Snippet #2594615

Sheriff Thompson reached underneath the desk, pulling out a large, wooden box. He placed it atop the desk, and opened it, revealing a bundle of letters, notes, and a small drawn map of Red Road, and its surrounding ranches and other associated settlements.

"This is all of Sheriff Cobb's stuff." Thompson elaborated, gesturing to the contents of the box. "I packed it all up the other day...I wasn't sure what to do with it. Haven't read any of his letters or notes, thought it would be...wrong, somehow. Thought I might give these to his wife, but I guess that'll have to wait, until you're done with them."

The Sheriff glanced down at the box's contents, reaching over to pull out the map in particular. He unfolded it, offering it to Anna. "Cobbs drew this map himself, used it to mark down all the ranch hits. He was trying to find a pattern...not sure he did, though. Far as I could tell, there seemed to be no reason why one ranch got hit one week, and another didn't."

A good look at the map would tell Anna as much. Cobbs had marked all the ranches hit since the beginning of the attacks, and Cobbs had also marked other, unhit ranches as potential future targets, his notes beside such markings trying to discern which was the most likely next target.

"Sheriff Cobbs tried his damnedest to find out what ranch would get hit next, so he could stop the attack." Thompson added, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. "After the first two attacks, he didn't take any chances. He put everyone on alert, put up a posse to patrol the area all night, even told some folks to shoot anyone who tried to enter their property, friend or foe. As you can tell, though...it wasn't enough. Even with all of the Sheriff's preparations, a ranch always got hit. The men and women killed, the children taken. Cobbs damn near drove himself mad, trying to figure out what was going on."

Thompson sighed again, shaking his head at such unpleasant memories. After a moment, he spoke up again, answering her other question.

"Sheriff Cobbs...he was a good, honest man. Took his duty seriously. His father had helped found Red Road back during the Great Migration, so he had a legacy to live up to. Cobbs cared about this town a great deal...cared about everyone in it. Even me and my wives...which was no small task. We were the only Negros in town, when we settled in Red Road eight years ago. I've seen the way some people look at me here...not everyone here is as...accepting as I would have liked. But Sheriff Cobbs didn't care one bit about my skin color. Even made me Deputy when his old one left town. He was a good person, Ma'am. You can trust me on that."