Chapter 7 - The Town's Awakening
By morning, the news had hit the small Texas town like a seismic shockwave.
The local news vans were parked outside the police precinct, which had been cordoned off by federal agents. The FBI was currently carrying out boxes of files, hard drives, and ledgers. Sheriff Boyd’s corrupt empire was being dismantled piece by piece in broad daylight.
I sat in the corner booth of the local diner, drinking black coffee. I wore my Navy dress uniform—stark, immaculate, adorned with the heavy gold stripes of an Admiral on the sleeves and rows of commendation ribbons on the chest.
The diner was dead silent.
The same locals who had whispered about me behind my back, the ones who had believed Marcus’s lies that I was a washout, stared in absolute, stunned silence.
The waitress, a woman named Clara who had gone to high school with me, approached the table with a shaking hand to refill my coffee.
“Evelyn... I mean, Admiral Vance,” Clara stammered, spilling a few drops on the saucer. “We... we saw the news. About Marcus and the Sheriff. Is it true? Did they really arrest them all?”
“It’s true, Clara,” I said, offering her a polite, reassuring smile. “The department is under federal receivership now. A state trooper commander is coming down this afternoon to take over as interim sheriff until special elections can be held.”
“Marcus always told us you were just pushing papers in some basement in DC,” she whispered, glancing at the heavy gold stars on my uniform collar.
“Marcus lied about a lot of things,” I replied, taking a sip of the coffee. “Mostly to himself. But the town is safe now. The bullies have been removed.”
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I left a fifty-dollar bill on the table for a three-dollar coffee and walked out of the diner. The patrons parted like the Red Sea to let me pass.
I didn't care about their respect or their awe. I only cared that from this day forward, the entire town would know that my mother was untouchable, protected by a force they couldn't even begin to comprehend.
