Today's Reading
CHAPTER ONE
November 15
For Marybeth Pickett, it was the call she'd dreaded for over twenty years.
At the time it came that mid-November morning, she was standing in front of a whiteboard in her director's office at the Twelve Sleep County Library, working on the annual budget presentation she was scheduled to give before the county commissioners.
Over the speaker of the phone on her desk, the front-desk librarian said, "Marybeth, someone from the sheriff's office says he needs to speak to you immediately. He says it's urgent."
Urgent.
Marybeth felt an unseen hand grip her stomach, and a bolt of cold fear shot down her legs. It was suddenly difficult to take a breath.
Marybeth looked at the phone's base, and the single plastic button that blinked spasmodically.
She tossed the dry-erase marker aside, sat down in her chair, and punched the button. As she did, dark, frightening images and possibilities flooded her mind: car accidents involving any of the three of her daughters, crimes committed where they were the victims, a plane crash, suicide, murder, kidnapping, rape...
"This is Marybeth Pickett," she said. Her mouth was dry and it was difficult to speak.
"Mrs. Pickett, this is Deputy Frank Carroll of the Twelve Sleep County Sheriff's Department. I'm sorry I didn't call you on your cell phone, but I'm in my vehicle, so I put it through dispatch."
She could hear Carroll's siren whooping in the background, which made it difficult to hear what he was saying.
"Yes, Deputy," she said.
"First, is there any chance Joe is with you?"
"No, he's not here."
"Do you know where he was headed today?"
She tried to think. Her game warden husband rarely articulated his daily patrol routes to her in the morning before he set out in his Wyoming Game and Fish Department pickup. She was pretty sure that Joe often didn't have a plan, either. Only if he thought he might be out of cell phone range or radio contact did he say something. Or if he was involved in a case that might keep him out in the field well beyond nightfall.
"I don't remember him saying where he was going today," she confessed.
"So you don't know where he is right now?"
"No," she said. "I usually don't. His district is five thousand square miles, and he could be anywhere in it, since it's still hunting season. Why are you asking me all of this?"
She knew "Fearless" Frank Carroll well enough to know that he liked to talk and that it took him a while to get to the point. Marybeth was having none of that at the moment.
"Well, we got a report," Carroll said. "A hunter called it in a few minutes ago."
"Frank, what was the report?"
Deputy Carroll said, "I don't want to alarm you unnecessarily, Marybeth. I really don't. But this hunter said he came upon a Game and Fish vehicle parked out on Antler Creek Road. He said it was in the middle of the road just sitting there, so he checked it out."
"What are you saying, Deputy?" Marybeth asked, her voice rising.
"Well, keep in mind that none of this is confirmed yet. I'm headed out there now. But according to this hunter, the pickup is all shot up and there appears to be a body inside."
Marybeth closed her eyes and couldn't speak for a few seconds. Then she said, "A body?"
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