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Alec was driving home, and stopped his car at a traffic light. He was still thinking about Mayor Butterwick’s words—Charlene’s words—when suddenly an altercation dragged his attention away from his own thoughts. For some mysterious reason people had gathered around his squad car and were yelling at him. Some were pounding the hood of the car, while others were trying their best to break the windows.

“Rapist! Murderer!” some woman screamed.

“I hope you rot in jail, Alec Lip!” a man was shouting.

“Let’s drag him out of his car,” a third person suggested, and tried to open the door.

Good thing that Alec always locked his doors, so as to avoid his car being the object of a carjacking. Still, he felt he probably shouldn’t linger. So in spite of the fact that the light was still red, he stomped on the gas and the car hurtled across the intersection, one man still sprawled on the hood. Alec stopped suddenly and the man disappeared from view, then popped up again and screamed, “I’ll get you for this, you rapist piece of scum!”

But Alec was already speeding onwards. He had no idea what was going on, and why this was happening to him. How could these people—his people—possibly think he could do such a horrible thing? Didn’t they know him after thirty years on the job?

Apparently not, for as he cruised down Main Street, heads turned all along the sidewalk, and nasty glances were aimed in his direction, as well as insults hurled and even a Coke bottle that cracked his windshield. He shook his head as he sped up and vowed to heed Charlene’s advice and stay home until this whole thing had blown over.

And blow over, it most definitely would. He was, after all, the town’s beloved chief.

When he arrived home, he was dismayed to discover that all across his garage door the words,‘SHIEF ALEK IS A PURVURD’ had been sprayed.

Oddly enough he was more annoyed by the horrible spelling than the actual message.

He clicked a button and the garage door trundled up, then he drove inside and the door rumbled down again behind him.

He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Finally home. Safe and sound.

His phone chimed and he picked up when he saw who it was.

“Hey, Marge,” he said.

“Alec!” she practically screamed. “What did you do?!!!”

“Calm down, Marge. I didn’t do nothing. It’s all nasty gossip. None of it is true.”

“People are telling me to renounce you or else they’ll ask the council to have me replaced as librarian. And is it true that the Mayor asked you to step down?”

“She suspended me,” he confirmed. “But only for my own safety and the reputation of the force. She’ll conduct a full investigation into the allegations, which are all unfounded, and then I’ll be back at my post in no time.”

“I don’t understand.”

Frankly he didn’t understand either. Only that morning he’d gotten up, a little grumpy as usual but still happy to go to work, and now he was suddenly rapist scum?

“You need to talk to Pamela Witherspoon,” he said. “She’ll confirm that what happened last night was all perfectly above board.”

“Oh, Alec. Are you all right?” Sisterly affection came through her voice, and it warmed his heart.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m home now, and I’m not leaving here until this is over.”

“You’re coming round for dinner tonight, though, right?”

“I don’t think I should show my face in town. And I’m not sure I should show my face at your place, either. If people see me, they’ll come after you, too.”

“Oh, nonsense. I’m not going to let my big brother fight this thing on his own. You’re coming over and that’s final.”

After he disconnected, he smiled. The town might have turned its back on him, but at least his family was still in his corner. He now saw he’d missed a call from his niece, and put the phone to his ear.

Odelia picked up immediately.“Uncle Alec? I’m so glad you called. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said, and then gave her a blow-by-blow of his eventful trip through Hampton Cove, and the way people had gone completely mad.

“We’ll set the record straight,” she promised. “I’m at Pamela’s now, and she just told me the truth. I would like to interview you both and put the interview on tomorrow’s front page, but she doesn’t want to. She’s afraid the publicity will make the zombie come after her.”

“The zombie,” he muttered as he rolled his eyes. He’d gotten out of his pickup and was now walking into his living room, then dropped down on his couch. “Look, the best way to deal with this whole mess is to find this so-called zombie. He’ll be able to confirm what happened last night.”

“I know, but where do we find him? Pamela’s suggestion was to go to the graveyard and locate him there. But that seems a little… impractical.”

He could hear she was still in the same room with Pamela, or else she would have used a lot stronger language. He grimaced.“Maybe return to the park tonight around the same time? If this is a guy attacking women he might show up again, looking for his next victim.”