Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 by Lisa Phillips Page B

of those? It was clearly part of his uniform but Grant
hadn’t included one. Was that because he figured John wouldn’t wear
it anyway?
    “I’m off to walk around a bit, stretch my
legs.” Palmer zipped up the jacket over his uniform. “I don’t take
the car unless it’s an emergency. Mostly I can get anywhere in town
in ten minutes if needed, but it’s still quicker to run here from
wherever I am and then grab the car.” His face fell. “Still, it’s
been two years at least since anything remotely interesting
happened.”
    “I see.”
    “The worst thing that happened recently was a
bunch of people’s lawn gnomes got stolen before thanksgiving. But
then they showed up in Hal’s Christmas display over at the radio
station all dressed up as little elves, so everyone got a good
laugh about it.”
    “There’s a radio station?”
    “Sure.” Palmer indicated the small radio over
by the coffee pot. “Broadcasts most of the day and into the night.
All old school classic rock and nothing else. Absolutely no girl
music, he says.” Palmer chuckled and it sounded like a mouse
squeaking. “Hal’s a hoot and the best source for the weather. He
just knows when it’s gonna turn. And if you need to get an
announcement out people will hear, most everyone listens in just
after dinner. Other than that we’ve got a weekly paper and we get
limited channels from the satellite. That’s why Betty started movie
night.”
    “And this Battle Night they were talking
about last night?”
    “The Major General started that up. He
decided if there was an invasion then we should probably be ready.
He runs training three days a week, running and push-ups and all
that.” Palmer blew out a breath. “I tried it for a while. I thought
it would be fun but it wasn’t.”
    Given the obvious paunch in Palmer’s middle,
John figured being out of shape and not inclined to work out might
have something to do with it. The guy needed to start working out
instead of just sucking it in, or he was going to hit a downward
slope when he reached forty and things wouldn’t be pretty.
    “Twice a year they have Battle Night and the
teams are split into squads, some attacking and some defending.
It’s basically capture the flag, which the kids do. But with masks,
and black clothes and paintball guns.” He puffed out his chest.
“It’s all in fun.”
    “How many people do it?”
    “Like thirty, maybe? Bolton heads up the A
team and they usually win. But Dan Walden from the farm took over
the B team, since Tom broke his foot. There’s a rumor going around
about some secret weapon but no one knows what it is. Or who.” He
headed for the door. “Should be fun. I’ll see you there?”
    “Maybe.” John leaned back in his chair. “I
might hang around, check it out.”
    While probably a whole lot of fun and the
dream evening for practically every male in town, John couldn’t
help mentally listing all the things which could go wrong.
    Palmer lifted his coffee cup in salute. “See
you later, then.”
    “Sure. You need anything today?”
    He shook his head. “Y’all just get settled
in.”
    The man seemed content to run the show for as
long as John needed to get unpacked. Sure, John needed to figure
out getting Pat enrolled in the school and it would take a few
weeks to settle in. But he didn’t need Palmer to act as his crutch
in the meantime.
    When the door shut behind the deputy, John
grabbed up the phone and dialed Grant’s number.
    “Hey brother.”
    “How’s things?” John turned on his computer
and logged on.
    “How are things in town?”
    Grant was going to brush off John’s question?
“The town is fine. I want to know what’s going on with Genevieve
and the girls. Did you call the therapist I recommended?”
    “Yeah.” Grant sighed. His steps echoed
through the phone line and then a door shut. “Brenda’s going to
call Genevieve first thing Monday and ask her if she’d be amenable
to sitting down with me and us