Strengthen What Remains (Book 2): A Time to Endure Read Online Free PDF Page B

drunk.” He looked back at
the computer screen. “Zach’s first arrest was when he was nine years old. He
shoplifted shoes. Later that year, on Christmas Eve, he was arrested when he tried
to shoplift a dollhouse from a toy store on Main Street.” Hoover laughed. “The
kid may have more issues than I thought.” His eyes seemed to look far away. “I
remember that store. The old guy made the dollhouses, rocking horses, cars and
trucks himself—out of wood.” He shook his head. “Nobody does work like that
anymore.”
    “Anyway,
about Zach, you think he’s just misguided?” Caden shrugged. “Maybe he needs
some direction.”
    “I’d
advise you to stay away. If you haven’t noticed, the world is falling apart.
Like we were talking about, the money is near worthless, the stores are almost
empty and I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that we started a civil war last week.
I don’t have time to play daddy to a neglected kid.”
    “No,
neither do I…but….”

 

Chapter Seven
    Caden
looked left as he stepped from the sheriff’s office. Up the next street, beyond
the county office building, he saw part of the grocery store parking lot. He
didn’t often drive that way, but his conversation with Hoover made him want to
see what was happening. Glancing at his watch he decided he had time to visit
the shop, and set out on foot across the deserted intersection.
    The
establishment had started as a local grocery, but it had been sold and
remodeled several times over the years. It was now the largest food store in
town.
    The
last time he drove past the market it had been closed, and the glass broken
out. Grocery stores were early targets for looters, even one this close to the
sheriff’s office.
    A
dozen cars dotted the lot, and most appeared to be makeshift homes. As Caden
walked diagonally across, teenagers played soccer in a corner of the nearly
empty expanse of asphalt. There’s a park
a block away. Why don’t they play there?
    The
store had more plywood than glass in the windows and doors. As he approached,
he still wasn’t sure the place was open. Tacked to the plywood were signs in
bold print, “No checks or credit.” Underneath someone had written, “Cash, gold
or silver only.”
    The
automatic doors hadn’t budged and Caden was about to walk away when the sound
of a motor drew his attention to a security camera above and to his left. He
stared into the lens for a moment and then the doors lumbered open.
    Just
inside a man with thin gray-hair sat in the corner against the wall on a green
plastic lawn chair. A pump shotgun rested on his lap, and he held a jury-rigged
switch connected to the door by wires. A nearby TV displayed the outside view
of the door, switched to the parking lot and then back.   
    The
eyes of the guard seemed to be on Caden’s butt as he passed. The thought was
disconcerting, however he quickly realized it was not his shapely backside the
guard eyed, but the holster on his hip. Then their eyes met and the guard nodded.
    Caden’s
eyes lingered on the shotgun for a moment. That’s
one way to stop theft.
    The
coffee shop at the front was closed. A young cashier hovered around the only
store register in use. The others were blocked off with boxes and carts. Caden
continued down a thinly-stocked produce aisle. Potatoes, peas and iceberg
lettuce were available and a few things he didn’t recognize. He walked past one
item that looked like peas, but the sign read “Edamame.” Another looked like
onions, but was turnips. Farther along, the canned goods aisle appeared full,
but on closer inspection the cans had been pulled forward. The illusion of
plenty was a thin façade. Where normally there would be forty or fifty of an
item there was now a facing of ten.
    Caden
searched out the items the sheriff had mentioned. He found the green beans first. Hoover was wrong; they only cost $4.99 a
can. He shook his head. Maybe ‘only’
isn’t the right word to use. Next he came to the corn