Will Teasle

Teasle knows every street in Hope and does not like people who show up unannounced. When he sees Rambo walking down the road, long-haired in an old jacket, he drives him to the town limit and tells him to keep going. Rambo comes back, and Teasle arrests him for vagrancy and carrying a knife. He leaves the prisoner with chief deputy Galt, who handles him roughly. Teasle thinks he is defending the town, but the first stone of the tragedy is his.

Rambo escapes into the mountains, and Teasle organizes the hunt with dogs and a helicopter. Galt dies in a fall, and Teasle wants revenge. When he learns Rambo is a decorated Green Beret, he does not back down. Trautman warns him that Rambo could have killed everyone and did not, and that the smart move is to stop. Teasle refuses. He lets pride drive him, with the National Guard on the way and the town at risk.

Rambo returns to Hope on a blackout night and sets part of the town on fire. Teasle climbs to the station roof and faces the man alone. Rambo wounds him in the leg with a machine gun and has him at his mercy. Teasle only survives because Trautman arrives in time. From the ambulance stretcher, the sheriff watches Rambo being led away. The town is in ruins, and he knows the blame runs both ways.

Brian Dennehy died in 2020. In Morrell's novel, Teasle gets as much room as Rambo, and the story is told from both sides.