Chapter 23I approach Chief Barnaby the next morning at work and tell him about Steve’s incident. I ask about posting a uniform outside Steve’s hospital room for a few days. “While I was at Black Falls Hospital last night, I had my arm checked,” I tell him, handing him the late doctor’s note.
He thanks me in his own weird way and dismisses my question about Steve, informing me that he doesn’t have enough uniforms. “What with budget cuts, my hands are tied.”
“I can do it,” I say.
He busies himself, straightening papers and folders and reheating his coffee, pacing the room. “Ballinger, I don’t have the manpower to protect every citizen in Black Falls,” he says over his mountainous shoulders.
“I thought it was our job to serve the community.”
He stirs creamer and three tablespoons of suga
