Darkness the Color of Snow Read Online Free PDF

hit-­and-­run driver killed Matt Laferiere. You were an agent in a complicated accident. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. That’s probably the worst thing you can do right now. Take your medicine when Gordy gives it to you and pull yourself back together and be ready to come back to work when Gordy says you can.
    â€œAnd more. Call your father and that fine girlfriend of yours. Set their minds at ease. Lydell is a small town. About now, everyone in town is aware of what happened last night. Don’t let your loved ones spend more time than they need to worrying about you.”
    E VERYONE JUST LOOKS up when Ronny and Pete enter the door. Expressionless, no one says a thing until Pete says, “The prodigal has returned. Bandaged.” Then there are smiles and “how are you feelings” enough that for several seconds he is just repeating, “Fine, fine, fine.” Sue, the day dispatcher, comes out of her closet-­sized cubicle and gives him a hug, then the men shake his hand and pat his shoulder. He is welcomed back into the world.
    Gordy stays at his desk in his office, watching the scene from his open door, smiling, and when the other expressions of welcome are finished, he motions Ronny to come in. “Close the door,” he says when Ronny is inside.
    â€œI’m OK,” Ronny says.
    â€œGood. That’s good. I’m glad to hear it. Sit down.”
    â€œI fucked up. I know it.”
    â€œIt was a serious breach of procedure. Make no mistake about that. But don’t take too much responsibility for what happened. It was an accident. There were lots of factors involved—­alcohol, drugs, bad weather, a speeding driver on a road with terrible sight lines. But as soon as you saw you had four potentially unruly drunks on your hands, you should have called for backup. Immediately. But your mistake was a part, not the whole. And frankly, there’s no guarantee that calling for backup would have made any difference. Probably not. Things happen, and they happen fast. Nevertheless, you made a mistake. There are consequences from that.”
    â€œI know. Pete told me.”
    Gordy says nothing for a moment. “Five-­day suspension, without pay.”
    â€œPete thought I might not get suspended.”
    â€œPete was wrong. It’s a stiff penalty for failure to call for backup, but there was a fatality involved.” Gordy puts up his hand to stop Ronny from responding. “I know. I just said it probably had little or nothing to do with the accident. But we live in two worlds. One world is a world of cause and effect. Excessive speed on a bad road leads to bad consequences. But what we do afterward can lead to bad perceptions in the political world.
    â€œI don’t have to run for election, or campaign, but I’m still part of the political world in Lydell. I serve at the pleasure of the town council, as you do. The town council also appropriates all of the funds for the department—­your salary, Pete’s, mine. All of it.” He picks up a pencil. “We have to ask the council for pencils, for Christ’s sake. So the town keeps a close eye on us. In large part, we are the government of Lydell. I can’t risk the perception that we let things slide here. So I’m suspending you, because that’s the punishment for failing to follow procedure, and I’m suspending you for five days to let everyone, including you and the council, know that I’m serious about following procedure.”
    â€œAll right.”
    Gordy regards him for a moment with the look of a parent disappointed in his child. “I’ll need your weapon, too.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause you’re on suspension. You’re still a cop, but you’re not. You have no need to carry a weapon.” He holds out his hand, waiting for Ronny give it up.
    When he does, Gordy extracts the magazine, checks the chamber for a live round, then