar male voice asked.

With only a few seconds of emotional buffer between her private life and her public one, Joa

“What’s the deal with this Frank Montoya guy?” her gruff caller continued. “Is he some kind of a dim bulb, or what?”

Chief Deputy for Administration Frank Montoya, along with Chief Deputy for Operations, Richard Voland, were Joa

Listening intently, Joa