The Other Side of Lone Mountain

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jeff Singleton stepped out of his office and was surprised to see one of his deputies going through the daily reports from the Sheriff’s report tray. “What are you doing?” he asked.

The deputy was so surprised that he dropped several of the reports on the floor. “Uh, I’m sorry sir, I was looking for a report I wrote earlier. I remembered I left some information out and wanted to insert it before you read the report.”

Jeff wondered why this deputy was so nervous. What was he really up to? He had the look of a kid who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Jeff said, “You know that once the reports are turned in you’re not allowed to retrieve them.”

“Yes Sir, uh, I’m sorry Sir. I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“Did you find your report?”

“No Sir”

“Don’t worry about it, if I have any questions after I read it I’ll check with you.”

“Thank you Sir.” The deputy hurriedly excused himself and returned to his desk. He acted like he couldn’t wait to get away from the Sheriff. Jeff made a mental note to keep an eye on him. He hadn’t quite bought the deputy’s story. Jeff could see Deputy Anthony Fazzio’s desk from his office. Jeff looked out just in time to see him placing a call. He couldn’t hear what he’s saying, but he knew Deputy Fazzio looked nervous.

Jeff was not in the habit of listening in on his deputy’s conversations, but something told him he needed to hear whom Fazzio was talking to. He picked up the receiver and pushed the button to the line Fazzio was using. He was just in time to hear Fazzio tell the person on the other end that he wasn’t going to do it anymore because he had almost got caught and he didn’t want to get kicked off the force. He heard the other person say, “You’ll stop when I tell you to stop. Is that understood? If you screw this up, you won’t have to worry about losing your job. You got that?”

“Yes.” he replied, and hung up.

Jeff couldn’t believe who the other person was. “It can’t be him, he thought to
himself. If Gill was one of the guys Mark saw up there, then he’s got to be the second guy. But that was impossible; no way it could be him. No the person I just heard on that phone has to be someone that sounds a lot like him, it just can’t be him! I’ve always supported him and trusted him. He wouldn’t be a party to attempted murder and threats. I just can’t accept that. Jeff knew he was right but he was having a hard time accepting that a person so revered in the community could be involved in such things. How was he going to tell Mandy if this turned out to be true? What in hell was going on up there on that mountain that they were willing to kill for? These are questions Jeff would soon get answers to.