White Out
Penns River Book 7
It’s been a tough winter in Penns River and things aren’t getting any better. A major snowstorm looms as a police officer shoots and kills a man after a bar fight. There are four complicating factors:
1. No weapon is found on the dead man.
2. The cop is Black; the victim is white.
3. The victim is not just white; he’s a white supremacist.
4. A national leader of the movement wants to use Penns River to set an example and create a martyr for the cause.
Fellow travelers from several neighboring states converge on the town for the funeral as an even bigger snowstorm roars in with them.
While the Penns River police try to keep the lid on, the Allegheny Casino holds a poker tournament. One hundred players each put up $10,000 in cash. The winner walks away with all of it. In cash. The situation is fraught enough without the local cops having to answer every call as if it might be the start of a riot.
Meanwhile, business as usual goes on. Domestic calls still require attention. Traffic accidents increase in the snow. The police department is in transition as older officers leave, their slots filled by either new officers fresh out of the academy, or those who followed the new chief to Penns River from Boston and have big-city attitudes about small town situations.
Detective Ben “Doc” Dougherty is still getting used to his sergeant’s stripes as he’s pulled into the streets for riot duty and must confront the idea some of his peers may be more sympathetic to the incoming agitators than they are to those they swore to protect and serve.
The weekend will stretch the department to its breaking point as events converge to a violent conclusion.