Jefferson lit his pipe again and settled into his desk (well, really it had been the Chief’s desk, but he didn’t see any other candidates for the job). Ralph snored away in a holding cell.

He examined the hardware store receipt.

There was only one hardware store in town, and it was run by Fred Coomer. Jefferson didn’t care for Coomer. There weren’t many men in Lake Derry who did. The women, on the other hand – the women were quite another matter altogether. There was many a housewife in town who’d found themselves wandering into Fred’s shop of a Sunday afternoon looking for a crescent wrench or the newest Mikita power drill. For their husbands, of course.

Jefferson grunted. Beulah’d been one of those.

Jefferson grunted again, this time with interest. Fred Coomer’s mother was Lorraine Coomer, formerly Lorraine Ridgway. One of Caleb Ridgway’s multiple ex-wives.

Coincidence? Could be. It’s a small town.

But Jefferson Beauregard Trestlehorn was beginning to no longer believe in coincidence…