What J. D. needs is a little peace and quiet. He is trying to run two restaurants, keep his daughter from dropping out of college, and satisfy his lonely, aging mother. Cash begins to disappear from one of the restaurants, and he and his wife argue about how to deal with the problem. One tranquil evening, J. D. takes off on a ride in the country to clear his mind. Top down, setting sun, wind in his hair ... leak in the radiator. When he walks up to an old farmhouse to ask for water, he finds a family living in poverty, and vows to help. When he returns with groceries, he can't find them or the house—although he's not lost. While J. D. struggles to make sense of this mystery, his behavior creates doubt in his marriage, and even his best friend thinks he's crazy. And when he solves it, his life is changed forever. Don Reid , a member of the Statler Brothers, country music's premier singing group for nearly forty years, has established himself as a singer and professional writer in multiple fields. As a songwriter of 240 published and recorded songs, many of them number one and top ten hits, Reid is the recipient of 18 BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) awards, 3 Grammy awards, 9 Country Music Association awards, 48 Music City News/TNN awards, 13 gold albums, and 8 platinum albums. Reid also cowrote (with his brother Harold) the television series The Statler Brothers Show and numerous TV specials. He has published three nonfiction books ( Heroes and Outlaws of the Bible , Sunday Morning Memories , and You Know It's Christmas When. ). O Little Town is his first novel. Don lives with his wife, Deborah, in Staunton, Virginia. ONE LANE BRIDGE By Don Reid David C. Cook Copyright © 2010 Don Reid All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4347-6508-6 CHAPTER 1 J. D. and Karlie Wickman walked down the old marble hall toward the heavy front doors of the police station in silence. This argument had been going on for over a week. They both were of a right mind and a good heart on what needed to be done; the only problem was that there seemed to be more than one right way of doing it. Their two main disagreements in twenty-one years of marriage were about things that had good and logical solutions. How to discipline Angela—that had been the first. Karlie was the disciplinarian while J. D. always let up on the rules. The second? What to spend money on and how much. J. D. tended to see what had to be spent while Karlie saw what needed to be spent. If the house trim needed to be repainted every five years, then Karlie saw it as a necessity, but if the trim lasted six, J. D. saw it as a savings. Problems of the heart never entered into their disagreements, so they counted themselves lucky and learned to give a little, knowing they would eventually settle on the right solution. They would this time too, but it might take a little longer. That silent walk down the hall suggested they should let the discussion rest a few hours. But Karlie knew they wouldn't, and the sooner they got it settled, the better. As they walked out the large wooden doors and down the steps toward their car, she fired the first gentle volley. "I don't think you're being realistic." "I don't think you're being reasonable," said J. D. "Do you want to put somebody in prison? Is that your goal here?" "Yeah, maybe. If that's the punishment for stealing, well, maybe that's where they should be." "Oh, come on, J. D. You know these women, these girls. You like them. I like them. You know we can put a stop to this without having to play cops and robbers like some weekend schoolboys." The car beeped as J. D unlocked the doors, and they slid into their seats; he in the driver's and she in the passenger's. J. D. stared out the windshield and checked his cell phone messages. Karlie straightened the stacks of receipts littering the floorboard, thinking about the conversation they had just had with their old high school friend, now Sergeant Bobby Caywood of the Hanson Police Department. Bobby didn't solve their problem and didn't offer his opinion on their opposing solutions. His silence on the matter only added to the tension they were feeling from the daily money shortages. Karlie could see it in J. D.'s eyes and hear it in his voice. He was concerned not just by the losses but also by how they were going to deal with them—with the apparent theft. Of course she was concerned too, but J. D. always seemed to take business matters more to heart. When they explained how the money was disappearing from their restaurants, Bobby suggested a couple different routes to take, but she could see he didn't like being a referee. J. D. set his phone down and looked over at her. "You know, we really put Bobby on the spot in there today." "Well, he's a policeman. He's used to being on the spot." "Honey, we can solve this thing ourselves. We've got nearly a thousand dollars missing, and it has to be one of three peo—" "J. D., let's not go over it again. You just