The Night The Station Door Chimed

The clock above the front desk of the Cedar Hollow Police Department read 9:47 p.m. when the glass door swung inward with a small, polite chime, and Officer Nolan Mercer lifted his head from a stack of reports, already forming the practiced sentence he used when someone wandered in late, because the building quieted down after hours and most folks came tomorrow, not now, not this close to closing.