Maybe The Horse Did It!

Chapter 1

“Oh hell, no,” Sam Nickles said as he opened the front door of his home to go to work. It was a quarter to seven in the morning, and it was already over 90 degrees. The heat and the humidity smacked him in the face, like walking into a brightly lit sauna. “I can’t do this,” he said to himself as he walked back into the house, pulling off his gun belt and shirt.

“What are you doing?” Lilly, Sam’s wife, asked, as she walked into the living room.

“I can’t do this vest today. I just stepped outside for a second and already have sweat running down the crack of my ass.” Sam said as pulling off his bulletproof vest, that make him felt cooler and lighter.

As Sam was putting the body armor back in the closet, Lilly says, “I know it hot, but…”

Lilly stops as he looked at her and said, “Don’t worry, I got my tactical vest in the car. I’ll put it on if I get a hot call.” But, she will worry; Lilly always worries.

Sam put his uniform shirt back on and reached for his gun belt, thinking. “I can’t wait for the day I don’t have to put this crap on anymore.”

Sam moans, as he feels the pain in his lower back. Sam has been on the McCrackins Bluff Police Department for Twenty-seven years, doing what he wanted to do since he was a kid, but now it was starting to wear hard on him. At Fifty-four years, old Sam has been a cop for half of his life. His youth and his lifestyle are catching up with him, he is overweight, from eating junk food on weird shifts. Sam’s joints ache from the wear and tear of all the “fun stuff’ he did in his youth, but it was those things that he did then, that has helped to keep him alive now, as a cop.

Spending his childhood in the woods playing, hiking and camping, Sam started shooting when his dad gave him his first BB gun at five years old. He received his first real gun, a .22 caliber Marlin Bolt action on his 9th birthday. There were many Birthday’s and guns after that and Sam kept all of them. Sam knew the basics of tracking and trapping; he could start a fire with flint and steel, among other survival skills. Hunting and shooting became second nature to him, be it a handgun, rifle or shotgun. Sam could pick up practically any gun, and be proficient with it in minutes. This natural ability led him to become the police department’s firearms instructor. He hadn’t hunted in years, he said to others he didn’t have time, but actually didn’t have the heart for it.

As a kid, Sam climbed anything he could find a hand and foothold in, never thinking about getting back down. Sam always made it down, but not always without some scars to remind him of his mistakes. He and his friends would ride bicycles to Shawnee National Forest; they would camp overnight and spend the day rock climbing at the Garden of the Gods. Sam loved the Garden of the Gods, a sandstone outcropping, whose rock formations like the Camels Head and Devils Smokestacks that offered great climbing and rappelling challenges. “The Gods” as all the kids in the area called them, were surrounded by a large thick forest that in the fall was full of colorful orange, yellow and red foliage and bright green pine trees. In his teen years, Sam learned to rappel from these rocks and do rope rescues. With his friends, Sam spent many a night sleeping under the stars, by a roaring fire, telling stories. They would pretend to be wild west pioneers, like a lot of young boys did in that era.

In school Sam was a daydreamer, not a star student by any means, he hated English and Math, but loved History and Art. In Junior and Senior High school, Sam was on the wrestling team, and he was pretty good, his short stout frame giving him a lot of power, but his real love was boxing. He and his father, who boxed in the Army, would spar quite a bit when he was a teenager. Sam wanted to box competitively, but there was not any organized boxing in their area. Boxing and wrestling were a lot of help in his martial arts classes in college, and he loved to compete. These activities were excellent training for police work, but not as much as being a bouncer in the bars. While in college, working as a bouncer, Sam got some real lessons in fighting, he had the broken nose and scars to prove it!

Sam walked into the bathroom where Lilly is getting ready for work. After a quick kiss and a “Love you, have a good day,” he turned and headed out the door. It was typical summer day in the mid-west, high temperatures, and high humidity, Sam hated it. NOAA weather site on the internet had called for a chance of thunderstorms, but there were no signs of it now. Not a cloud in the sky and a blazing sun beat down on his Black and White, Crown Victoria police cruiser. Sam opened the car door, reached in and turns the key on. The air conditioner kicked in, but he waited a minute to let it start cooling off before getting into the car. Sam waved at Harry Rose who was walking by with his Bassett Hound, Saggy. “The older Harry gets, the more he looks like Saggy, with those drooping jaws,” Sam laughed to himself.

Plopping himself into the seat of the patrol car, he thinks to himself, “I need to get rid of some of his gut, it’s probably causing some of the constant aches in my lower back. He stretched and tried to get comfortable in the cruisers seat.

Sam turned on his police radio and signed in “City-4, (Sam’s Call Number) On Duty.” Dispatch responds immediately, giving him a call of a 10-90 (business alarm) at Bub’s, a local hardware store on Main Street. Sam rolled his eyes and sighed, “Geesh… can’t these people figure out how to turn an alarm off.”

Not even given a chance to start his duty log, he put the cruiser in reverse and backed out of his driveway, headed for Bubs. Sam hurried to the store which is just a few blocks away, as everything is in McCracken’s Bluff, a small town of 6ooo people. He doesn’t even bother to turn on his lights or siren, the streets were clear.

Sam hated the sound of the siren and doesn’t use it unless it is absolutely necessary. For some reason, it just grates his nerves like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. To him, the siren is just a call for nosey people to come and look at what is happening. For Sam, the worst event is when the town has their homecoming parade, and all the police and volunteer fire departments lead the parade with sirens blaring. Even though only lasts about 10 minutes, Sam always ended up with a headache. Sam thought you should never used a siren on an alarm call anyway, if it was a real break-in, it just told the burglars that you were coming. The idea, for the police, was to catch the criminals, not to run them off.

Dawn Pearl, Sam’s partner, advised him she is leaving her home across town. As Sam arrives, he noticed Bub’s pick-up truck in the parking lot. Sam looked around cautiously and informed her that the owner is there, and all looks ok, that she can probably disregard on the call. Sam knew this wasn’t a proper tactical move, but he knew his beat, and at that time of day, he was sure it was a false alarm and didn’t need back-up.

As he walked up, he saw no one else moving as he neared the front of the store. Looking into the business, Sam could see really well through the big windows at the front of the hardware store Bub was back behind the counter in the middle of the building, With a puzzled look on his face, Sam entered the front door. Half way the down aisle, Sam realized that Bub was up on top of the counter. By the expression on his face, Bub was looked as if he had seen the devil himself. Now Sam was small in comparison to Bub. Bub was 6’5” and every bit of 450 pounds, very round with a Howdy Doody face. Now seeing him up on that counter shaking, made Sam smile. “What in the hell is going on Bub?” Sam asked. Bub just pointed to the floor. Looking down, Sam laughed out loud.

Chapter 2

“Really?” Sam said. He was no fan of the slithering reptiles, but since his son, Jeb, had snakes as pets for several years, he got used to handling them. The snakes would get out of their tanks way too often for Sam liking. His favorite place, Shawnee National Forest was full of them, some poisonous and some not. The Forest Service there even shuts down a road every year for the snake migration. It was really creepy, thousands maybe millions of snakes moving to their summer home, Sam and some friends went one year to watch, once was enough for Sam.

The worst encounter Sam ever had with a snake was while rappelling near the Camel Rock. That day he had stopped half way down a 120-foot drop. It was a beautiful view up there, so Sam thought that he would take a couple of pictures. As he was tying himself off Sam heard a noise coming from the rocks. When he looked, he was eye to eye with a timber rattler hiding in a cervices. It was probably a small one, but right then, to Sam, it looked to be 10 feet long monster snake. Sam pulled out the knot, pushed out and loosened his grip on the rope. He dropped the rest of the way down with just one kick, falling fast, but controlling the stop right on the ground. Everyone was impressed with Sam’s death-defying feat until he told them why. After that, they then went and looked for a new spot to tie off their ropes, and checked for surprises. Sam learned his snakes well, at least the ones to watch out for, the ones with triangular heads and stubby tails were poisonous.

This was not a big poisonous snake on the floor of Bub’s hardware. It was only a foot-long rat snake curled up in the center of the aisle. Sam reached over and grabbed a broom, pinned the snake down, snatched the by the end of its tail and carried it out of the store. Sam took it to a grassy spot across the parking lot, and let it go.

“Did ya kill it?” Bub asked as Sam came back into the store.

“Noooo,” Sam said, shaking his head, “It wasn’t going to hurt anyone. It might have gotten rid of a few of those mice in your basement.”

Sam smiled as he watched Bub trying to roll off of the counter, thinking how in the hell did he get all of himself up there in the first place. Bub was shaking, saying how much he hated snakes and how that one had snuck up on him. Sam started to ask Bub how he got up there, when dispatch called, checking to see if all was ok. Sam answered, “Intruder apprehended, given a warning and thrown in the grass.” He said smiling, Sam knew that answer would just bring up questions at dispatch.

Sam turned back to Bub who was trying to get the alarm system to reset. “I’m sorry Sam, I walked in to turn off the alarm and that thing scared the shit out of me.” Bub said while pushing the buttons frantically, still shaken. “I couldn’t get to the alarm panel or the phone.”

Sam stepped in and asked Bub for his code and reset the alarm. “But Bub… how did you get up there.” Sam asked.

Bub turned around and looked at the counter and just stared at it for a minute, then said, “I haven’t a clue Sam.”

Sam laughed! Then he asked, “Bub, you have a whole store of things you could have killed that snake with. Why didn’t you just grab an axe and whack it?”

“Those things are fast,” Bub said, lumbering back to the front of the store.

Standing at the front of the business, not ready to leave as he was enjoying the cold air, Sam told dispatch he was available. Dispatch responded saying, “Signal 8 (Meet) with City 7 (Dawn), an accident at the corner of 2nd and Mill Street.”

“Clear dispatch.” Sam replied, then said, “Well, Bub it looks like it’s going to be one of those days. Go next door and get a cup of coffee and settle down.” As Sam got back into his car, he saw Bub locking up and going to Purple Lotus Café.

Sam wished he had left his car running. It would take a few minutes for it to cool down again, and his shaved head was already beaded with sweat, running down his forehead into his eyes. As he drove to the accident, he heard his partner, Dawn Pearl, arriving on the scene. She told dispatch that there were no injuries, and they could disregard the ambulance, but let Sam know she needs him for traffic control. By then Sam was only a few blocks away, and he advised dispatch he was arriving.

Shaking his head, Sam noticed cars backed up as he got to the scene. These were mostly rubberneckers wanting to see what was going on, they could have easily gone around the block, but no, small town busy bodies!

Dawn was already getting the information from drivers for the report, so Sam started clearing the traffic out of the way so the tow trucks could get in. Looking over at Dawn, Sam saw another familiar face, Sherrie Hall, a classmate that he had dated a few times, but after graduation had moved to Boston, and went to law school. It had been years since he had seen her, but had always wondered about her. Sam smiled, for she had not changed much, older now, but maybe even prettier. Sherrie was a tall, long-legged, red-head, with shining green eyes that could look right through you. She always had a very classy way about her and was smart, 4.0 smart. Sam was not sure why they hit it off but, they had had some good times together.

After she had got done talking with Dawn, Sherrie walked towards Sam, calling his name.

“Sam… Hey, Sam, I guess you never got away from here, huh?” she asked?

‘Well, … you know…are you okay? Sam asked.

“Oh, I wasn’t in the accident, I’m just a witness,” She Replied

“Good! Well, how have you been, it’s been a long time,” Sam asked.

“I’m good,” she said but only half smiling. “Mom is sick, and a came back to help out with her. And I guess you have probably heard I got a divorce a couple months back, I needed some time away from the city.”

“No I hadn’t heard, but sorry, if there is….” Sam stammered.

“Stop,” she said waving her hand, “It’s no big deal, life goes on!” Then she flashed that big smile that always seemed to brighten up things.

Talking to Sherri, Sam took his attention off of the traffic and a car almost hit them. After yelling at the driver, Sam told Sherrie she should probably get out of the road, and that he hoped they could catch up while she was in town, she said, “You can bet we will!” as she turned and walked off. Sam smiled, as he always enjoyed watching her walk away.

After the accident, Dawn and Sam met up at the Randy’s, for a cup of coffee, or as in Dawn’s case a bottle of herbal tea. They talked and laughed about the incident at Bub’s Hardware.

“You should have seen him, Dawn, it was the funniest thing,” Sam said while trying to hold back the laughter. “Bub, up on top of that counter, on his knees, his hands pumping up and down, face fire engine red, mouth moving but nothing coming out, I wish I had one of those body cams, it would have gone viral on YouTube.”

“How did he get up there… I mean…he’s not very spry,” Dawn asked.

“I don’t have the slightest idea, I can’t even picture it, but I bet it was funny!” Sam said.

“That snake wasn’t even a foot long and about as big around as my pinky, but you would have thought it was a boa constrictor… I bet Bub is telling everyone it was this big and as big around as his arm,” Sam said, holding his arms all the way out, almost hitting a customer with his coffee cup.

Before they left, Dawn told Sam about a warrant that was going to be issued for Joe Kerchak, a guy Sam knew well and had arrested several times. “Joe had beat up a guy last night at The Fuwalda.” Dawn said, “He took off before our guys arrived at the bar, they looked for him all night but couldn’t find him.”

“How did you hear about the warrant”? Sam asked.

“Oh… uh… Jason called me while I was driving over here, he wanted me to pick it up at his office.” Dawn stammered, “He has other paperwork to go to the station too.”

Damn, he’s up and in the office, early,” Sam said.

Yeah… I guess, he must be busy.” Dawn replied.

Sam didn’t say anything but thought it strange, it was just past 8:00 am and the District Attorney’s Office was seldom ever open before 9:00 am, and why would Jason be calling Dawn directly, not dispatch?

Chapter 3

His partner for the last six years, Dawn was eleven years younger than Sam, a tall, wisp of a woman, but with a determination to make it in an all-male police department. Sam liked working with her, she did her job well and didn’t back off from anyone.

They had been at Randy’s for a bit when Dawn looked at her watch and said she needed to go, she had to take her six-year-old daughter, Brit to the pool for swim lessons. They talked about meeting up for lunch, but knowing that probably was not going to happen the way this day had been going so far.

Only 8:20 and two calls already, it looked to be a busy day, then Sam got a call of a theft that had occurred on Willow Street. “Number three,” Sam thought to himself.

While en-route Sam heard Dawn get a call to go to the Prosecutors Office. Sam arrived at 410 Willow Street, he saw Gracie Allen standing in the yard pacing back and forth. As he got out of his car she unloaded on him, yelling “How come a person can’t leave something unguarded for a minute without someone stealing it, what’s this world coming to!”

Trying to calm her down, Sam asked, “What happened?”

Gracie said, “I went to the grocery store early to beat the heat, and when I got home I was taking the bags into the house. I came back out to get the rest of groceries and found a bag scattered on the ground.” They walked around the other side of her car, and there was a plastic grocery bag on the ground about 10 feet from the car with some of the groceries scattered around.

Sam asked, “Do you know what was taken?”

Gracie said, “I'm not sure yet, I didn’t want to touch anything, I want fingerprints taken.” Sam started walking around the house to see if he could find anything else, then he saw Monte, Gracie’s German Shepard, munching on a large beef roast.

“Another case solved, maybe I should take paw prints,” Sam said as he pointed out Monte to Gracie. Gracie just stood there, mouth agape, as Sam walked back to his car shaking his head, and told dispatch he was done with the call.

Sam had left the car running, and it was cool as he got in, he sat back and enjoyed the air conditioner. He had not even had a chance to start his daily log for the day, so he got a new form from his clipboard and put down the information from the past calls. Sam thought about going out to the Town Park to “run some radar” under the big trees that overhung the road, but that didn’t work out. Dispatch called him and told him to report to the station to meet with the chief. “Oh, Joy.” Sam thought as he pulled away.

Sam was only a few blocks to the station but was in no hurry to get there. The new Chief of Police, Seth Wallow, Twenty-eight years old and only a four-year veteran of the department. Sam had known Seth since he was a kid, even arresting him once for being a minor in possession of alcohol, but that didn’t go anywhere because Seth’s Grandfather was mayor at the time. Sam was Seth’s field training officer when Seth first got on the Police Department. Sam did not see much fire in this kid, then or now. Sam didn’t dislike Seth but never felt he had paid his dues.

The McCracken’s Bluff Police Station was in the old Town Hall building that was over 100 years old. All of the other town offices had moved into the new facility across the town square except for the police and fire departments. The young officers hated the station and thought it was old, dusty and drafty, Sam thought it had charm and style. The building was built in 1841, a two-story brick with old lathe and plaster walls and magnificent oak woodwork. A huge safe that has been constructed into the building for the town treasury and records was always a conversation piece. It had an outer door that was opened by a combination lock and an inner door that had a key lock. The outside door was never completely closed because no one had known the combination for years. The chief kept the keys to the inner door because the evidence was stored in there. Inside the outer door were taped old newspaper clipping of local historical events, all yellowed with age.

The Fire Department used the back of the building and the upstairs. They still have an old brass pole from when the sleeping quarters were upstairs. After the remodeling, the sleeping rooms were now on the ground level, and the pole was just decoration, though Sam remembers when he was a kid, hanging around the station, getting to slide down it, and thought it was so cool. Back then the police and fire departments were dispatched out of that building, and Sam would spend many a rainy afternoon, sitting in the dispatch room listing to the calls, and to the stories the police and firemen told while sitting around the station. Sam even ate many a meal there, the firemen’s chili was the best. That was one of the places Sam learned to cook.

Sam pulled into the parking lot out front of the station. He sat there for a few minutes, rolled the windows of the car up and enjoyed the air conditioning and listened to the end of Hotel California on the radio, it’s just one of those songs you can’t end half way through.

Song over, Sam walked into the office and stopped to say hi to Winnie the department secretary at the front desk. Winnie’s desk was where the dispatcher sat years ago, back then it was an open counter, safety concerns changed that. Now it was enclosed with glass and a small hole to talk through and a slot for papers. Winnie or whoever was at the desk would have to buzz the door for the officers in to get from the lobby to the offices in the back.

As Sam came in Winnie told him about Midnight shift’s arrest of Clifford Duggs. She said that that he was drunk, wrecked his bicycle. When Officers Fogerty and Clifford got there, he had fought them as usual. They finally got him in the car, but he kicked Fogerty in the forehead with his big work boot, leaving a waffle print bruise. Sam laughed, he remembered the numerous times that he had arrested Duggs, Clifford was one crazy drunk.

Just as Winnie was telling Sam that the Chief was not in a good mood, Seth Wallow walked in the door, saying “Where the hell have you been Nickles!”

“Out in the car, working” Sam replied. Wallow went on some tirade on not checking in or checking the day basket, and the case and patrol boards. Sam just listened and shrugged saying “You wanted to see me?”

Chapter 4

Wallow looked at Sam like he wanted to jump his ass, but the look on Sam’s face told him it would probably not be a good time. “Yeah,” Wallow said, “The Sheriff called me, and they need some help from your tactical boys for a raid on a meth lab.” Wallow went on to tell Sam that the Sheriff’s Department had been working to get a warrant on Tommy Little’s house and finally got the probable cause for an arrest and search warrant. Wallow said, “The Sheriff wanted you and the other officers to meet at the Jail at 2 am.”

Sam asked the Chief, “Who do you want me get and should take off early so not to go into overtime.” Wallow’s replied as he walked away, “Sam, just get it done, I don’t have time to mess with it.” Sam said sarcastically, “Okey dokey Smoky!” Then turned to Winnie and asked, “You heard that right?” Winnie just smiled, nodded and winked.

“My Tactical Boys?” Sam thought to himself. He started and ran the multi-department entry team for 16 years, but gave it up a few years back, to make his wife, Lilly happy. He passed the job to Deputy Kent Phillips. Phillips was 28 years old, 5 years on the Sheriff’s department and 6 years in the Marines. Phillips was street smart and as Sam had many years ago, loved the entry team detail. In fact, Phillips liked to use one of Sam’s favorite lines. “Kicking in doors of drug dealers is the next best thing to sex!” It was an adrenalin rush, and as much as Sam tried to get away from it, for Lilly’s sake, the excitement kept calling him back.

Winnie asked Sam if he wanted her to contact the other officers, Sam said “Thanks,” and gave her a list of who to call, and to let him know how many she gets. As he was leaving, he told Winnie he would talk to Dawn to see if she would want to help. Tommy Little had some on and off girlfriends, and it was always good to have a female officer. Sam knew Dawn would complain that they only called her when women were involved. Besides Sam’s old partner, Murphy Dam, Dawn would be his next choice to have his back. Sam knew Murphy was on last couple days of vacation, he didn’t think Murphy was back in town yet.

As Sam got back into his car, he heard Dawn arriving at a call. He didn’t hear her being dispatched, so he asked what she had, and she replied saying that she was just picking up some statements for the State’s Attorney’s office. Sam knew he needed to talk to Dawn, so he drove to the address and waited outside for her. As Sam had known she would, Dawn complained about the detail for 10 minutes, but agreed to go, saying, “No reason to be at home!” Sam didn’t ask but knew something didn’t sound right.

Most of the rest of the day went along pretty quiet, except for Sam having to scold a couple boys on bicycles who had come out of an alleywith out looking, and Sam almost hit them. Sam gave them a couple of Bicycle Safety coloring books he had in his trunk and sent them on their way. Just about 10 minutes till 3:00 Winnie called Sam and told him that she had 4 officers that would be there and left a message for 2 others. As he was driving home, Sam heard Assistant Chief Kenny McDollin sign on duty. Kenny said he was clear on the message, bringing the number to 7 counting himself. McDollin was the next officer hired by McCracken’s Bluff 5 years after Sam. Like Sam, McDollin had an Associate’s Degree from Vincennes University in Law Enforcement. Kenny had always worked hard and was a good cop, he deserved the Assistant Chief’s Job. He was an excellent choice for the job being was detailed orientated and worked well with the other officers. Even at his age, Kenny could probably out run any officer on the department, 6’4” seemed like mostly legs and loved to run. He would run 5K’s whenever he got a chance and usually came in among the top 10. Kenny’s blond hair and tan with a lanky build that made him look more like a California surfer than a mid-west cop.

When Sam got home, he got his tactical gear together to check everything. He knew with these types of details you never knew what you were going to get into. Doing an equipment check, Sam looked at the date on his tactical vest, “hmmm, over 5 years, that’s not good.” Sam said to himself.

He checked his favorite Ruger P-89, 9mm pistol that he kept in the holster in the front of his TAC vest, along with 3 extra magazines. Sam has had this gun for years, and it always felt just right in his hand, even more than his department issue Glock .45 that he’s carried daily. He checked that Glock, it’s extra magazines, and just in case his little Ruger LCP .380 caliber pocket rocket. There were flex cuffs, and 4 pairs of steel handcuffs, his knife, some paracord, a wedge in the vest cover. He also got out his leather and lead slapper, which wasn’t used much anymore, and carried mostly out of habit. He got his black BDU’s out of the closet and grabbed his ballistic helmet that he knew he probably would not wear.

It was 5:00 pm and he thought he should get some rest, but he knew sleep would not come easy, and Lilly would be home soon. As Sam sat on the couch, Lilly walked in, she looked at the pile of equipment, and said, “Sam!”

Lilly was Sam’s second wife, and they had only been married 4 years, Sam had turned over the Tactical Team about a year after they got married, to the delight of Lilly. She never got used to Sam going out in the middle of the night on that kind of details. She knew when he got dressed in the black stuff, she would not sleep until she heard from him that they were done. Nothing else was said between them about it, they both knew how the other felt. Sam kicked back in the recliner, listening to the news, he asked her to wake him before she went to bed or about midnight.

Sam did fall asleep; the heat must have taken the energy out of him. It was about 11:30 pm when he woke up. He had some time to kill, so Sam went to his office and sat at his computer desk. Sitting there Sam checked out the weather, then his Facebook and Twitter accounts. He saw on Facebook another brother in blue had been killed in Florida, “Damn” he said to himself, “That make 5 this month”. He typed a little message sending prayers to the fallen Officers Department, Friends and Family.” Sam had personally known 3 officers killed in the line of duty over the years, this always made him more aware of the dangers of his job. This also made him think of the officers that he knew, that had taken their own lives. Suicide was so much more of a waste, so many could have been prevented. Sam had known 5 officers that committed suicide over the last several years. He was aware that departments lose more officers, every year, to the stress of the job than by the bad guys.

Lilly came in and said good night, bringing Sam back out of his thoughts. He gave her a kiss and a long hug, then started to get ready. Sam looked up and watched as Lilly walked down the hall to the bedroom in her robe, she still had a wicked figure that moved like a cat as she walked. Sam smiled. “She’s something else!” Whispering to himself.

“This was not going to be fun.” he thought. Midnight and still almost 80 degrees and 88% humidity. Sam would wait till after the briefing to put on his tactical vest, trying to stay comfortable for as long as possible. Knowing that he probably would not have time to go home and change after the raid so he would be in the sweaty black BDU’s all day. Looking at the clock, he had plenty of time so Sam got dressed slowly watching the news. Sam followed politics, but lately, he couldn’t stomach the unconstitutional way things were being done in Washington. Sam always remembered the oath of office he took to protect the Constitution and the laws of his country, and he believed in that oath.

The news got depressing, so flipping through the channels Sam found an old Andy Griffith re-run, this would give him a laugh. He was smiling as he thought of the wisdom of Andy Taylor and the way he always handled people. In the show Andy, hardly every wore a gun, but Sam bet that Andy had a pocket rocket hidden somewhere, and how funny Barney would react if Andy would suddenly pull it out and shot it. Sam chuckled, amusing himself.

When he got dressed it was almost 1:00 am, Sam thought and he might as well go, better to be early. In his patrol car going through town, there was hardly anyone else moving around, which was a good thing. Sam used to love to work the midnight shift, nothing was better than the peacefulness of the freshly fallen snow covered streets after midnight, he wished it was cold now. Sam drove the side streets, avoiding being seen and getting up publics curiosity of why so many cops were moving around this time of the morning.

The sheriff’s department was just outside of town, and there were already a few cars there parked around the back of the jail. Sam noticed the black 1956 Cadillac sedan that Aaron Peeks drove, slowly drive by as he was turning into the lot. Sam thought, “That car and Aaron gives me the creeps, wonder what he’s doing out this time of night.”

A few of the officers were outside talking, smoking, joking around and telling stories, as Sam got out of his car and walked in. Making greetings as he went towards the door, one of the young officers said, “Hey look, the old man is here.” Sam, shot him a look, the rookie shut up, Sam went on to the jail, hearing the other officers razzing the kid.

Inside the conference room, Sam saw Deputy Kent Phillips at the whiteboard drawing a sketch of the area and the layout of the property to be searched. “Hey Sam, glad you’re here, do you know this place.”

Sam told Kent that he had been there before, he was backing up some deputies up on a domestic violence call. “It’s a tactical nightmare, a long dirt driveway, a hill you can’t see over and several out buildings.”

As they talked the Sheriff, Larry Dickens walked up and was listening to the plan. They asked if he was going to go on the raid, and Dickens said, “Uh...No… I’m going to stay out and answer the routine calls, my deputies working the shift are going on the raid, but I will be close in case you need me. It’s good for the young guys to get some experience”. Said Dickens. Sam thought, “Then what am I doing here!” Dickens walked away.

Larry Dickens became sheriff by a fluke and some good luck for him. Dickens had worked as a jailer for the former Sheriff Harold Hanover. He and Harold never got along, and when Hanover got a complaint from a female inmate about sexual harassment by Dickens, he gave Dickens a choice of quitting or be fired. Dickens resigned as a jailer but came back by running for Sheriff against Hanover in the next election. Hanover was well liked in Callsworth County and had a lot of family and friends there, so the election should have been a shoe-in for him. As fate, had it, Sheriff Hanover had a heart attack and died just 4 days before the election. Things being normal the party might have put someone else in his stead, but when Hanover died he happened to be in the apartment of a woman. The woman he was with was in fact, the one who had filed the complaint against Dickens. The scandal went rampant, and Dickens won the election.

Dickens had no real police experience and was not very compeident as an administrator. On his plus side, he did know how to schmooze people and was smart enough to let the Deputies do their job. Dickens would answer calls occasionally, but usually got there after other deputies had arrived, and never actually arrested anyone. Dickens spent most of his day at different coffee shops talking to his buddies. All of this was ok with Sam, he always hoped that Dickens would never get into a shooting situation. Sam had never seen anyone, let alone a cop, that was as inept with guns as Dickens was. Dickens was not afraid of weapons he just could not hit anything. When Sam was a firearms instructor, it always had to take extra time to get Dickens qualified. It seemed like he just couldn’t line up his sights, Sam tried everything. Sam had asked Dickens several times to get his eyes checked, but he claimed to have 20/20 vision.

“Oh well,” Sam thought, “Dickens will be out of our way tonight, which would be good, and we will not have to watch out for him.”

Kent and Sam sketched out the plan. First, the officers would drive their patrol cars to a church parking lot. This was about a half mile from Tommy Little’s house, then everyone would be getting into 2 pickup trucks that were owned by a couple deputies. The trucks would be good because all the officers could get out quickly, then move in different directions if need be. Information had it, that only Tommy and his girlfriend Angie should be at the property. Tommy was only known to have 1 weapon, a shotgun, that he kept by his front door, but he did have some surveillance cameras pointing all around the house. Sam had never had trouble dealing with Tommy before, but he was real deep into meth and had been tweaking for several days so he could be very unpredictable.

Kent called everyone together and had them sign the log sheet for the record. Sheriff’s Department Detective, John Buckman was keeping the records since it was his case, and he would be doing the majority of the paperwork. There was a total of 20 officers at the briefing, they were told that the target was Tommy Little’s house at 2771 Deerhead Lane. Kent described the property and what the issues were. He told them that they believed there would be an active meth lab, and for everyone to be careful and remember the inhalation and explosion risk. Kent asked who was familiar with the property; only Sam and one other McCracken’s Bluff officer said they were, as well as all 8 Deputies that were there.

Meth or Methamphetamines has become a huge problem in southern Illinois or the mid-west in general. The formula for “cooking” the Meth, was called the Nazi method because it was used by Hitler’s regime during World War II to keep his troop awake and going for days. Anhydrous Ammonia was one of the harder chemicals to acquire, in the cooking method, but it was readily available in the mid-west because farmers use it as a fertilizer on their crops, large tanks were stored all over the place, and the Meth cookers would sneak in at night and steal what they needed. This caused a problem in itself, several times had the thieves had a hose or tank blow out, and the Anhydrous would burn them and sometimes kill them.

A methamphetamine lab themselves are dangerous, using several flammable or explosive chemicals. Since most illegal cookers don’t use many safety precautions the labs catch fire and would burn down the house, barn, car, or where ever it was being cooked. Unfortunately, the fire would often burn up the evidence needed to charge the cooker with manufacturing. Sam knew from the cookers he had arrested in the past, that most were not capable of cooking a good batch of Hamburger Helper, let alone be safe with the chemicals they were using.

The worst of all was the grip meth took on the users. Sam had been around drug addicts since his time in college, he had never seen a drug take over lives of people the way meth does. He had been through the different waves of drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, LSD were all bad, but it seemed that once they got into meth, it completely controlled them, and the need to get more meth would make them do anything. Sam once worked a case where a mother was pimping out her 12-year-old daughter to other users and dealers to get the drug, she was a hardcore user, shooting up the meth. She had even got her daughter hooked on meth by lacing marijuana with it. People lost jobs, spouses, savings, and their lives over meth.

The 10 officer who knew the property would do the actual entries. There would be 2 teams, one for the residence, that was an old trailer. It had a standard floor plan, a living room, kitchen at the front entrance, a long hallway with a couple room off to the right side, back to the main bedroom at the back. The only other exit door was near the rear of the hall. The second team was to secure the outbuildings, which were mainly big barns with a lot of junk!

Kent asked, “Sam will you take the house, team?

Sam said, “Sure.”

As soon as he did McCracken Officer Brandon Teasdale said, “I’ll be Sam’s second, I’ve been in that trailer.”

Sam just sighed and shook his head. Kent would take the second team, which Sam thought that would be good, mainly because of the number of buildings so they would have to move fast. Sam chose the rest of his team, and Kent gave the perimeter officers their locations. The last thing Kent told the team, from he had learned from Sam, “Remember that the best-made plans never work. Keep your eyes open, think tactical, and keep with your partner”.

The Perimeter team was deciding on their weapons, some with shotguns and others with AR-15’s according to who was qualified. They were everyone’s extra eyes and covered the entry teams or acted on what would happen outside the main points. They had to be sharp, it was going to be dark, confusing and anything can happen.

Sam’s team decided on how to stack up for the entry, Sam would take the lead and breach the door, he passed on the battering ram, Sam liked to use his foot to kick the door. He then would cover Teasdale, he would be the second man in. This made Sam a little nervous, Brandon Teasdale was young, 24 years old and 2 years on the department, he had the makings of a good officer but was sometimes a livewire. Sam didn’t want him to get hurt.

The next 2 deputies in would clear the first room, while Sam and Teasdale covered them, then they would go to the next room as the deputies covered them and so on, with the last officers in would cover their backs.

Sam knew that Teasdale had been on raids before but never on the direct entry team. Sam pulled him aside and told him as soon as he kicked the door, Teasdale was to roll into the left and cover the others. When the room was cleared, Teasdale was to follow Sam. The last thing Sam said to Teasdale was “Whatever you do, stay with me and don’t shoot me, I will shoot you back.” Sam said it jokingly, but it was in the back of his mind.

Kent’s team stated that they were all ready; they had a detached garage, a barn and a small travel trailer they had to clear. As they would clear each one, a perimeter team would come up to secure it. Kent again said, “we are not sure of how many people will be there, and what they would be doing, so everyone needs to be ready for anything!”

As they walked out to their cars, Sam talked to Dawn, he wished she was his back up, but she said she didn’t know the place. Dawn was going to be on the perimeter, with a shotgun, Sam knew she hated shotgun because of the kick, but she could shoot it well, and she wasn’t qualified with the Ar-15. Sam joked with her, “If Teasdale accidentally shoots me, you should “accidentally” shoot him.” She smiled and said, “Not a problem.” They laughed, high-fived, as they walked to their own cars.

Chapter 4

It was about a 10-minute drive to the church, it could have been quicker, but the direct approach would have taken them right by Tommy’s driveway, so the team took a long way around. When they got to the church, everyone did final weapons and equipment check. They all made sure their cell phone were silent and then loaded quietly into the pick-ups. The perimeter teams loaded first and went closest to the cab, Sam had 2 teams of city officers in his truck Dawn being in one of the teams. Kent had 3 perimeter teams with him, 3 deputies, 2 state troopers and a Conservation Officer. Most all the officers were experienced, with Teasdale being the youngest; Sam did not have a good feeling about this.

As the pickups started moving, Sam noticed sweat rolling down his back, it was so hot his tactical vest felt like a massive heating pad on his chest. Sam had worn the same black bandana covering his head for as long as he could remember, it was his good luck charm as was his pocket knife, and lighter that his dad had told him to carry at all times. Sam’s father instilled in him that these were essential survival tools of life, to be carried at all times. Back in those days, the Bandana was red, the knife smaller, but the lighter always has been a Zippo. Sam still deemed them all necessary. Sam adjusted the bandana down to keep the sweat and out of his eyes.

As they traveled down the gravel road sitting on the tailgate, Sam’s feet occasionally dragged the gravel like they would when he was a teenager in the back of his dad’s pickup. Sam could feel his heart beat harder, this was the time he liked best, all of his senses were heightened, nerves on edge, kind of like foreplay. A big grin came to his face, as he looked around at the others in the truck and they unknowingly smiled back, Teasdale giving him the thumbs up and a big smile with his eyes wide open! Sam could only chuckle and shake his head.

Moving down the gravel road, Sam could taste the dust in his mouth, he felt it up in his nose; he snorted, trying to clear it. Clouds were moving, and the moon was peeking out now and then. It was not a full moon, but if it stayed out as they arrived it might help them to see better, but then that works both ways, the bad guys could see better too.

The pickups turned into Tommy Little’s driveway, that was hidden by a grove of trees, some of the low hanging small limbs were slapping the officers in the head as they went down the lane. As they cleared the trees going into the open field, the trucks picked up speed, knowing that they had to be quick to keep the element of surprise. When they topped the hill and could first see the trailer, and “The Plan” suddenly went to hell!

Everybody started quietly talking, “There’s a bonfire” “A whole bunch of people, maybe 20”. “There are having a party!” “

“Oh great,” Sam, though, but then, he could hear the group around the fire yelling “Party,” as the trucks approached. So, Sam yelled back “Party, Woo Hooo” and the rest of the officers joined in. The group of partiers were oblivious that their night was going to turn really bad, really fast.

The two trucks pulled in as the party-goers watched, but could not see who was coming to “Party” with them because of the bright headlights in their eyes. Sam told Teasdale, “Just stay with me!” Sam knew that with all the people outside the whole team would not be able to stay together, and there was no time to make a new plan. He and Teasdale would cut off the trailer so no one could get inside it to get the only weapon they knew was there, the shotgun by the front door.

It wasn’t until the officers started bailing out of the trucks that the group partying around the bonfire realized that it was the cops. Suddenly, there was a lot of noise, officers yelling, “Police, Stop, let me see your hands, don’t run.”

The suspects were yelling to each other about ways to get away. Most everyone, who could, started to run towards the barn or the woods. A few never made it away from the fire before someone on the team caught them, mostly because they were too stoned to realize what was happening. Sam with Teasdale were the only ones who went towards the trailer and just after covering a few steps they noticed Tommy Little running towards the trailer too.

“Oh hell no you don’t!” Sam said. He wasn’t about to let Tommy get to that shotgun. Sam knew there was chaos at the fire and people running, but he was focused on Tommy, who was several yards ahead of him. Tommy jumped on the porch but got slowed down opening the screen door to the trailer. Sam almost got ahold of him as he was going through the doorway, but Tommy turned quickly going towards the hallway. Sam could see the butt of the shotgun by the door but decided to get Tommy first. His lungs already bursting, but Sam kicked it in and ran harder. They ran hard down that long skinny hallway, bouncing on the walls as they did. Tommy slowed down trying to go into one of the small bedrooms. Sam not slowing, stepped on Tommy lower leg, driving him to the ground. His momentum would not allow Sam to stop and he ran right over Tommy, stepping on his back as he passed over him. Sam then slammed into the rear wall of the trailer at a full run. When Sam turned around, he saw Teasdale take a flying leap onto Tommy’s back and trying to get an arm. Tommy was trying to get back up with Teasdale riding his back. Sam thought, “Good Boy,” while Teasdale was trying to get Tommy under control, Sam kicked Tommy’s arms out, then dropped a knee onto Tommy’s upper back. Teasdale told Tommy to give it up while grabbing his arm. Tommy finally realized it was over, quit fighting, and Teasdale cuffed him up, smiling all the time.

Sam and Teasdale pulled Tommy up and walked him to the front door. Tommy was pissed, saying, “I’ll get you mother fuckers, you can’t do this to me, you better watch your back.” Sam got up in Tommy’s face, squinted his eyes, and set his jaw, and just looked at Tommy eye to eye and said, “Really?” This seemed to unnerve Tommy, and he got quiet. Sam told Teasdale, “Get this piece of crap out of my sight.” Teasdale took Tommy to the group of prisoners that the others had cuffed and were sitting by the fire.

Once outside there was still the sound of other officers yelling for people to stop. Some officers were walking up with people they had caught. Kent Phillips had re- assigned some of the perimeter team to watch the suspects they had, and others to keep covering the officers that were still out. Sam could hear 4 wheelers going away in the distance, and figured that was how most of the people got to the party since there were only a couple cars there. Sam reached down, and unloaded the shotgun that had been sitting by the door, looking at the shells, he thought, “Hmmm deer slugs, ouch!”

Sam yelled to Kent, asking if someone could come stand by the trailer. Kent told him everyone was busy; he had already sent Teasdale out with a Deputy to check the small Travel Trailer that they hadn’t had a chance to get to yet. Kent asked Sam, “Can you stay there for a few minutes.”

Sam replied “No Problem!” He was still trying to catch his breath, thinking to himself, “I am getting too old for this shit.” But then smiled, this was going to be an impressive bust!

It wasn’t long when everyone started to come back in, and a head count was taken. No officers were hurt, and only a few of the suspects had some bruises and scrapes through the whole thing. Twelve men and four women were sitting by the fire all had been handcuffed and searched. The officers thought two or three got away, one on a four-wheeler, who had a passenger but the Conservation Officer, Marvin Paul, did a flying tackle and knocked him off the of the back of the four-wheeler. The driver never looked back, gunned it and kept on going, so much for friendship.

Jason McDollin and Willy Fogerty said that they had chased Joe Kerchak into the woods south of the trailer, and when he came to the creek he just kept running, bailing off of that 20-foot drop. McDollin said, “We were lucky that our flashlights on him when we saw him fall, if not both of us would have run off of the cliff too.”

Fogerty said, “I thought that we would find him at the bottom, in the creek, all broken up. But when we got there, he was already climbing up the other side. He was limping, but that was the last we saw of him.” Both said they could positively identify him and would get a warrant for him the next day. Sam said, “That would make 2 warrants, in two days for Joe, but that’s Joe.”

Sam made a quick text message to tell Lilly all was ok. Phillips called the Sheriff, he asked for the jail bus to transport the prisoners. That’s when Teasdale ran up excitedly saying, “Sam, you guys need to come look, this is so cool!”

Sam annoyed, said, “What.” Teasdale just said, “You and Kent needed to see this.” Then he ran back to the travel trailer. Sam asked one of the officers at the bonfire to watch the front of the trailer, then he and Kent walked back to where Teasdale and Deputy Mike Oldam were.

“Is Lilly ok,” Kent asked.

Sam told him, “Yeah, she will be able to sleep now.”

“I need to call Donna too.” Kent said, and pointed at Teasdale, “The kid gets a little excited, doesn’t he?”

Sam replied, “Yeah, but he did ok.”

Looking inside the travel trailer, Sam and Kent looked at one another, and both said “Wow.” Just at a quick look, they could see the trailer was full of guns, there were AK-47, Mini –14’s, AR-15’s, shotguns of all sorts, a few handguns that were laying out in the open, Sam noticed 2 Desert Eagles. It was crazy, there were stacks of gun cases of all sizes, they could not even have guessed how many. “We’re going to be here awhile,” Kent said, and called the Sheriff back and asked for a couple more trucks. Teasdale and Oldam were told to stay with the trailer, and not to play with anything.

A large working lab was found in the barn, and it was secured to wait for the State Police Lab clean up team. Everyone at the party was holding some sort of drugs, either pills, marijuana or meth, the drug of choice in the area. After an NCIC (National Crime Information Center) check, several of them were found to already have outstanding warrants for their arrest. When the van got there, all of the arrestees would be loaded up and taken to the Jail to be booked in.

“This is going to be a paperwork nightmare,” Kent told Detective John Buckman, “and we haven’t even gone through the trailer yet.”

Buckman asked, “Sam what did you see in the house trailer.”

Sam said, “We were a little busy, I didn’t see any other people, but I did see the shotgun by the door, and a pile of dishes on the kitchen counter. There was some stuff in the back bedroom that might be interesting, looked like some glassware.”

It was 4:30 am and Buckman, Kent and Sam did a walkthrough of the trailer. In the kitchen, as you first walk in the door there were pistols in 3 of the drawers. In the living room, there was a .45 under the cushions at each end of the couch, and a 12-gauge shotgun under it. There was a sawed-off shotgun in the bathroom, in the bedroom there were 3 shotguns under the bed and an Uzi with 6 magazines under the pillows. Found buried under dirty clothes in the bedroom closet was cases of different types of ammo. It looked like Tommy was going to start a war, or was dealing in guns too.

The living room had 3 large flat screen TV’s hooked up to 10 cameras that covered all of the outbuilding and the road. The best part was it was recording so they would be able to tell who had been there. The recording could also show how the drugs were distributed. They thought this should be an interesting interview, they get a chance to talk to him, but he will probably lawyer up.

For the team, the best was yet to come. In one of the small bedroom, there was more meth than any of the officers had ever seen. It was a processing room with scales, cutting material, little baggies, to it packaged in different amounts. They all went outside, and Sam watched door again, while Buckman went and got his camera, and put on some protective gear. While standing there looking at the inside of the trailer, it was a mess of stacks dirty dishes, food left out, trash all over, beer cans stacked in the corner. Sam thought, “If you're tweaked on meth and up for days on end, you have all that energy, why can you just clean up your house little.” Sam could never understand the appeal of being doped up all the time.

Larry Dickens the Sheriff showed up in his pick-up with a Jailer in the bus, and they loaded the prisoners up, and couple deputies rode with him to the jail. Several of the officers got back into the other pick-ups to shuttle their cars to the scene. Sam rode along to get his cruiser, it would not be long before he would have to go on regular duty. When Sam got back to his car, reaching into the car to started it up, then he took off his tactical vest, opened the trunk and secured his gear inside. Climbing back into the car, Sam sat for a moment and notices how wet his shirt was from sweat, the air conditioner hit it and almost gave him a chill, it felt so good! He took his time driving back to Tommy’s enjoying the air conditioner, listening to Sweet Emotion on the radio.

While driving, he went over what had transpired in the night. It was now almost 5:30 am, and the sun was coming up, the sky had a few clouds that were starting to shine from the rising sun. Thinking his part of paperwork should not be too bad, maybe a couple hours. Sam was just glad he was not logging in all the evidence, the detectives and the lab people would do that. The drive got over way too soon.

As he pulls up to the trailer, Sam noticed the Sheriff and several deputies setting up a display of all the guns. The weapons were placed onto tarps on the ground to be photographed. Sam knew that this was for a photo op for when the news got there. The Sheriff told Sam that the TV stations had been contacted, and were on their way, so they needed to get everything out. Sam said, “Kent told me, he wanted to take the time to get everything properly logged and photographed, shouldn’t you have waited?” Sam then looked up and saw Clifford Duggs coming out of the travel trailer with several gun cases.

Sam said, “How did he get here?”

Sheriff Dickens replied, “I brought him from the jail, He’s got a strong back and a weak mind.”

“Really?” Sam replied, shaking his head and walked away.

Poor Clifford, you could tell he was hung over, only being arrest for public intoxication the night before. Clifford Duggs was not an idiot, yeah, he had problems, like alcoholism, a speech impediment, and a bad temper, but he got a bad start in life. Clifford was the product of incest, his father was his grandfather, and his sister his mother. He did have a learning disability, so he was raised in a state hospital until budget cuts turned him, and his other family members out, to fend for themselves. Living on his own made him sharper that a lot of people realized, Clifford grew a garden, raised chickens, and did the odd jobs for people that most other would not do. Most did not see it, in fact, most tried to take advantage of him. If people would just take the time to talk to Clifford, they would know he was no dummy.

A few of lab team had arrived and were suiting up in their protective gear to take apart the lab in the barn. This was not a little personal meth cook, this guy had some good equipment and a lot of chemicals, anhydrous ammonia, ether, packs of lithium batteries and boxes upon boxes of Sudafed, many in blister packs, but also several 500 count bottles. The scary thing was, many chemicals make it very dangerous to breathe and an explosive risk.

Sam walked over to Kent and Buckman who were coordinating things and keeping logs of all the coming and going. “Wasn’t quite what we expected was it Sam?” Buckman asked.

“Is it ever,” Sam replied.

While they were talking, Teasdale ran up with a big grin on his face, and large gun in his hand. “This is what I need,” he said, he was holding a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle and a .50 AE Desert Eagle handgun.

“No you don’t… and take them back,” Sam said. Teasdale frowned and walked away kicking the ground like a scolded little boy.

“Make sure he doesn’t get away with those,” Sam joked with Kent, “I have to go on shift soon, and I won’t be able to babysit him.”

Kent said, “I think we are ready to let several of the guys go, but I wanted to know if you were going to stay for the press release.”

“I don’t think so.” said Sam, “I’ll leave that to the brass.”

“Well then, “Kent asked, “Could run some evidence bags back out here, I didn’t think I’d need this many.”

“No problem,” Sam replied.

Sam looked around for Dawn to check on her before he left, he could not locate her. He asked John Buckman if he knew where she was. Buckman looked at the log and said, “She left a little before 4:00 am. Dawn told me that all the females were gone, and she had a call she needed to take care of.”

"A call?" Sam questioned, "Why didn't midnight shift take care of it?"

Buckman just shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but she seemed like she was in a hurry.”

Back in the car, Sam jotted down a few note while cooling off, he would get to writing the report after going on shift. Listening to the morning news as he drove back into town. It was now 7:00 am, so Sam signed onto regular patrol. He said, “City 4 (Sam’s call number) to Dispatch I’m 10-41 (On Duty).” Heading towards the station he called the Purple Lotus Café and asked if they could make him a couple sausage and egg sandwiches, and he would pick them up in a few minutes. On the radio, Sam heard the newscast of the bust, he thought to himself, “That was quick.” Dawn then signed on to duty, this made Sam feel better, he would find out what happened to her later.

Going inside the station to grab some evidence bags, Chief Wallow stopped him, and Sam could tell he was mad!

“Where the hell have you been?” Wallow screamed.

“Again, with the, where have I been…” Sam said. “I’ve been where you told me to be,” he told Wallow.

“Why didn’t you call me, the news has been calling all morning, and where am I,” Wallow rattled, “I’m here, clueless.”

Sam smiled, and just said “Yep.”

Wallow asked, “Why didn’t you call me”?

Sam retorted, “You told me to handle it, you didn’t have time.” Sam got the evidence bag and walked out the door, smiling and winked at Winnie. He could hear Wallow still screaming from the parking lot.

Sam stopped by the Purple Lotus and grabbed the sandwiches, and as he was walking out he bumped into Sherrie Hall and her sister, who were going in, “Join us for breakfast Sam” She asked, and smiled.

Sam apologized saying, “I wish I could, but I’m a little busy.”

She huffed “I will catch you yet”! Sam walked to his car, thinking…

As Sam started his cruiser, Sherry, By Frankie Vaile and the Four Seasons was playing. “That’s to weird, Sam thought to himself, but it made Sam smile and he sung along in his best falsetto voice.

When Sam got back to the scene, the news was already there. The Sheriff had finished with the interviews and was strutting around schmoosing the news people. Kent Said, “You would have thought he did everything all by himself.”

Sam told Kent that Wallow was pissed, “He’s not happy he was not informed of what happened.”

“We’ll blame it on the Sheriff,” Kent said, and they both laughed.

Sam walked around for a few minutes, he watched Clifford Duggs and a couple others load the guns into the pick-up. Teasdale was looking at the Barrett .50 cal., again. “What would you do with that?” Sam asked. Teasdale went into a tirade on why the department needed a sniper, and why he should be the one to do it. “Just make sure that thing gets in the truck,” Sam said.

Sheriff Dickens walked up and told them they were ready to go. Teasdale put the gun back in the case with the look of an abused puppy. There were 157 guns in the Travel trailer, and that was not counting the ones in the main trailer. Everything from .22 rifles and pistols to 6 full auto MP5 machine guns. The guns were a great extra, with the drugs and lab, Tommy would probably never get out of jail!

Ready to leave, Sam saw Kent and congratulated him on a good operation, he told him if he needed anything else to call him.

Kent said, “Thanks, but it was a team effort.” They both watched as the Sheriff drove out with Clifford Duggs in the passenger seat.

“Idiot,” Kent said.

Sam questioned “Clifford?”

Kent just said “No.”

Sam thought he had better get back into town, it was a quarter till eight and Dawn had been there all by herself. Sam couldn’t figure out why she had left right after the female prisoners got loaded into the van. As he pulled out, Sam unwrapped one of the sandwiches going down the drive, eating it while driving on Deerhead Lane. When he was about 2 miles from the scene, Sam saw Sheriff Dickens and Clifford Duggs, standing outside of the Sheriff’s truck, that was pulled over to the side of the road. Sam stopped and asked if all was ok, and the Sheriff who was looking in the bed of the truck looked up startled and said, “No, No, the load just shifted, Clifford didn’t tie it down like I told him to.”

Clifford walked over to Sam’s car, and said: “Hey Tam, how are ya?” Clifford had a problem with S’s and other parts of speech, but Sam had known him long enough to understand. In fact, a new officer was no longer a rookie when they could “Speak Clifford.” Sam was eating his sandwich as Clifford was watching intently, Sam asked: “Are you hungry Cliff?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Toot me too fast to get brckfas!” Sam handed Cliff the other sandwich and drove off.

Looking down the road Sam saw two figures ahead, he thought it could be a couple of the ones they didn’t catch the night before, but as he got closer, he saw it was two young boys, Alex Gear and J.J. Jay. They both had .22 rifles over their shoulders, and Sam stopped to talk to them. “Hi, Officer Sam,” J.J. Said.

“What’s up guys?” Asked Sam.

“Just going to get a little practice in before squirrel season next month,” Alex replied.

“That sounds good, I haven’t had any squirrel for a long time.” Stated Sam.

“If we do good, we’ll bring ya some Sam. Hey, are you going to have a range day this year, I loved shooting that AR-15,” J.J. asked.

“Yeah, the 25th of August, would you 2 like to help me set up the range?” Sam asked.

Both boys got excited and said that would be fun.

“OK, it’s a date, but listen, don’t go too far up this road, there are a lot of officers working up there, so don’t get in their way,” Sam told them.

“Don’t worry Sam we won’t,” Alex said.

As Sam drove off, he could see the boys standing in the road talking in his rearview mirror, he thought how much he like working with the kids in town.

Once in town, Sam called Dawn on the radio, and they met up at the city park. Sitting under the trees in their cars, they talked about the night’s activities and laughed about the chief being mad. Sam could tell that Dawn’s mind was elsewhere. Just as he asked what was wrong, she got a call from dispatch, telling her to go to the Prosecutor’s office. Sam said, “Are you his delivery boy, uh, girl”? She just smiled nervously and drove off.

Sam sat there for a while and working on his log, it was 9:16 am, Sam was enjoying the air conditioning and listened to Little Deuce Coupe on the radio. He thought maybe he could go by home and change his shirt, the one he was wearing had been soaked in sweat all night and didn’t smell very well. Sam put the car in drive, but before the car started moving, dispatch was calling him.

“Dispatch to City-4.” The radio chimed.

“City-4” Replied Sam.

Dispatch said, “Go to Jefferson Elementary School, there is a stray horse in the playground.”

“A Horse,” Sam thought to himself, “What is it with these animals lately.”

“Clear Dispatch,” Sam answered.

When Sam arrived, looking for the horse, he drove around to the back of the school through the grass to the playground. The school yard was deserted except for Fred Long, a maintenance man, and a beautiful quarter horse. Stopping the car, Sam thought to himself that he had seen the horse somewhere before, but could not remember where.

“It’s just been hanging around here, eating grass, but I didn’t know what to do with it,” Fred said, walking towards Sam.

They both walked over to the horse, and Sam grabbed the reigns and looked at the saddle. “That doesn’t look good,” Sam said to Fred. There was blood on Sam’s hands from the reins, blood on the saddle and on the mane of the horse, a lot of blood.

Sam called dispatch for an ambulance, he didn’t know for who, but thought someone was going to need one. He also asked for the animal control officer to meet him there, and dispatch advised they would be en route.

Sam asked, “Fred can you watch the horse.” Fred nodded his head yes, stunned by the blood. As Sam tied the horse to the monkey bars. Sam said to Fred, “Don’t let anyone come in this area unless they ask me first.”

“Ok Sam.”, Fred yelled, as he picked up his mop bucket and walked towards a spigot on the wall of the school. “Can I get it some water?”

“Sure,” Sam replied, with his thoughts elsewhere.

“Sam, I’ll have to go to the spigot on the side of the building, someone has broken the handle off of this one.” Fred Said. Sam just waved back at Fred as he started to walk away.

Sam could see blood drops on the ground and began to follow them. He called dispatch on his radio and asked the time he got there so he could log it on his report. Dispatch replied, “Time Notified 0807, the time arrived 0811.” Sam wrote the times in his notebook along with where everything was when he arrived.

Due to the hot summer and lack of rain, most of the grass was brown and dry, the blood drops stood out in the hot sun. Sam walked north towards the woods, there was a field about 200 yards wide, then an oil tank battery before the stand of trees. The blood drops went due north in a straight line towards the tank battery, and Sam followed them. About a hundred and fifty yards in, Sam noticed something lying in the grass. There was a dip in the ground, that why he didn’t see the object from the school yard. Sam quickened his pace, and when he got close, Sam could see it was a person. As Sam ran up, he looked at the body, as it lay crumpled in a large pool of blood, upon seeing the face, Sam thought to himself, “Oh hell no!