Don’t we all love a fun and loveable character? Meet Joshua Brown.

2

Joshua

Joshua twisted the key to the jail cell, sending a soft click of the lock.

Simon grumbled from the other side of bars. “Just wait till my wife hears about this.”

“Perhaps I should call her so she won’t worry about you.” Joshua picked up the receiver perched on the desk.

“You ain’t gonna call her right now, are ya?”

“And let her worry about you sleeping in the alley behind the Stop and Shop?” Josh turned his back on Simon, ignoring the drunk as he dialed Anna’s phone number. “Hi, it’s me, Joshua Brown… again.”

“Let me guess.” He could almost see her eyes roll at their small-town joke of a sheriff’s department. Nothing ever happened in Miracle. Ever.

Throwing the town drunk in jail hardly constituted anything important. What Josh couldn’t understand is why his wife put up with him. Simon hadn’t worked a day in his life, letting his wife be the breadwinner. Some women preferred it that way. But Anna? She was as sweet as a Texas apple pie and quite pretty for a woman her age. Josh shook his head. Couldn’t Anna have found a better husband?

“Is he alright? Do you want me to come get him?” Her voice held a tight edge of concern.

Josh supposed there was no accounting for love. If Joshua got himself wrangled into a relationship, he hoped the lucky lady was woman enough to tell him where the cow eats the hay.

He almost forgot Simon’s wife on the other end. “I’ll hold him until first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll come pick him up first thing in the morning.”

After he hung up the phone, he glanced over at the cell where the poor drunk had rolled up in a ball and stuffed the covers under his head like a pillow.

Josh stood beside the cell. “You know, you got yourself a pretty sweet deal, Mr. Warner.”

His slurred voice was almost inaudible. “Aaa… I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Well, since you’re my guest, you’re going to hear it.” Josh rubbed the stubble on his chin. He really needed to get home and get some sleep himself. “Your Anna busts her backside so you can live in comfort. And where do you decide to spend your weekend?”

“I ain’t sleepin’ with her.” The way he said it so matter-of-factly made it sound like that was a bad thing.

“If you were a respectful man—”

“I ain’t!” He stumbled off his cot and crossed to the bars, the alcohol thick on his breath.

Josh backed up to avoid the blast of halitosis. “That’s apparent.”

The bleary-eyed man poked his nose through the bars. “You done yammerin’? I need to get some sleep.”

So did Josh. He grabbed a pillow he’d stashed in the bottom drawer of his desk and headed to the only other jail cell, which rarely saw any occupants. The lumpy mattress on the cot would provide little rest.

“You goin’ta shleep?”

“Yup.”

“Who’s gonna watch o’er me?”

Josh shook his head. “I’m not your wife. You want watchin’ over? Go home.”

Simon grumbled unintelligibly.

Why had Joshua agreed to be the town’s Barney Fife? That job as a longshoreman was looking better and better by the day. Two-hour drive one way, get the task done, sleep in a bunkhouse for a week, then head home for the weekend and not have to deal with the likes of Simon Warner. Some of those guys at the dock only worked six months out of the year and made a killer salary. His small income as the deputy was barely enough to keep up the house his folks sold him last year so they could move into the inn and run the place after they bought it from Helen.

Tuck, their substation captain, came through the front door. It whooshed behind him as it swung closed. He spotted Simon. “Don’t you ever go home?”

“Ah, don’t you start, too,” Simon grumbled.

Josh eyed the weary captain. “You’re coming in awful late.”

“Yeah, I had to settle an altercation between the Hansons and the McDowells.”

Josh unlaced one boot and slipped it off. “Don’t tell me the mule got over the fence again.”

“Yup. Seems that rascal was in Mrs. Hanson’s garden eating everything that had barely sprung up out of the ground.” Tuck took his hat off and laid it on the desk then picked up a package sitting atop a bunch of mail and turned it over in his hand. “It’s addressed to you.”

“What’s the label say?” Josh asked.

He turned it back over. “Midland Electronics”

Josh untied the laces on his other boot. “Oh, good. Wanda must have brought it in.”

“Picking up the mail is about the only thing Wanda is good for anymore. We need to look into a replacement… and soon.” Tuck turned the package over in his hand. “So, what is it?” Tuck lifted it as if testing its weight.

“It’s a dash cam.”

“What do we need one here for?” He examined the label. “These are expensive. I don’t know that our department has the budget for one.”

Josh kicked off his other shoe and padded out of the cell in his socks. “Don’t worry, I bought it with my own money, so if I ever leave the department, I can take it with me.”

“Okay, but it’s your money.” Tuck handed the parcel to Josh.

“I’ll install it tomorrow.” He unwrapped the package and pulled out the box. “One of the features is that its motion sensitive. So, it activates as soon as you start driving.”

Tuck picked it back up. “Can you turn it on so you can keep it running when you’re not moving?”

“Yeah, it has all kinds of features.”

“It’s a good thing you got this.” Sarcasm hung thickly in Tuck’s voice. “Now we can watch all those hardened criminals in Miracle.” Tuck glanced back over his shoulder at Simon and leaned in to whisper to Josh. “You just never know what kind of trouble might happen in our bustling metropolis.”

Nodding in Simon’s direction, Josh whispered. “That’s about the worst it gets. I found him in the alley again.”