Chapter 3: A Hometown Tragedy
After hearing the shocking news that a resident of their hometown had recently been found dead, and by Lieutenant Asher's mother to boot, Harrison and Asher hurried back into their SUV and Harrison steered the vehicle back toward the Hope County Jail and Sheriff's Office complex, located within the Henbane River region of Hope County. All the while, Asher held up her phone and the duo continued their conversation with Shirley Howard via the speakerphone.
"Wait a minute," Asher said to her mother, "You're talking about Nathaniel Tucker? From Winterville? Mister Tucker's son?"
"Yes," Shirley replied from her end of the line.
Richard Tucker was a beloved and very revered elderly man who owned a large farm just outside Harrison and Asher's hometown of Winterville, Vermont. As kids, the now sheriff and lieutenant would often help with field and barn chores in the summer, enjoy hayrides and pumpkin picking in the fall, and go sledding down the steep hill that jutted out from the farm's property in the winter. Richard passed away in 2014, and the property was left to his son, Nathaniel, known by most Winterville locals as "Nate".
"I ran into Nate at the diner when Abby and I came home for Christmas," Harrison commented, "he told me that he had some sort of financial planning job in Boston. What was he doing back at the farm?"
"He'd come home every couple of weeks to check in with the farmers he hired and check up on all the animals," Shirley explained, "That's why I was there tonight. We had gotten a call about one of the horses breaking through the fence." Shirley worked as Winterville's Chief Animal Control Officer, having been employed by the town for the past 25 years.
"What happened?" Asher asked.
Shirley took a deep breath before explaining. "I was in the process of closing up the office for the evening when the call came in," she said, "So I responded myself. I confirmed the report as legit when I found 'Smokey', their Australian Pony, grazing freely just outside a broken fence line. Once I got him calmed down and resecured inside the pen with the other horses, I saw that Nate's car was there, so I went in to find him. He was laying on the floor of the cattle barn. No pulse, no breathing."
Harrison sighed. "Damn Shirley," he said, "I'm sorry. Does it looked like he had suffered a heart attack or a seizure or something like that?"
"Definitely not," Shirley replied from her end of the line in a very assertive tone, "He had a very obvious slice across his throat from ear to ear."
Asher gulped with anxiety before replying. "What does the Winterville PD have to say about this?" she asked.
"They're really up in arms right now," Shirley said, "It's actually the third homicide we've had in Winterville in two months. Now that I found Nate, Chief Porter's talking about bringing in the State Police."
"Horace Porter's still the Chief of Police?" Harrison asked.
"Actually," Shirley replied, "He retired last month. He appointed his son to succeed him."
Asher rolled her eyes and grimaced at that. "Jayden," she flatly said.
Harrison, meanwhile, scoffed in response. "Heh," he commented, "'Little Boy Blue' Porter's wearing the three Chief's stars now. Great."
"I know," Shirley said with a somewhat sympathetic tone, "But say what you will about the little turd, he and his department seem to be on top of things."
"On one hand, that's good to hear" Asher replied, "But it's a double edge sword. There's only two cops and a dispatcher in Winterville, as we all know."
Harrison deliberated the situation for an extended beat before offering up an idea. "Then there's only one choice as far as I can tell," he confidently said a few seconds later, "We need to go back home to Winterville and work on this. Jayden Porter may be a weapons-grade prick and a half, but it doesn't mean he couldn't use our help."
Asher had her own moment of forethought before nodding in full agreement. "Okay," she said to her mother, "It looks like Troy and I will be headed home shortly, but do us a favor and don't tell anybody just yet, okay? I don't want us to ruffle Jayden's feathers unless we really have to."
"You got it," Shirley replied, "Call me before you catch your flight. Love you guys."
"I love you, too, Mom" Asher said.
"Thanks, Shirley" Harrison said, "Love you too, dear. See you soon."
Asher then hung up the phone and looked to Harrison. "You sure you want to do this, boss?" she inquired.
"Yeah," Harrison said, "But I don't think you, me, Porter, and whoever his other officer is are going to do this thing justice. We're going to need to bring along some backup of our own."
"Like who?" Asher asked.
"I'm going to make a call," Harrison said, "Do me a favor and call Katie Alvarez at Winterville PD. See if she can give us the lowdown on this whole mess." Katie Alvarez was Asher's childhood best friend and the dispatcher for the Winterville Police.
"You got it," Asher replied, "I'll send her an e-mail now, actually."
Harrison nodded before dialing a number through the vehicle's Bluetooth phone application as he continued driving.
"Troy," a very familiar male voice answered after three rings.
"Hey Bill," Harrison replied, "Some major shit's hitting the fan back home in Winterville, bud. We need to talk."
Hope County Jail & Sheriff's Office
Henbane River
20 Minutes Later
Harrison and Asher entered the Hope County Jail and Sheriff's Office through the rear employee entrance. As they walked toward Harrison's office, Asher noticed that her friend and boss was busy doing something on his phone.
"What are you doing?" she inquired, "Texting Bill?"
"Nope," Harrison replied, "I'm sending an e-mail. I had an idea about another old pal of ours who could provide us with more help."
Coincidentally, Asher's own phone chimed, at which point she glanced down to check it. "Ah," she said, "Katie came through for us. She sent digital copies of the homicide files to my department inbox."
"Cool," Harrison said, "You can download those in a little bit. Right now, we have a Zoom appointment to get to."
A few minutes later, the sheriff and lieutenant were seated behind the former's desk in his office, sitting before his high-definition computer monitor. Harrison opened the Zoom application, accepted a provided invite to a meeting, and waited patiently for the other participant to arrive.
Chicago Police Sergeant Hank Voight's face soon filled the opposite half of the meeting screen. The normally very stoic and gruff Voight smiled when he saw the faces of his two friends and former CPD colleagues. Harrison and Asher smiled as well in retort.
"Look who it is, Abby!" Harrison said after momentarily glancing to Asher, "Our old buddy Hank Voight!"
Asher chuckled. "Long time no see, Sergeant!" she said, "It's so awesome to see you!"
"It's great to see you guys, too, after all these years" Voight said from his side of the screen, "I heard things are going really well for you in Montana. I mean, despite that weird cult and COVID. Congrats on your promotions, too."
"Thanks, Hank" Harrison said as Asher nodded to echo the kind sentiment, "Before we get down to business, Abby and I wanted to tell you how sorry we were to hear about Al."
Alvin "Al" Olinsky had been Sergeant Voight's best friend and colleague of 20+ years who, tragically, had been stabbed to death a few years before. Harrison and Asher had also briefly known Alvin when they worked at the Chicago Police.
In response, Voight's face turned very solemn for the moment. "Thank you," he said after taking a beat, "While I've got you on here, I wanted to tell you how grateful Al's wife, my unit, and I were for the beautiful arrangement of Policeman's Helmut flowers you guys sent for his funeral service."
"Well," Asher said, "we were very glad to do it. Despite everything, he was a brother officer after all."
Harrison then cleared his throat. "Alright," he said, "I think we should get into that business part of things now. There's a big situation going on in our hometown of Winterville, Vermont."
Over the next few minutes, Harrison and Asher broke down everything that they had learned about the Winterville murders. The sheriff also worked in an urgent request for Voight's help.
Taking in all the information, Voight considered everything for a few additional minutes before finally giving an answer. "Okay," he said, "We're in. The thing is, though, I can't spare my entire Intelligence Unit. Three of my detectives are on the schedule to testify in federal court this week on a narcotics case. I can, however, come myself and bring along a pair of my guys."
"Great," Harrison replied, "That's okay. I've got my cousin, Bill Harvey, coming in to assist us and the local PD as well. Bill was my FBI partner for several years before he took early retirement. He's agreed to have his Bureau credentials and privileges temporarily reinstated to help us work the case. He's taking a train to Washington in the morning to get all that squared away and then he'll meet us in Winterville."
"Sounds good," Voight said, "This cousin of yours is on the up and up?"
"Definitely," Harrison replied, "I trained him."
Following Voight's responsive chuckle, Asher chimed in. "Which of your detectives are you bringing?" she asked Voight.
"Did you guys ever meet Jay Halstead when you were in Chicago?" Voight asked.
Harrison shook his head. "I didn't," he said, "No."
"I met him once when I was in Narcotics," Asher added, "We backed up his unit on a raid when he worked in Vice. You scooped him out of there and into Intelligence not long after that, right, Hank?"
"I did," Voight said, "He's gone on to become one of my best. We'll be bringing along his partner, Detective Hailey Upton. She transferred over to us from Robbery a few years ago just before Erin Lindsay left us. She's a bit rough around the edges, but she's good police."
"Oh yeah," Asher replied, "I heard Erin left. She's working with the Feds or something now, right?"
"Mmmm-hmm," Voight said, "We still keep in touch. She's doing well."
"Alright then, Hank" Harrison said, "We'll be seeing you and your guys at the Winterville police station tomorrow afternoon. Say, sometime around noon?"
"You got it," Voight said with a nod, "I'll go tell Jay and Hailey and will be on the next flight out. See you soon guys." The Zoom meeting then ended.
An abrupt knock then came on the office door. "Come in," Harrison called out.
Undersheriff Joey Hudson then came into the office. Hudson was a tall dark-haired white woman in her late 30's clad in her Hope County Sheriff's uniform. "You wanted to see me, Sheriff?" she inquired.
"Yes Joey," Harrison said, "Come on in."
Hudson shut the door behind her and took a seat in the small chair that faced the desk, at which point she nodded a salutation to Asher.
"We don't mean to spring this on you, Joey" Asher chimed in, "But the sheriff and I have to take off for a while. There have been some murders in our hometown back in Vermont and we're going to go assist local PD. You'll be the Acting Hope County Sheriff in our absence."
Hudson gulped before nodding. "I see," she replied, "Who's going to be my second in command?"
"Naturally," Harrison began explaining, "Since Dakota Michaels is our Chief Deputy now, he'd have to be Acting Undersheriff until we return."
"Okay," Hudson said with reluctance in her voice.
"It's alright, Joey" Asher said reassuringly, "You've been here longer than any of us. That's why the sheriff appointed you to be Undersheriff in the first place. You can do this."
Hudson sighed deeply before nodding once again. "Thank you, Lieutenant" she finally said, "It'll be an honor to be Sheriff, even if it's only for a while."
Harrison extended a hand to Hudson. "Congratulations, Acting Sheriff Hudson" he said.
Hudson firmly shook her boss' hand. "Thank you, sir" she said.
"We'll both just be a cell phone call away if you or the guys need us," Asher said, "Tell the others that too, please, if you would."
"Yes ma'am," Hudson said before getting up and leaving the office.
Asher then looked to Harrison. "Now what?" she asked.
Harrison then picked up the receiver of his desk phone. "I'm going to call Nick Rye," he said, "See if he can fuel up one of his planes and take us to Vermont ASAP. Then, we should run home and pack."
A now excited Asher smiled, got up from her seat, and left the office.