Episode 3 teaser: Bob Mays and Joe Blankenship

Getting very close to finished with Episode 3.  I wanted to post a short teaser, a phone conversation between Bob Mays, the mayor of Whitesville, and his brother in law Joe Blankenship.

Feedback is welcome! Please comment.

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The phone interrupted Bob Mays’s concentration. He sighed, and set the impossible town budget to the side and picked up the phone.

“Bob Mays speaking.”

“Bob, it’s Joe.”

He leaned back at the sound of his best friend and brother-in-law’s voice.  “Hey!  When are you coming back into town?”

“Soon,” Joe answered.  “Very soon. I probably won’t be around much though… I’ve got a lot going on right now.”

Bob nodded, then said quietly, “You’re always welcome here, you know that.”

Joe grunted, his response not terribly enlightening. After a couple of seconds he said, “Listen, Bob, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Sure.”

“A little bird told me that Rebecca’s soldier stayed at your house all weekend.”

Bob frowned.  “He did.”

“Why?”

“He’s a nice young man.  I like him, Zoe likes him.  And well… he and Rebecca get on well.  Very well.”

There was a pregnant silent, then Joe spoke, his tone severe.  “Bob, listen to me.  You don’t want to do that again. You don’t want to have him around.”

“Why not?”

“In case you missed it down there in Whitesville, there’s a war going on.”

Mays’s memory flashed to the scene downtown a couple of weeks before: the wrecked, burned out helicopters on the middle of River Street. The bullet holes in his daughter’s truck.

“I’m aware of that.”

“You’re putting your family in danger. You’re putting Rebecca in danger.”

Bob shook his head. Joe’s tone of voice had a chill in it that he’d never heard.

“I don’t see it.”

“Bob, you’ve been my best friend since we were kids. I need you to listen to me here.  You need to keep your daughter away from that soldier. You need to distance yourself from them. And quickly.”

Mays struggled to come up with an answer and failed.  He didn’t need to answer, because a few seconds later Joe spoke again.

“Don’t forget what happened to Sheriff Hughes.”

A chill went down Mays’s spine. “He was murdered.”

“He was a collaborator.”

Mays felt his pulse quickening, and he said, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“What I’m saying is, I’m doing the best I can to protect you and your family. But you seem to be dead set on throwing that protection away.”

“Joe, are you— how involved are you with this?”

“Don’t ask me questions. You need to do protect your family.  Understand me?”

Mays didn’t have a chance to answer, because Joe hung up the phone with a final click.  In a daze, Mays set the phone back into it’s cradle. He wiped his hand across his face, realized he was soaked with sweat.