Lost in the Wild by Leigh Mayberry (some good books to read .TXT) 📗

problems. Kids in Alaska had the same social issues as the rest of the lower forty-eight states. Then they sometimes had to compound the isolation factors and the cultural impacts.

Meghan didn’t want to think that a ten-year-old child decided to take a walk on the ice alone while the rest of the town had their backs turned. Yet, there was no better time to get away than a holiday event. It was impactful and caught the whole region by surprise. If Christine Tuktu wanted to leave the world with everyone remembering her, there was no better time than a federal holiday honoring people who died. Military personnel aside, many families used the holiday as a reminder of their loved ones.

“You have a minute?” Reeve asked. He didn’t wait for Meghan to respond. Instead, he wandered through the group and went to Meghan’s office.

She closed the door behind her. It wasn’t before she saw Dana standing with Wilcox. She faced Reeve.

He had a large stature. Reeve took up a lot of space in the office without trying. He didn’t sit down and had shed his winter gear when they returned from the shoreline. Meghan refused to allow the man to intimidate her. The uniform worked on civilians. A semiautomatic pistol, taser, bulletproof vest with the AST sergeant badge on the front with the trooper logo across his back, he was a force of one. Reeve was also Meghan’s immediate supervisor.

“I wanted to let you know I’m filing a report the Borough regarding your current behavior. I talked with Special Agent Wilcox and Agent Wyatt already. Effective immediately, I am relieving you of your position as police chief.”

“Fine,” she said.

Meghan moved around the desk. She closed down the laptop. She began collecting the few items around the office that belonged to her.

Reeve appeared genuinely shocked by Meghan’s lack of retort. “Don’t you want to know why?” he asked.

Meghan removed the keyring from her pocket. She found the keys that belonged to the city and removed them from the ring. Meghan tossed them on the desk.

“I imagine you’ll give me some lame ass excuse about how I handled a delicate situation regarding the missing child. Or maybe you’re pissed about my incident with a sexual bully while interviewing a potential witness. Is there anything else?”

Reeve looked a little outside himself for a moment. He quickly recovered. Their conversation happened behind a closed door, but it was pointless. If both people in the station knew about it, the only other person who saw her interaction with the commanding officer was another potential boss. As mayor of the city, Duane was a direct conduit to the people who mattered. Besides the Alaska State Troopers, the North Slope Borough held Meghan’s contract with the city. Her actions reflected on their decision to protect her as their village police chief.

“It has a lot to do with your behavior, Sheppard. You think you’re too good for this job. You think you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and don’t have to answer for anything. You’re accountable for these people. They look to you as someone who upholds the law and enforces it justly, instead of someone who shoots from the hip and makes up stuff as you go along.”

Meghan shook her head. “That’s funny coming from a guy who had a known extortionist and bootlegger in this exact spot not too long ago.”

“I’ll admit that Haynes wasn’t the right fit for the community. He’s paying his penalties—”

“Penalties?” Meghan said. “This isn’t some sports game, Emanuel. The guy ran a bootlegging business right out of this office. He had people on the payroll that turned the other direction. He was a police chief for twenty-three years. What else did Herbert Haynes get away with in all that time?”

“You’re trying to fill big shoes. But you seem to take a lot of liberties around here and manage to stay inside the lines.”

“I have—excuse me— had a whole town to watch over, plus how many communities to deal with, all the while shorthanded and without a gun. I think I did okay considering the circumstances.”

Meghan pulled her coat from the rack beside the door. She put it on and put her modest collection of personal items inside the backpack.

“You never liked me doing this job,” Meghan said. She pulled open the door. “You hate that I’ve left you out of how many big busts around here? The thing is, Reeve, if you came to me, if you said, ‘hey, can you include me before you start talking to investigators,’ I would have done that. Instead, I have to hear from others, like Detective Anderson, that you felt dejected because I didn’t follow the proper chain of command.

“I do my job very well. I keep a whole community together, and I’m not at all complaining about what I don’t have because I have the right people working with me. What’s going to happen with Lester and Oliver?”

“They’re fine. They listen to orders. It’s you that has the problem,” Reeve said. “Cadet Holmes is looking to file criminal assault charges against you. Don’t go too far in case we need to find you.”

It was the training kicking in, and Meghan didn’t want to fall into that trap. Police officer training meant they had to use their negotiation skills to make arrests. It was counterintuitive to dealing with suspects. Meghan’s training with the FBI meant she had to listen first, and then react. Cops wanted to arrest people. It was what made them cops.

“Why not take a minute,” Reeve said. He’d lost one cadet to Meghan in the heat of a debate. The man was ill-prepared and mouthy. Reeve had a gun and set his feet firm on dismissing Meghan.

“I’m leaving. I’ll get out of Alaska as soon as I can.” She looked at Duane. “You make sure you take