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A FEW BLOCKS FROM THE Town Hall, Dana stopped the car. She then grabbed her coat from the back seat and got out at Maple Street.
“Dana, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Katie seemed concerned and anxious.
“I sure hope so.”
Dana then made her way to the trunk of the car and popped open the door. She then searched around and grabbed her flashlight.
She walked carefully to the side of the road and over to the dented utility box that was knocked over. The wind blew her hair in her face. A sudden chill came over her. She knew she had to be crazy. What on earth was she doing there? What was she looking for? What was she hoping to really accomplish there? If Detective Troy ever found out she was snooping around that area, he would have a coronary. But she had to do something. Her cousin’s life was at stake. So was her café. So was the town’s safety if a cold-blooded killer was still on the loose.
“Do you see anything?” Katie asked, coming out of the car.
“Not yet,” Dana said as she walked over to the utility box. It was difficult to see clearly in the night. But she was looking for some sort of clue. The utility box looked more like aluminum and had a dark green tint to it and some mud on the bottom. It was about five or six feet in height and a few feet in width from what Dana could guess.
“Just to think, there are thousands of tiny high voltage wires running through that thing. The city should have it more hidden from view off the roadside.”
“You would think.”
“So many addresses are connected to this box. All it takes is for just one blow and power would be knocked out to hundreds of addresses,” Dana thought out loud.
“Creepy, isn’t it?”
“Tell me about it.”
“But Dana, it was an accident. It had to be.”
Dana frowned. Just then she pulled out her cell phone. “Here, hold this flashlight to that area there. I’m going to take a snap shot.”
Katie held the flash light pointed to the broken box. Dana then took a few pictures with her cell phone camera. When she looked back at the images, the snapshots were a bit grainy considering the night and the weather.
“Doesn’t that look like white paint?”
Katie looked closer at the image that Dana zoomed up on her screen. “It sure does. But it could have been there for a while.”
“I don’t know. I hope Troy is planning on looking for a white-colored vehicle with possible paint damage to the front.”
Just then the girls heard a loose tree branch snap on the ground in the wooded area by the utility box.
“Who’s there?” Katie pointed the flashlight.
There was a tall man with broad shoulders moving toward them in the dark.
Dana gasped.
“You two ladies all right?” the deep voice sounded as he came into the view of the street lamp.
Dana breathed a sigh of relief. “Mayor Jones. I...I’m surprised to see you here,” Dana said, incredulously.
The mayor was sporting his thick winter three-quarter length wool coat and had black leather gloves on and his leather black cap. A tweed scarf was wrapped around his neck to keep him warm.
“I was...um...just taking a walk. I heard the area was knocked out of power because of the utility box again.”
Dana glanced around. “Looks like the Berry Cove Utilities Department got to work right away, eh?” The street lamps were lit and a few of the homes down the street had power.
“Yes, we’ve managed to restore power to many of the homes that was knocked out, including the Town Hall, of course. I’m still going to be working on it to make sure everyone gets power restored.” He clasped his hands together.
Dana noticed there was a slight tear on his leather glove. Mayor Jones was always impeccable with his dressing. There was usually never a crease on his ironed clothes. But the gloves he wore looked worn and torn.
“Good,” Dana said, her breath making a white puff in the cool evening air.
“I...um...I guess, I should be running now,” Mayor Jones voice was quivering and cool. Perhaps he was cold. Or was he nervous? Dana couldn’t quite tell right now. But something was sure off.
“I just wanted to see how much damage was done here,” Mayor Jones continued. “I’m thinking of having this thing covered in the future. It’s the second time power has been knocked out to the block in the space of a year. Maybe the box is in a bad location.”
“Or maybe there needs to be some sort of barrier to prevent this from happening again.”
“Good call, Dana. Have a good evening, ladies.”
That was their cue to leave, too.
“You too, Mayor. Oh, and I’m so sorry about what happened to poor Shags. What an awful thing to happen to her and at the Town Hall party, too.”
He looked away then looked down at his feet. “Yes, it was a terrible thing.”
* * *
“WELL, THAT WAS ODD,” Dana said as she started up the car.
“What was odd?”
“The fact that the mayor came out late at night by himself to look at the damage done to the utility box. If I didn’t know any better I would swear he was up to something or up to covering something up. And do you realize that he never once questioned why we were there.”
“Yes, that is true. Was it because he’s guilty of something? Do you think?”
“I do, cuz. I really do. He’s definitely hiding something. I wish I knew what it is. And secondly, when I made the comment about Shags being murdered he agreed that it was terrible.”
“It was terrible. What’s wrong with what he said?”
“It’s what he didn’t say after it that bothers me.”
“Dana, what are you getting at, cuz?”
“I thought he would have said, yes it’s terrible that Shags was murdered and yes, we’re going to catch who did it?”
Katie gulped. “Do you think he did it?”
Dana looked at Katie then fixed her eyes back to the road as they made their way down to the Town Hall.
“I don’t know, cuz. I really don’t know—yet.”