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MONDAY MORNING FOUND JIM LOOKING at the Blue Ridge newspaper, The Summit Post. The headline was: “Local Sheriff Dies.” It went on to say that he was involved in a hunting accident. The GBI had investigated the accident and found no evidence of foul play. He closed the newspaper with satisfaction, a job well done. The first part of his plan had come off without a hitch. He would begin phase two this very afternoon when he made his coffee run.
The day slowly went by and the crowd of people that hung around the post office seemed a little more jovial. It was like a morbid testament to Billy Bob. Everyone had his or her own story of some stupid thing Billy Bob had done. Jim thought it not short of amazing that prior to the death he had not heard anyone say a kind word about Billy Bob. Were these people that afraid of Mr. Bob’s appointee?
The time had arrived. Jim called out to Mike: “I’m gone to get coffee.”
“Sounds good.”
When he entered the drug store he looked to see if they had customers. No one was around and even Judy was in the back. He opened the door and held the bell so it would not sound off, thus letting them know they had a customer. He picked up the phone and with Mr. Bob’s unlisted telephone number in hand quickly dialed. Answering on the second ring: “Bob here.”
“Is this Little Bobby?”
“Who is this?”
“It’s your conscience.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?”
“You remember that little voice that used to talk to you before Big Red died ? the one that kept you straight? Well, I’m back and I plan to let you know just what kind of asshole you really are.”
“I don’t know who this is, but let me tell you something. This is MY town, MY county and no little fuck is going to talk to me this way.” He then hung up in anger.
Jim quickly opened the front door and closed it ringing the bell and walked back to Judy as if he had just come in. Just like clockwork.
The afternoon passed quickly. Jim watched now and then to see if there was any unusual activity at the drug store. There was none. Good, I can now make my demands without fear of discovery.
That night, Jim opened the little notebook he had taken out of Billy Bob’s car, thumbing through it not knowing what to expect. He looked for other victims’ signatures in this little book of probations. He found one page that interested him. At the top was written: “Craig’s Women,” and under the title was a list of women’s names, the kind of car they drove, along with the color and license plate number. Some of the women had a star by their names. At the bottom by a star was written: “Report any violation to Craig as soon as possible”. There were also telephone numbers. He read through the names, but of course didn’t know any of them. Except one ? Sue McGill. Isn’t that Peggy’s friend? Jim thought. Her name had a star by it. On another page he found a list under the title “Mr. Bob’s friends.” This list had both male and female names. It, too, had stars on certain individuals. The book would require a lot of study to find major weak points in Mr. Bob’s armor.
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