Gwendy's Magic Feather

59

GWENDY HAS NEVER LAID eyes on the man standing outside of the sheriff’s office before, but she can smell his press credentials a mile away. It also helps that she can see the mini-recorder he’s palming in his left hand.

“Congresswoman Peterson,” he says, cutting her off by the entrance. “Any comment on the missing girls?”

“And you are?” she asks.

He pulls a laminated ID card out from under his jacket and extends it as far as the lanyard will permit. “Ronald Blum, Portland Press Herald.”

“I’m here this morning to be briefed by Sheriff Ridgewick. I’ll leave it to him to issue any official statements.” She starts to walk away.

“Is it true that there’ve been other unsuccessful recent attempts to abduct young girls here in Castle Rock?”

Gwendy pulls opens the door and lets it swing closed in the reporter’s face. He shouts something else, but she can’t make it out through the heavy glass.

The stationhouse is buzzing this morning. A handful of officers sit at their desks talking on the telephone and jotting down notes. Several others are gathered in front of a bulletin board, examining a large map of Castle Rock. There’s a line at the coffee machine and another in front of the Xerox copier. Gwendy spots Sheila Brigham in her cubicle and heads that way.

The veteran dispatcher is busy talking to someone on her headset, and judging by the annoyed look on her face, she’s been stuck on the line for quite some time. She sees Gwendy approach and covers the microphone with her hand. “Go on back. It’s a shit-show here today.”

Gwendy waves thank you and walks down the narrow hallway. This time the door to Sheriff Ridgewick’s office is closed. She knocks three times for luck.

“Come in,” a muffled voice says.

She opens the door and steps inside. The sheriff is standing at the window, staring outside. “That reporter get you on the way in?”

She nods. “I didn’t have much to say.”

“I appreciate that,” he says, turning around and looking at her.

“He asked if there’d been any other attempted abductions in Castle Rock recently. I almost fainted, but I don’t think he noticed.”

“He’s just fishing,” the sheriff says, leaning back against his desk.

“I guess, but it was very unsettling after what I told you last night.”

“He doesn’t know anything about that. Nobody does. Yet.”

“You’ll tell the others today?”

He nods. “The State Police are sending additional detectives later this morning. We’re setting up a task force, so I’ll be sharing your story during the initial briefing.”

“Let me know if you need me to be there to face the music in person.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he says almost casually. “What I’ll say is, you thought the whole thing was a prank until you got to thinking about it later on. That’s when you realized that maybe the guy had been wearing a mask. So you told me all about it this morning. You didn’t see a vehicle and are unable to provide a physical description of the man other than dark clothes and shoes with some sort of a heel.”

She looks at him with gratitude. “Thank you, Norris.”

“Don’t mention it,” he says, waving her off. “No need for the whole damn world to discover how hard-headed you are.”

Gwendy laughs. “Now you sound like my mother.”