Cast Of Characters For New Readers:

Cody Schroder - mix of curiosity, mischief-maker, and a tad of an alter boy. Adopted son of Sheriff Brock Daniels and Beth Sorenson. Born in Palo Pinto, now lives in the small West Texas town of Astatula. For the first ten years of his life was verbably, physically, and sexually abused by his biological sperm donor (as Cody refers to him), Earl Anthony Schroder, who perished in a head-on car crash into a guardrail at 93 mph after a drunk night of bowling.

Sheriff Brock Daniels - long-time Sheriff of Astatula. Attempting to turn Cody's life around.

Beth Sorenson - married to Sheriff Daniels. Mayor of Astatula. Brought Cody to Astatula after Earl Anthony Schroder died.

Matt Cochran - Cody's best friend.


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Cody flipped through the printed pages of the Astatula Gazette. Sitting on the table in front of him, his bowl of uneaten oatmeal grew colder by the minute. He stopped when he came upon an article that grabbed his attention. The headline of which stated "Man Shoots Ex Eight Times Over Unanswered Texts."

Seated at the opposite end of the oblong wooden breakfast nook, Sheriff Daniels asked, "What's caught your fancy?"

"This dude you busted last week. You know, the one who bumped off his girlfriend cause she didn't answer his messages," Cody began.

Sheriff Daniels halted him, "Eugene Watson. He told me he woke up angry and drove to her house because he knew Twila Larsen had to be at Myrtle's Muffins for work at 7am that morning."

Vigilant, Cody was attentive as his eyes danced from the newspaper in his hands to the sheriff. He loved hearing insider details of the peace officer's cases although he wanted nothing to do with law enforcement when he grew up. Veterinarian college was his heart's intent.

Sheriff Daniels continued, "Watson claimed he pulled into her driveway and waited for her to walk out the front door, where they had words, before she turned and ran back toward her house. His story is he pulled out a .45 and shot her in the back eight times."

"O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L!" Cody exclaimed.

Sheriff Daniels looked at him and explained, "When I arrived on the scene she was face down in her own blood and could not be revived by any life-saving measures. After Watson murdered her, he dumped the clothes he'd worn in a dumpster behind his shanty. He threw the pistol magazine out on the side of Highway 62 at the 207 junction, and his gun in a drain over in your old neck of the woods."

Annoyed by the fact, Cody asked, "Palo Pinto?" The mere mention of that town seemed to return horrible memories to the boy.

"Watson told me the only regret he had was he couldn't slaughter her again. Now, he's facing capitol premeditated murder," the sheriff continued.

"The death penalty?" Cody inquired.

"Don't you think he deserves to die for what he did to Twila Larsen?" Sheriff Daniels asked his young charge.

Cody did not hesitate with his response, "Yes! He's just a jerk!"

Sheriff Daniels pointed to the boy's oatmeal. "Now, eat your breakfast. You and Matt have football practice in thirty minutes and it wouldn't look so good for the Astatula Mustangs' star receiver to be too weak from not eating to play. On top of that, who would Matt throw the ball to? Eat!"