Chapter 1
Jacksonville, FL
IT WAS FRIDAY afternoon, and I was more than ready for the weekend as I settled down at my desk after attending an interminable meeting on the top floor of our building. At times like this, I almost wished that the sheriff hadn’t adopted a more personal and ‘hands-on’ management style, but I fully understood the need to make a complete break from the somewhat hidebound and autocratic approach his immediate predecessors had taken to law enforcement. The late and totally unlamented undersheriff had been a prime example of the previous regime. The man had been a “by the book” clown—and not very bright.
I’d heard my boss say of the former undersheriff that “an original idea and a cold drink of water would have killed him.” Stupid or not, it had taken the sheriff m
