Chapter 29

I wondered all the way home, if that had been what one would consider my first date since becoming a Deputy Sheriff. The thought of that made me laugh, I got home and checked to see if anything had happened on my computer. Nothing had, so I slipped into bed,

I slept till 7AM the next morning. Though technically it was a work day, I saw it as the last of my break, since I started the midnight shift rotation. I hated midnight shifts and so did ever one else. I was working the patrol division with Deputy Letter so it wasn't so bad. He was okay but I had more interest in the job, than Letter had. His interest was hit or miss. He proved to be interested in the job when it suited him. He liked to pull his badge on young women as a way to impress them. It was a harmless kind of 'me Tarzan you Jane' behavior. I ignored him for the most part and we had forged a working relationship based on that. I ignore him when I wasn't laughing at his chubby body in the Dirty Harry mode,

Michaels was in the assembly room, I noted that Letter wasn't in at the moment. "What's up Sarge," I asked.

"I'm going to be working Letter's shifts for a while," he said. "Is that okay with you."

"Sure, but who is going to be working back up," I asked. Part of Michaels job was to back up the single officer on all calls that might be trouble. How he was suppose to know was hard for me to tell.

"The state patrol boys are going to be monitoring our frequency, so be careful what you say on the radio." he suggested.

"Why sergeant, I am always careful," I said.

"Right. Simpson is trying to get hold of you, If he doesn't call tonight, try him before you go home in the morning," he suggested with a smile. "We had a strong arm robbery attempt tonight at the First Southern ATM, so keep an eye on it. He might come back. The description was just a black male."

"Right," I said as I started for the door. After picking up my car, I started to drive to the northern part of the county. That part of the county was all country road and views over that side of the mountains. On those roads it was best not to fall asleep. The up side was I could drive till sunup and not see a car. The ideal place if you had thinking to do. I had some random ideas I needed to put to rest.

It was close to midnight when my cell phone rang. I knew it was Simpson so I answer it with a question, "Locked up any bad guys?"

"Not today, but the day is young, since it is after midnight," he said laughing.

"Yeah, me neither," I agreed. "So what do you want with me?"

"You heard anything on the Gypsy Allen thing," he asked.

"I heard she was getting out of the house, when hubby was having parties. She had sex with some of her friends and they gave her money. She was trading sex for favors really. It was the barter system. I know it's a fine line, but we would me hard pressed to make a case of prostitution stick."

"I'll look into it. By the way I brought Gypsy's sister back in. The little girl stayed with her and most of the nights. Toward the end nobody asked her to sit with the kid," he informed me.

"I can guess why," I said flashing back to my own childhood. I hadn't ever had that kind of thing happen to me, but I had my share of trauma to deal with. "Then she might have seen something or even been part of something."

"I can't find anyone who will admit being there yet. It looks as though there were from ten to twelve people who attended." He said.

"Can you tell if they were the same ones each time?" I asked.

"No idea, but I'm assuming so till I learn different. If not there are a lot of perverts in this little community."

"That could be the case as well." I replied.

"Well I thought I would check in with you. If you hear anything else, or if that crazy bitch's lawyer get in touch with you, let me know." he said

"Okay," I said turning off the phone.

The balance of the night pass with out me doing anything at all. I didn't have a single report to write. It was a good night, but it could also look like I was crawling in a hole somewhere and sleeping, if it happened too often.

"305 Dispatch I'm 10-7 code 2 coming in," I said into the radio.

"10-4 305 copy 10-7 code 2 off shift, good night," the dispatcher said.

I parked the car, turned in my log to Michaels, who had supposedly been running 304 as well as his own job. Fortunately it was late night shift in a quiet county.

When I got home, I changed for my run in spite of the cold and my exhaustion. I knew I had to run in the cold. It would not wake me and I didn't want it too, but it would give me a chance to think. I sometimes talked to myself, when I was extremely tired. It helps me to focus my thoughts.

I saw the silver colored Ford SUV pulled up at the rear door of a retail store. Which one I wasn't quite sure. I hadn't lived in town long enough to know them from the rear. I had never seen any cars parked there before, so I called the dispatcher on the non emergency line.

"Hey Lois, I hate to start your day off like this, but there is a suspicious car behind a building. It's probably nothing." I said.

"Which one of the building are you running behind this morning?" she asked with a sigh of disgust. I wasn't sure if it was the call or the fact that I was running.

"I'm behind the three hundred block of South Main. I don't know which store, but it's a silver Ford SUV. Haven't seen anyone yet." I said. "I wouldn't call but it is Sunday."