Justice Unserved, Nadia Siddiqui [brene brown rising strong .TXT] 📗

allow Emma to introduce Nathan “Hank” to her father and get as much of his opinion as possible. It seems that the only victims who have been left alive all have some sort of memory disorder. In Emma’s father’s case, it’s dementia. Memory disorders tend to make for very unreliable witness accounts.

Nathan wonders if Sheriff Crane knows that somebody is in town and poking around already. He wonders if the man has started to follow the pair of them. Nathan knows that the sheriff will find him sooner or later. He wonders if he will be able to make it all the way to the station for an impromptu interview or if Sheriff Crane will find him before that. It all depends on how paranoid the sheriff actually is, Nathan supposes. He knows Crane is a narcissist and doesn’t think he will ever be caught for anything he does. Nathan knows he will also not like to have loose ends hanging around for that same reason, and Nathan’s being here will make Claire a very annoying loose end for the sheriff to want to tie off as quickly as possible. Sheriff Crane probably doesn’t think of Emma has any sort of threat to him, but he should. She’s a lot more observant than she looks and she doesn’t seem at all like the type of woman to be able to easily let things go.

Nathan stops at a small coffee shop in town, checking over his shoulder until the police cruiser finally shows up. It only took a few hours since Nathan’s arrival here in town to be noticed. Sheriff Crane has enough eyes in this town to be able to move quickly it would appear. Nathan thanks the barista for his latte and starts to walk down the sidewalks casually. He’s not doing anything that would warrant the sheriff stopping him; for all intents and purposes Nathan looks every bit like a tourist just enjoying a cup of joe. He wonders if curiosity will get the better of the sheriff or if he’s an impatient enough man to stop Nathan without even having a reason to do so.

Only he never does. Nathan can’t help but feel satisfied by this little development because it keeps the buildup going. Eventually the squad car drives off and Nathan decides to skip this little courtship and heads right after that car in the direction of the police station. He pulls out his notepad and positions his tape recorder in his front pocket before strolling casually into the station.

The moment he’s inside everybody starts to stare at him. Nathan doesn’t think any of them have really been around too many outsiders. He is willing to bet that each of the people in this room went to school with the other people in this room or at the very least grew up down the street from one another. It’s almost intimidating. “Hi I’m looking for Sheriff Crane, please.”

“What for?” the small woman behind the counter demands, not at all pretending to be friendly or in any way customer service oriented.

“I just have a couple of questions for him, is he here?”

“Who are you?”

“Hank Pettyfer, ma’am.” Nathan pauses, pretending like she’s just supposed to know who he is by his name alone. “I’m a reporter?” Dramatically, he blinks as if he’s somehow appalled that she still doesn’t have any idea who he is and waves away her pointed stare. “I’m here to help your town get funding for a search party or at the very least gain some national attention for all of these crimes that you’ve been having lately.” He looks around, gesturing to them like they should thank him. Hank is a boisterous personality, and Nathan has to play into it. “You know, since you all have been having trouble finding any leads?” He means it to be exactly as condescending and rude as it comes out too.

The woman behind the front desk only glares at him.

For half a moment, Nathan thinks he’s actually going to have to give up and go on to his next lead when the sheriff himself comes out from behind a partition wall, holding a white Styrofoam cup full of black coffee.

“Sheriff?” Nathan asks, though it’s very obvious by the large badge on Crane’s uniform that’s exactly who he is. Nathan extends out a warm hand in a friendly gesture and shakes Crane’s hand firmly. “Nice to meet you, would you mind if I ask you just a few questions? I would love to have a sheriff’s perspective on a few things here, if you have time.”

Nathan is careful to play into his ego. He is careful to appeal to that self-centered nature just a little, just enough to make him want to help him.

Sheriff contemplates his answer and finally nods. “I think I can spare just a couple moments, right this way.”

Crane leads the two of them around a small open office with about four desks in it toward a small hallway and his office is through a wooden door at the end of it. Sheriff Crane holds the door open and waves Nathan inside as if this was all his idea from the beginning. The moment they are in the room alone together it’s so much clearer that the sheriff is used to getting everything he wants. His wall is decorated in hunting trophies and other insignia that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the typical academic achievements that are normally displayed on office walls. The sheriff moves with his shoulders totally level as if he owns the whole building as opposed to just this room. He likes having a position of power and he likes being able to wield it.

Personally, Nathan thinks he’s obviously compensating for something.

“Thank you for taking this time out to talk to me, I don’t want to waste your valuable time so I’ll make this