NaNo 2017 Day 4 - Theme

The theme of Tangled Roots is definitely abuse of power. A lower class kid was set up when a well-to-do kid hit and killed Elaine Thomas and her son while he was driving drunk. Elaine, Jed’s wife, died. This would have ruined Jorgensen’s future and his father could not let that happen. Michael Jorgensen was the young man who hit Elaine. His father James was a judge in the county at the time. He could not see his son’s reputation tarnished. Michael Jorgensen is now the D.A. in Murphy County. For that reason, Laura is opening a dangerous box of worms if she looks into this. But, she cannot handle abuses of power. She has always thought that simply because people have power, it did not mean they could get away with anything they wanted - but they seemed to do this all too often, in Laura’s mind.
She will definitely get to the bottom of it all. It will put her in jeopardy at some point and probably Chad, too. Kiefhauer will be told to let it go and just drop it all, of course. He will not do that, either. He could be suspended from the sheriff’s department. Maybe he could even be fired. Will the two have to leave town for a while? I hadn’t thought of that, but that may be the case, too. How far it all goes will depend on how deep the abuse of power is. While it may be contained simply to father and son, that is not likely. There will be others involved - others who will receive some benefit in covering for the Jorgensens. Will that include people in the sheriff’s department of that day? I would think it would have to. They would have to arrest Sandy Prescott. The D.A. at the time would be the one to press charges. He/she would likely be involved as well.
Of course Jed is involved - at least in the cover up. He was threatened with - probably losing his business, maybe his son, maybe his life, if he were to tell anyone what he knew. Jed’s son said he did not remember anything of the night of the accident, but maybe he did know something.
I had another character in the last novel - Bob was his name, I think. he held a position in town or county government. He was either the D.A. or chairman of the county board. I will have to look back and see. He helped Laura out in the last book, too. He is in a nursing home and is losing his memory - something akin to alzheimer’s disease. For the most part, people disregard what he says. In this case, though, Laura would tend to believe him. He helped her last time, and she would think he would be right in helping her again. The abuse of power would stop with him - but is he simply trying to clear his own conscious? Maybe, but his reasonings may not make him wrong.