Halfway to the Truth Read Free Page B

this place doesn’t have enough action.”
    She put her stemware on the table. “I almost didn’t recognize you out of uniform.”
    “I do take a day off once in a while. I’ll let you buy me a beer; it’s the price you’ll have to pay for me to listen to your story.”
    She waved the bartender over and let the Chief order his beer.
    “What’s your story Chief Daniels, where do you come from ?” She took another sip of wine waiting for his response.
    “I’m originally from Connecticut — a small town similar to this one. At seventeen I left home and went into the military. I was a military policeman in the Marine Corps and retired at thirty-seven years old. That’s too young to be retired, so when I saw the ad for the job as Chief of Police here, well, the rest is history.”
    His beer arrived in a frosty mug. He was served something dark that looked like Coca Cola.
    “ And you ?” he asked before taking a long drink from the glass.
    “Raised a foster child in South Carolina. Never knew what happened to my parents but I understand I’m a southern girl all the way. When I was old enough, I worked odd jobs to pay for my college. I picked journalism because I felt a need to write. I guess I thought writing about everyone else’s life would give me some hope for my own life. To some degree it’s worked, but I’m still missing something. Hey, that’s enough about me. Do you have a woman in your life?”
    He took another long sip. “Haven’t met that one special person yet. Almost came close a few times in the military, but it either didn’t feel right with me or she got cold feet. It’ll happen though.”
    “Marines, huh? I can see why you’re a by-the-book kind of guy. The military really made an impression on you didn’t it?” she said with interest.
    “Uh-huh. You learn to follow orders and rules, especially in the Corps. You may not like your leader or another member of your team but, you soon learn it is a team and your life may depend on that person you don’t like.” He finished his beer.
    Reese offered to buy him another one but he declined saying that although he was off duty he was still on-call.
    “I don’t think I ever thanked you for giving me that information from the Mayor.”
    “No you didn’t, but you’re doing it now.” He raised his glass to show his appreciation for the free glass of beer. “I expect, with the talent you appear to have as a reporter, you’ll be going places Miss Summers. I wish you luck. If I can ever do anything for you, let me know. By the way, I have some news of my own to share with you.”
    “What’s that Chief?”
    “Your friend, the Mayor, is in jail in Omaha.”
    “ Really ? What happened?”
    “He got stopped for driving while intoxicated and during the stop the officer found an unregistered gun in his possession. The gun apparently was traced back to a shooting that happened in Texas a few years ago. He denies he owned the gun at that time, but he’ll be on ice a while until they can figure things out.”
    After another sip from her glass she asked, “How’d you find all this out?”
    “I have access to a lot of things most people don’t Miss Summers. You have your sources and I have mine. Let’s leave it at that.”
    “Please call me Reese,” she invited. “You’ve earned the right.”
    “Okay, but I like the way you say ‘Chief Daniels’. I feel it makes me more important than you.”
    She raised her wine glass saying, “Deal!”
    “So what’s next for you Reese?” he asked.
    Before she could answer, she heard Charlie’s voice from behind.
    “I thought that was your car out there Miss Summers. I have an envelope for you. Looks important, so I thought I’d just bring it to you directly.”
    “Charlie, you’re not stalking me are you?” she said, batting her eyes at the mailman.
    “No ma’am! At least not with the Chief of Police sitting right there next to you.”
    She took the envelope from his hand.
    “I