Read Online The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft - Free Book Online

in the farm store and found Jeff sitting at the desk.”
    Right where Ronnie had pictured him.
    “He was holding the shotgun with its stock on his thigh, pointing into the air.”
    Ronnie sat taller. “And?”
    The police had instructed Jeff to lower his weapon. He had.
    He’d held the butt to his shoulder, lowered the gun, and trained it on the officer’s forehead.

10:00 a.m.

ronnie
    The air stirred as Corporal McNichol strode into the room in a no-nonsense brown suit and black oxfords. She had an energy about her that said she was ready to run a marathon. Finally, someone who could get things done.
    “Veronica Farnham?” she said.
    Ronnie cringed at the name she’d been saddled with simply because her hormone-crazed mother had hooked up with a man in an alley behind a bar. At least that’s how she envisioned it. Her mother had a more romantic version, always delivered wistfully: “I went to the shore and fell in love at Veronica’s Grotto.” Apparently the man split by summer’s end, but his permanent impact had already taken root in Ronnie’s mother’s womb. Her whole life Ronnie had tried to find ways to bond with her missing father to distance herself from the notion that “Veronica” was simply an unintended souvenir of a vacation gone wrong.
    “Everyone calls me Ronnie.”
    The corporal extended her hand. “I’m the commander of the Special Emergency Response Team.”
    “What’s that?” Janet said. She and Beverly moved toward the woman as if reporting for duty.
    “SERT is a team of state police negotiators and tactical officers trained to deal with hostage situations.”
    “Well, there’s no hostage.” Janet stood taller and straightened her Hello Kitty sweatshirt. Ronnie explained that Janet was Jeff’s mother.
    When Corporal McNichol spoke again, it was with a markedly gentler voice. “I’ve been briefed by the officers on the scene. In a way, ma’am, your son is holding himself hostage. We’d like to get Jeff out of there, safe and sound.” She pulled out a chair for Janet and motioned for the other women to sit. “I have an update.”
    “Is the officer okay?” Ronnie couldn’t wait another minute without knowing. “The one who found Jeff?”
    “Jeff allowed him to back away and shut the door.”
    Ronnie shook her head. “This is such a mess.” All the years Jeff had kept those guns locked in the house, never using them, but refusing to get rid of them—why? In reserve for this?
    “It’s not uncommon for a person in this kind of situation to turn his weapon on the police,” Corporal McNichol said. “They have a name for it—”
    The corporal clearly intended to say more but stopped short. The women leaned in. Ronnie prompted, “Which is?”
    Corporal McNichol glanced over to Janet, then back to Ronnie, and said quietly, “Suicide by police.”
    That must be hard for Janet to hear. Ronnie looked at her mother-in-law, but both of the older women seemed absorbed in their own thoughts.
    “When Jeff was located, the situation changed from a manhunt to a standoff. That’s why we were called in. At the moment, the situation is stable—”
    An angry scream erupted from two tables away. “Stop!”
    “I didn’t do anything.”
    “You are kicking me, over and over!”
    “Boys!” Ronnie snapped. The boys, Beverly, and Janet all turned to Ronnie, as if each were surprised that anyone else was sitting in this room. “Please. I need you to be good.”
    “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Andrew said.
    “Neither did I!”
    “I know,” Ronnie said quietly. “I know.”
    “Hey, Mom,” Andrew said, pointing to the television over the bar. “Isn’t that our house? Look—there’s the store, and our house, and the swinging tree—”
    “And the barn and the tool shed. And the woods,” Will said, joining in. To get a closer look, the boys went over and stood on the brass foot rail and clung to the edge of the bar. Ronnie could barely stand watching them belly up to