Sanctuary Lost WITSEC Town Series Book 1 by Lisa Phillips Page A

thought was fun. But Chandler had clearly seen something
worth something in the kid.
    For the time being, John was willing to coach
him along. These were evidently unprecedented circumstances if
there’d never been a murder in Sanctuary’s history. It was so far
from John’s experience of the world that a crime level this low was
almost unreal. It would take some getting used to, for sure. In
fact, this whole town was like a foreign country.
    John’s satellite phone rang.
    “Sheriff—”
    “A homicide? What are you doing to my
town?”
    “Grant—”
    “No, I don’t want to hear your excuses. Fix
this, John. These people are supposed to feel safe. I promised them
that.”
    John leaned back in his chair and grinned.
“Did you give me this job so you can yell at the sheriff of
Sanctuary without remorse because I’m your kid brother?”
    “No, I gave you this job because Alphonz made
bail. He lasted three seconds before he was blown up on the front
step of the courthouse in Montgomery.” Grant huffed. “Alabama, for
goodness sake. No one was even supposed to know he was there. Now I
wake up to murder in my town.”
    John pressed his lips together. “Were you
going to tell me that, or just mention it in my Christmas
card?”
    “John—”
    “Have you ever actually been here?”
    “That’s not the point.”
    John swallowed the laughter. “Dude, calm down
or you’ll need an aspirin. I can handle this if you can get my
evidence tested for DNA.”
    “Get it on Monday’s transport. Mark it up
with the orange stickers in your safe. I’ll get it sent to a lab.
But the likelihood is it’s gonna take weeks, at least. No one’s
gonna take a rush job, even if it is from me. Labs are way too
territorial. They always give preference to the local guys they
know and they’re always backlogged.”
    “So I have to solve this myself.”
    “The old fashioned way.” Grant said it like
it was a terrible affliction.
    The bell over the door jangled and Harriet
Fenton pushed her way in.
    “Gotta go.” John hung up.
    Her face was all blotched and puffy. John
held back the grimace and stood. “How can I help you, Mrs.
Fenton?”
    She stood straight and lifted her chin. “I
know who killed Betty.”

Chapter 8
    John managed four hours in bed but he barely
slept. Harriet’s declaration had left him sleepless.
    Andra Caleri killed her.
    When he got up, the words were still ringing
in his head along with all the questions. Matthias had left him a
note explaining what time church started, so John walked over to
the Meeting House.
    The air outside was clean and the sky a clear
blue that made him wish he’d unearthed his sunglasses even though
it was fall. Inside, folding chairs had been set out in rows. At
the front of the room there was a podium and a guy tuning a
guitar—the farmer, Dan Walden.
    John searched the gathered crowd for Pat and
found him with Olympia’s family, one hand grasping Matthias’s
sleeve.
    “Dad!” Pat ran for him and John crouched,
receiving the now familiar tackle of a long absence.
    John waited until Pat looked at him. “How’d
you sleep?”
    “Dad, Reuben has a Wii. He said I can come
over and play whenever I want!”
    Matthias strode over, hauling a boy on each
of his shoulders. They were younger than Pat, four or five maybe.
Twins, their features were similar but not identical. Both of them
had dark hair, light blue eyes and a lighter skin tone than the
bulk of Olympia’s family had.
    “This is Reuben and Simeon. They’re twin
hooligans who’ll probably completely corrupt Pat’s sweet nature and
turn him into a troublemaker.” Matthias laughed and the boys joined
in but not because they got the joke. He swung them around, making
the boys squeal.
    “Thanks for the tip.”
    Matthias looked like he wanted to say more,
but made his way back to the rest of his family instead.
    “Want to sit with us, Dad?”
    “Sure.” John let Pat pull him all the way to
the front of the room, where