It’s a small friendly town really
Bell had been involved with killings before, one or two, never anything this cold-blooded and brutal. Her daughter Carla needed time to recover from that sort of shock, that intrusion of danger into her life. Best friend and neighbour Ruth Cox came to the rescue, stayed with Carla. She didn’t have to endure the bristling angst that a teenager saved for her mother. Sheriff Nick Fogelsong tried to make sure witnesses had protection from the publicity; from the TV, from the media. One thing about Ackers Gap. Everyone pulls together in an emergency. That’s good. The other thing. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. That’s what Bell’s ex-husband had hated about the place. Now it had helped Bell.
Bell had another case to resolve. Young Albie Sheets was held in custody, accused of murdering his friend Tyler. She had to decide how severe a charge was brought; how severe a charge was right for a game that went too far. She knew all about such family troubles and seeing this trailer family at first hand helped. Even though violence was supposed to be a stranger to Ackers Gap, for Bell, personally, the danger remained.