Wednesday's Words: MAYOR. An excerpt from Small Town Shenanigans

  Welcome to Wednesday's Words where I share a snippet from one of my stories using yesterday's word from the New York game Wordle. Yesterday's Wordle was MAYOR. 

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The search and rescue team had restarted their hunt at dawn. According to Mayor Ellsworth, a tall formidable woman who looked as if she’d descended from an African queen, Sydney’s mom and Reagan had hired a local crop-duster so they could conduct an aerial search. It killed me I had to be here holding Mr. Gerard’s hand when every part of me was screaming to help find Sydney.

“You ready for this?” Mayor Ellsworth asked. She wore a cranberry-colored pantsuit that brought out the warm tones in her skin.

“Yes, indeedy,” Mr. Gerard said.

The news van rolled up in front of the city hall steps, and a tall, thin blonde dressed in a pair of no-nonsense blue pants and a crisp white shirt climbed out. A pair of men head-to-toe in black followed. The woman flicked her hair over her shoulder and studied her reflection in a small hand mirror. One man retrieved a camera from the back of the van while the other set up a tripod holding a light.

The mayor held open the door for Mr. Gerard and Brit. I followed in their wake.

The blonde seemed confused by our appearance.

“Miss Miller,” Mayor Ellsworth stuck out her hand, “I’m Inez Ellsworth, mayor of Cascadia. Let me introduce you to Mr. Gerard, aka MaryLu Bellmont.”

Miss Miller’s gaze flickered over Brit and came rest on me.

Mayor Ellsworth pushed Mr. Gerard to the forefront and Miss Miller’s eyes dimmed with first disbelief and then disappointment.

“Mr. Gerard,” Miss Miller said in a valiant attempt to cover her shock. “This is a surprise.”

“Surprises make for good TV, right?” Brit asked.

“Excuse me, who are you?” Miss Miller asked Brit.

“I’m his grandson.”

“Aw,” Miss Miller said. “Can I have you stand over there?” She motioned at a distant step. “And who are you?” she asked me. “Another relative?”

“My attorney,” Gerard said.

Miss Miller simpered. “I guess I can’t get rid of you as easily.”

“I would guess not,” I returned. “If Mr. Gerard wants me, I’m here.” Even though I really wanted to be somewhere else.

After a few minor adjustments to the lights and cameras, Miss Miller stuck her microphone in Mr. Gerard’s face. “I’m Maisie Miller with Channel four news and today we’re in Cascadia, home to the Musing saga. We have Tommy Franklin! The actor who played Camden in Musings.” Miss Miller waved for Tommy to join her on the steps. “Tommy, does this place bring back happy memories for you?”

Tommy preened in front of the camera. “Why yes, Maisie, of course it does.”

“How would you feel if there were another Musings movie in the works?”

“The same as everyone else,” Tommy said. “Thrilled.”

Mr. Gerard frowned at this strange turn in the interview, but he didn’t say anything.

“And what if I were to tell you that the author stood beside you?”

Tommy shot me a quizzical glance.

Miss Miller put her hand on Mr. Gerard’s arm and drew him forward. “Tommy, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the real MaryLu Bellmont, Mr. Bob Gerard!”

 Mr. Gerard’s cheeks had turned an ugly shade of red and he glowered at the camera.

“Tell us Mr. Gerard, what made you step forward now?” Miss Miller asked.

“These shenanigans have gone on long enough. The crowds, the noise. The contest.” He made air quotes around the last word. “Some idiots set off a smoke grenade at one of the clue sights and now a woman’s gone missing. That should be the real news story. Not me or my silly books.”

Miss Miller ignored everything he said. “And you contend that you have had nothing to do with the contest.”

“I had nothing to do with any of this,” Mr. Gerard growled.

“I believe the woman responsible for setting up the contest has been arrested?”

Mayor Ellsworth leaned in. “That’s right. She’s being detained.”

“There’s a gal missing,” Mr. Gerard said with a harrumph. “A woman who works for my publisher—”

Mayor Ellsworth stepped forward again. “It’s unknown if her whereabouts has anything to do with Mr. Gerard. She’s from New York,” she added, as if creatures from New York were capable of just about anything.

“And we won’t know until we find her!” Mr. Gerard said.

A ripple of excitement rose from the crowd. People turned to stare when Sydney, with her flaming red hair, wearing some sort of lacy nightgown, came riding into town on a horse.

I bolted off the steps. The crowd parted for me. The horse pawed the ground when Sydney pulled on the reins. I reached for her and she slid into my arms.

I held her against my chest with one arm and used my hand to brush the hair out of her sleepy eyes with the other. “What happened?”

“You’ll never believe me,” she said.