Chapter Twenty
Sheriff Maynard Grizzle’s conference call didn’t turn out to be as major an event as he’d anticipated, though it did attract a handful of sheriffs—mostly those from counties so lacking in criminal activity that any excuse for excitement was welcome. Therefore when Pinewood Times-Courier reporter Nate Jessop got wind of it and begged permission to sit in on the call, the request was met with an immediate yes.
Nate listened via speaker phone in Grizzle’s office as the sheriff held court, leaning back in his swivel chair with his boot-clad feet resting on the corner of his desk. The front of his uniform was speckled with crumbs and he chased them around with a saliva-dampened fingertip, returning them to his mouth. A basket of apple fritters sat on top of a photocopier that h
