The Archer household was still surrounded by deputies when the Archers and Janice drove up and were waved to a stop in front of the garage by a deputy. “Sorry, sir,” the deputy said. “This house is a crime scene, you can’t enter.”

“But it’s our house!” John protested. “What’s going on?”

“Your neighbor was looking out her kitchen window and saw three people breaking into the place. She let us in the front door with the key you gave her, and all three have been apprehended.”

“How long before we’re able to get into our house?” Candice asked.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” the deputy said. “Sheriff Stoneslinger is conducting the investigation. I’ll see if he can talk to you. But could you maybe park across the street for right now?”

“Yeah,” John said, and added, “Hey, I don’t know what happened, but I’m glad you guys were on the ball.”

John no more than had the minivan parked when Luke Colby walked up and introduced himself. “Do you know anything about what’s going on?” John asked.

“Not a lot, and they’re not letting me get close, either,” the reporter said. “I know there was a report of three people breaking into your house, and the sheriff thought it might be the Wagner brothers. It sounds like the sort of stupid thing they’d do. But it wasn’t the Wagner brothers, and the guy they brought around from the back in handcuffs is one of the cops from the drug task force. I remember seeing him out at the meth house.”

“And they caught three of them going through our house?”

“That’s what I understand,” Colby said, having already realized that this had the makings of a bigger story than the Wagner brothers getting caught red-handed. A lot bigger!

“You have any idea what they thought they were doing?”

“Not really,” Colby admitted. “But I’d sure like to find out.”

“Those miserable sons of bitches,” John snorted. “Two of them tried to get in the house yesterday and wanted to talk to the kids without a lawyer present. I wouldn’t let them do it, and with this I guess now I know why. I mean, if they wanted to talk to the kids with a lawyer there, fine and dandy, but I don’t want the kids having words put in their mouths, if you know what I mean.”

That was a good quote, Colby thought. It wasn’t going to be the definitive part of the story, but could add some dimensions to the basics when he found out what the basics were – and part of them would come off of the log at the sheriff’s office. “I guess they have a reputation for riding a little roughshod over the rule book,” he said, more in hopes of drawing a better quote out of Archer.

He didn’t get the enhanced quote, because right then Sheriff Stoneslinger walked up. “Morning, John,” he said. “Did you hear what happened?”

“Just that there had been a break-in,” John admitted. “Apparently Eleanor had her glasses on and called you guys.”

“Yeah, she did you a big one,” Stoneslinger nodded. “It’s going to cause a hell of a mess. We caught two guys from the drug task force and Bill Abernathy coming out of your basement. Apparently they broke in a window in back. They claim it was an investigation, but they don’t have a warrant. I called the bailiff over at the courthouse and they said that Judge Dieball hasn’t issued a search warrant in a couple weeks. That makes it felony B&E and there most likely will be more. I’m sorry, I haven’t been down to the basement yet, so I don’t know how much damage they did down there, if any.”

“So what happens to them?”

“That’s a good question,” Stoneslinger said, apparently not aware of the fact that Colby was standing within three feet of him, not taking notes but listening intensely. “Even if they had a warrant there’s no call to break into the place like that. We’re going to take them over to the jail for right now, but we’re going to have to see if a warrant has been issued from state jurisdiction before we can arrest them. However it works out, it’s going to be a hell of a mess, because we found a package with some white powder in it on one of the task force guys. My guess is they wanted to plant it on you.”

“Why, those sons of bitches.”

“My feeling exactly,” Stoneslinger snorted. “We’ll have the stuff checked out, and you can damn well bet it won’t be done by the drug task force lab. I’m going to have to check around to find someone who can do it, maybe someone out of state. Right now, I’d bet good money that it won’t match the stuff from the Lufkin house. I know you people are going through a tough period right now, but this is ridiculous. Look, we’ll have to gather some evidence, look around more closely, and maybe get some finger prints for what they may be worth. It’ll be easier if the whole family isn’t in the house. Give us a chance to do our stuff for a bit, and come back in an hour or so. I’ll want you to go down to the basement and assess the damage, if any.”

Colby could barely believe his ears – he’d overheard the really important part of the story when the sheriff was telling it to the Archer family! “Rogue cops caught in break-in” was the headline that flashed through his mind. Do it right, and it was going to shove the meth lab and the shooting down below the fold, maybe off the front entirely. Hell, this story was bigger than Spearfish Lake, if given a little push it could even go national! That was going to put a lot better spin on finding a better job!

He stood back, still listening intently, as the sheriff exchanged a few more sentences with the Archer family, who apparently were going to go get a late breakfast or an early lunch or something. After a moment, the family drove off, and Luke decided to ask, “Sheriff, can you give me the name of the two drug task force guys you picked up?”

“I really probably shouldn’t do it now,” Stoneslinger smiled. “I probably ought to wait till they’re booked.” He gave Colby a broad wink and continued. “You know I really can’t give you any details of an active investigation, but you might want to have your camera ready. We’re going to be bringing the perps out in a couple minutes and taking them over to the jail.”

“Sure, thanks Sheriff,” Luke replied, a huge grin forming on his face. It was clear as all hell what Stoneslinger had done by letting him overhear the whole damn story, and a heads-up on the photos, too! This was getting more interesting by the minute!

“Now that,” John shook his head as he drove down the street, “is one hell of a note. We are going to have to do something real nice for Eleanor, that’s for sure.”

“No matter how you cut it,” Candice said, “that really sucks.”

“Is anybody really hungry?” John asked. “I know I’m not, and I’m damn tempted to drive right over to Matt Schindenwulfe’s office.”

“What can he do?”

“Maybe nothing,” John shrugged. “On the other hand, maybe he can keep enough feet to the fire to make sure those bastards don’t walk.”

“So how do you think this might affect what is going to happen with Cody?” she asked.

“Hard to say, and that’s another question we have to ask Matt. It is just clear as hell to me that those drug task force guys were trying to frame the kids, just like we were talking about the other day. If they’d gotten away with it, yeah, Cody would . . . well, I don’t want to think about it. As far as the ruling about the shooting is concerned, hard to say. It might slow things down, or might speed them up. Like I said, we need to talk to Matt again.”

A few minutes later they were in the attorney’s office door. “Boy, the Archer family is like a bad penny the past few days,” Matt smirked as the four of them filed into the room. “What now?”

“You probably haven’t heard about this yet,” John said, “but those jokers from the drug task force are just as bad as you said they were, and worse besides.” He went on to tell the story of Stoneslinger and the deputies finding Abernathy and the two drug task force guys in the Archer basement.

“You’re right,” Schindenwulfe said when he’d heard the whole story, all of it from John. “I’m not real sure what we can do until some more of the facts come out, but it’s clear that this is going to demand action. I don’t think there’s much we can do right at this minute, other than my making a few phone calls, but keep in touch. Maybe by this afternoon we’ll have a better idea of what’s coming down.”

An hour later, the Archers were back at the house. “As far as we can tell,” Stoneslinger told them, “They didn’t get upstairs from the basement at all, but there’s some damage down there I’m sure they must have caused when they came in through the window. John, maybe you could come downstairs and give us a better idea.”

John went downstairs and looked over the mess under the window. “Really, not a lot of dollar damage,” he told the Sheriff. “But there’s a couple hundred hours of work they kicked the crap out of. I don’t suppose there’s any kind of restitution available?”

“Not directly,” Stoneslinger told him. “If they’re convicted, the judge could probably make restitution part of the sentence. But considering the circumstances, you’ve got them dead cold on a damage suit. My advice is to stick it to them good, but it’s going to be a while before you see anything.”

“It’s probably not going to come to much of anything,” John said sadly, surveying the wreckage.

“Depends,” Stoneslinger smiled. “Talk to your lawyer. You get what? Eighty bucks an hour for your time? A couple hundred hours at that rate starts to add up to something more than pocket change. Let me tell you, we have these guys dead to rights, but it’s hard to say how much the lawyers will screw it up. You might as well try to get at least that much out of them because it might be all anyone gets.”

It was another hour or so before things started to die down. The deputies were just staring to pack things up and get out of there, and Sheriff Stoneslinger was sharing a cup of coffee with John and Candice when there came a knocking on the front door. “Now what the hell?” John said as he went to open it. “If this is more trouble, well shit, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

He opened the door, to find an overweight, middle-aged woman with a scowl on her face standing there. “May I help you?” he asked courteously.

“Are you John Archer?” the woman asked.

John admitted he was, and the woman went on, asking, “Is Janice Lufkin here?”

“She is,” he said. “What do you want with her?”

“I’m from Family and Children’s Services,” she stated officiously. “I have an order from the director to take her with me and have her placed in foster care. Could you gather her things, please?”

“No, ma’am, I won’t,” John said, the anger of the last couple hours coming to a boil. “I frankly have had my fill of overbearing public officials taking matters into their own hands today, and you just take the cake.”

“I have to tell you sir,” the woman said. “That if you don’t produce the Lufkin child, I’ll have to have the police or the sheriff pick her up. Can’t we do this the easy way?”

“Sure, we can do this the easy way,” John smiled malevolently. “Sheriff, could you come here for a minute? And Candice, could you bring that package of papers we got from the court?”

In a moment both were standing beside John, who pulled out one of the papers from the package. “This,” he told the woman, “Is a certification of Miss Lufkin’s emancipation, signed this morning by Judge Dieball. This certifies that she is now an adult, and therefore out of your jurisdiction. Therefore, you have no business here. Sheriff, would you escort this alleged person from private property?”

“But sir,” the woman said, backing down. “I have my orders to take this minor into the department’s custody.”

“You may have,” Stoneslinger said, after glancing at the paper John had in his hand, “but according to this, Janice Lufkin is no longer a minor. Therefore, she is none of your business.”

“Well,” the woman huffed, “we’ll see about this.”

“Before you go,” John said, really coming to a boil now, “I have one question. Where the fuck were you when she needed you? And why are you making a big deal out of it when she doesn’t need you anymore? Now, get out of here.” With that, he slammed the door in her face.

“John,” Candice said with a smile, “you could have been a little more diplomatic.”

“Yeah, and I could have gone and got the .357 to let her know I meant what I said,” he replied, the smoke still just about rolling out of his ears. “Like I said, I’ve had all I can take for one day of petty officialdom overstepping their authority and throwing their weight around. That one just takes the prize. Like I told her, where the fuck were they when Janice really needed them? Believe me, if they go to court to try and appeal the emancipation, that is one question I am damn sure is going to get asked.”

“It needs to get asked,” Stoneslinger nodded. “It wouldn’t be the first time that they’ve made trouble when it’s too late to do any good. It’s good that you people were quick on your feet about that.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” John agreed. “Matt Schindenwulfe said we’d better be quick about it, and he was right. It’s not the first time he’s been right in this.”

“He’s pretty good, and you probably ought to call him up and let him know that this just happened. He may be able to get the message across to them that your girl is off limits now,” Stoneslinger agreed. “Look, I doubt they’re going to cause any more trouble today, and I’ll let Charlie Wexler and the state troopers down in Moffatt know about that certification as soon as I can get hold of them. Now that those leeches have been informed of that certification, a physical attempt to take Janice would be about as illegal as what those bozos did this morning.”

“Unless I misunderstand, Charlie’s not in charge of the department anymore.”

“Well, probably not for a little while yet,” Stoneslinger smiled, “but I’ll tell you that as soon as the city manager hears about what happened this morning, which is about one minute after I get back to my desk, Abernathy is going to be on unpaid suspension, at best. That puts Charlie back in charge.”

“Well, yeah,” John smiled. “I hadn’t thought about that. At least Charlie knows where he’s coming from.”

“He’s fine. I just hope the city manager and the council go ahead and make him chief this time, and life will be a lot simpler around here,” the sheriff grinned. “I’d better get back to the shop. You think this was a mess, you have no idea what’s going to be happening over there the next few hours.”

“Luke, you did good,” Mike McMahon said. “You’re dead right, this is going to be a big story, but let’s keep it for ourselves at least till Wednesday morning.”

“But,” Colby protested. “This could be a big story, maybe even nationally, I hate to sit on it for local use.”

“You’re right, and I hate it, too,” Mike said, “but be that as it may, we deserve to be able to print it first, and besides, we don’t have the whole story yet. I can tell you that this could turn into a really nasty one, and sometimes you have to just sit back and let things percolate a little. If we do it right, maybe we can get a bigger one out of it, one that’ll buff up your résumé even more.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Well, this is the voice of experience talking,” Mike smiled. He’d been editor of the Record-Herald for a long time, and knew as well as anyone the way things worked around Spearfish Lake. “I’ve seen this kind of stuff before, and sometimes the story of how people try to explain away shooting themselves in the foot is a better story than just shooting themselves in the foot. Did you ever study Watergate any?”

“I remember it coming up in a lecture, but no real detail. That’s getting to be a long time ago.”

“Yeah, it is,” Mike agreed, “but the salient fact is that Nixon didn’t get into trouble for ordering the break-in, if he even ordered it. Where he got into trouble was from trying to cover it up. Don’t worry. We’re not going to sit on this long. That’s one of the advantages of a weekly paper. Sometimes it gives us a chance to sit back and let things happen a little so we can get an even better story out of it.”

It took a while for some semblance of calm to descend back over the Archer household. If Candice thought she’d been worked up on Thursday evening, the events of this morning had her even more wrapped up. John was still mad enough about the whole thing that he had Cody go upstairs and get the .357, which was still on the bedside stand. For the rest of the day, any wandering magazine salesman unlucky enough to knock on the Archer’s front door was going to find themselves very unwelcome, indeed. Luckily, none did.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, Janice was the calmest of anyone over the events of the morning. “I was pretty sure everything was going to work out,” she told Candice. “Nothing could have happened that was any worse than the stuff I’ve had to put up with, especially the last few months.”

“Well,” Candice admitted, “at least every day around here isn’t this crazy. We haven’t had a day like this . . .

“Since Thursday,” John finished for her. “Janice, I think most of the time you’ll find that things are pretty quiet around here, but there have been a couple exceptions to the rule.”

“I understand,” she said. “What’s more, after that person from Family and Children’s Services was here, I understand that you two are protecting me as much as Cody is. It’s been a long time since someone stuck up for me, and I thank you for it.”

“We want to protect you,” Candice told her. “We won’t be able to do it forever, but we should be able to while you get back on your feet, get your health together and your life together. Then comes the hard part, which is where you learn to operate outside that cover of our protection. That’s something you’re going to have to learn how to do, and we want to help you gain the confidence to do it. You’re an adult now, at least legally, and you’re going to have to learn to deal with things yourself, without help.”

“I don’t know that I want to,” she told them. “I’ve never really had anyone to protect me before, and I think I like it.”

“We don’t have to work on it right away,” Candice told her, “because you’ve got some of that getting yourself together to do. The home health nurse is going to be in this afternoon to change your dressings and some other things, but I want to get you in to see Dr. Metarie as soon as we can. “

“But I just got out of the hospital.”

“There are some things I don’t think they checked at the hospital,” Candice told her. “Besides, taking care of your health is important and we need to get you started on that, too.”

Later on in the afternoon, they got a call from Sheriff Stoneslinger. “Just thought I’d bring you up to date on what’s happening,” he told them. “First off, I was dead right about the city manager putting Abernathy on suspension, and he’ll be on suspension until this is cleared up, which won’t be soon. Charlie made it back to town and now knows he’s interim police chief, and I told both him and the people down at the state police post about the hassle with Family and Children’s Services. All three of the people we caught in your house have been arrested and lodged in the jail, so they shouldn’t be able to try to bullshit their way past you with a uniform. The arraignment and bail hearing is first thing in the morning, and I don’t think they’re going to get a slap-on-the-wrist bail. But you might like to be there if you enjoy watching lawyers trying to make molehills out of mountains, and vice versa if need be.”

“Do we need to be there?”

“No, not really,” Stoneslinger told him, “but it might make a good show.”

“So what happens with those jerks now?”

“Good question. A lot depends on the prosecutor and the lawyers. I can tell you that the prosecutor is ready to throw the book at them now, but he wants to wait until I can get those drugs tested before he does anything. It was meth, by the way. We have a field kit that can test for it, but whether it was any of Lufkin’s product, it’ll take a real lab to find that out, and he wants to wait until he knows for sure. I can pretty well tell you that it isn’t going to happen overnight.”

“I sorta figured that,” John agreed. “Look, Steve. I just want to thank you for all you’ve done for us. We really appreciate it, and I suspect you’ve saved some of our butts today. It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t really been on the ball.”

“Well, we got a little lucky,” Stoneslinger replied. “From what we can find out, those two bozos from the drug task force pretty well talked Abernathy into his part of it. I have to think that even if Abernathy had been the one to get the call not knowing that the other shit was going on that he probably wouldn’t have done as good a job. I never really liked the guy, and there was a reason for it.”

Thankfully the day wound down early. After the home health nurse came by, Janice had managed a couple-hour nap in the afternoon – with Cody right near her all the while – but she was still very tired early, not surprising with the excitement and the healing she still faced. It wasn’t nine in the evening before Cody helped her upstairs and got ready for bed himself.

Once again, Candice helped her get her clothes off, get into a nightgown and ready for bed. “Candice,” she asked as they were finishing up. “Would it be all right if I slept with Cody again tonight? I feel so much safer when I’m with him, and I really would like to be able to sleep well.”

“We’re going to have to break you of it sooner or later,” Candice told her, “but for now, if it’s all right with him, it’s all right with me.”

“Thank you, Candice,” Janice replied. “I talked to him earlier, and he said it was all right with him if it was all right with you.”

“All right,” Candice conceded. She still wasn’t crazy about this arrangement and where it could lead, but getting good sleep was as important right now for Janice as almost anything else. If Cody could help with that, so much the better. “I’ll help you get down to his room.”

Thus it was that Candice held the covers for Janice as the girl climbed into bed with Cody. “I figured you’d talk her into it,” was all that Cody said.

“Thank you for letting me do this again, Cody,” she replied. “I feel so much better knowing I’m safe with you.”

“Good night, kids,” Candice said, mentally shaking her head. This was something she could never have believed would happen – and here it was, and she was going along with it. At least it seemed to be for a good reason, and seemed to be working – but who knew where the future would lead?

She started to turn out the lights but realized there was something missing. “Back in a minute,” she said, then went downstairs, got the .357, and put it on Cody’s night stand before turning out the light.

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