51: The Series

51: The Storm Chapter 7 Part 2

The next thing Lindsay remembered was swinging at Wren when he touched her arm. She looked at him and could see his concern and fear. She had fallen asleep in her office.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I did that,” Lindsay said, leaning back again and looking at the ceiling.

“It’s OK. Cat saw you doze off and closed your door. Everyone knows that when these storms start, you are not going to sleep for a while,” Wren said.

“I still took a swing at you, and that is unacceptable for any reason,” Lindsay said, shaking her head.

“Are these pictures what you wanted me to look at?” he asked.

“Yes.”

Wren began to look through the pictures that had been sitting on her desk. He began to sort them, placing a few into a separate stack. He picked up the ones he had set aside and laid them on her desk to see them all.

“If these pictures were the last thing you saw before you fell asleep, I know why you tried to hit me. I would have done the same thing,” Wren said.

“They were, and they were all taken within a few miles of our house.”

“The food is at Little Bob’s desk. Why don’t you eat while I make a couple of calls?” Wren suggested.

“That is the best idea I have heard today. I’ll close the door on my way out,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay left her office, closed the door, and walked to Little Bob’s desk. When she reached the desk, she saw Yuri giving money to Little Bob and Cat.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Little Bob answered, sounding very pleased with himself, “You just cost Yuri $40. We told him you would take a swing at your loving husband when he woke you up, and he said there was no chance. So Cat and I both bet him $20 on it.”

“Yuri, from now on, please don’t bet with anyone who works here, especially if either Bob is involved, because you will lose,” Lindsay told him. “Where is my general chicken?”

They began taking all the take-out boxes from the bags and distributing the food. Wren came out of Lindsay’s office and joined them. Yuri started to eat and, with the first bite, developed a strange look.

“Why that look?” Cat asked Yuri.

Yuri answered, “The food is good.”

“The food from this place is always good. Why are you so surprised?” asked Cat.

“We are in the middle of nowhere. I did not think there would be any good restaurants. In the city, I never cooked, and I thought I would need to learn when I came here,” Yuri explained.

“Yuri, trust me when I say you need to learn to cook,” Wren said. “My ability to cook is the only reason your boss married me.”

“It’s true. I don’t even like him, but the man can cook, and I do love to eat,” Lindsay said. She and Wren looked at each other and smiled.

Little Bob began to laugh and almost choked on his food.

“You two have the strangest relationship I have ever seen, but you are absolutely perfect for each other,” Little Bob said, still chuckling.

They continued to eat and talk for a few minutes until the phone rang. Cat got up and ran to the phone. She sat down and began to type as she spoke to whoever had called. She hung up the phone and began to write something on a sticky note.

“Little Bob and Yuri, I hate to interrupt your lunch, but you have a weirdness call. Unless, of course, Sheriff, you and your husband would like to take it,” Cat said as she walked back to where everyone was sitting.

“What’s the call?” Lindsay asked.

“Strange lights and sounds in the woods behind someone’s house,” Cat said.

Everyone looked at Wren and waited for him to say something about the call.

“You two should be fine handling it. Just make sure to write it up, so your boss can give it to me later,” he said.

Little Bob stood up from his desk, followed by Yuri. Little Bob held out his hand, and Cat gave him the note.

“Yuri, you get to drive. This should be easy to get to, and that way, you can get used to our little county roads instead of city streets,” Little Bob told him.

After they had left the building, Lindsay had to ask Cat a question. “Cat, can you explain your brothers to me? They both seem to feel very differently about what has been happening in this county.”

“Viktor believes in nothing. He does not believe in religion or anything that could be considered supernatural or paranormal. Yuri believes in everything. He is religious, has studied, and continues to study different religions and all things supernatural and paranormal. I am between them. I usually go in as a skeptic but with an open mind. I have learned that there are many things that science does not recognize that I now believe in,” Cat said, smiling.

“That would explain why Viktor seemed a little distressed this morning when he left,” Lindsay said, smiling.

“Oh yes, and I will never let him live it down either,” Cat said with a wicked smile.

“What happened?” Wren asked.

“One of our large friends ran across the road in front of Max’s car last night while Viktor was riding with him,” Lindsay said. “I have the list for you.”

“Oh, that is perfect,” Wren said, laughing.

Cat told them, “When he left this morning, all he said to me was, ‘It is real,’ then he walked out the door.”

“I only hope he comes back for the evening shift. I changed it so he would be riding with Andy tonight, and then Yuri will come back in at midnight to ride with Max. I want them to do two shifts with someone before they start on their own. Then, I think I will keep Yuri on nights and Viktor on days until the weather passes. After that, I will talk to everyone and see where they and Annie will do the best,” Lindsay said.

“Why don’t you rotate the three of them every month so they work different shifts,” Wren asked. “There are a lot of departments that do that.”

“I won’t do that with anyone in this department. It wreaks havoc on your system. Just as you adjust to one shift, you switch to another, and you have officers who don’t function as well because of it. I want to keep them on a set shift if possible,” Lindsay told him.

“And that is why you are the boss. You are thinking about your deputies, the community, and the department as one thing and doing what you think is best for all involved,” Cat said.

The department door opened, and County Commissioner Roy James walked in. He looked very anxious and agitated. Lindsay and Cat both stood and walked toward him. Cat went behind the counter near her desk, and Lindsay approached Commissioner James.

“Roy, are you alright?” Lindsay asked him.

Roy looked at her with his brow creased. “I don’t know. I saw something, but I didn’t. I don’t know how to explain it,” he said with confusion.

“Come into my office, and let’s talk,” Lindsay said. She waved to Wren, who had been watching, to join them.

Lindsay led the way, with Roy James and Wren following behind. They walked in, and Lindsay offered the commissioner a seat. When he sat, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Wren closed the office door as soon as he entered, and Lindsay sat down at her desk.

“Roy, this is Agent Gold. He takes care of a few things in the area, and what you saw might be one of them. Tell us what happened,” Lindsay said quietly, not wanting him to become any more upset than he already was.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I was in my yard trying to get everything ready for these storms that we are supposed to get. I walked around the corner of my house, and there was something in the yard near one of my lilac bushes. It was weird. I could see right through it. It moved a little and made this kind of distortion like when you look through a glass of water or something,” Roy said with his head still in his hands. “It was little, and when I walked closer, it ran away, but it scared me half to death. I don’t have any idea what it was.”

“Commissioner James, would you come with me? I need to speak to you privately about this,” Wren said as he took Roy by the arm and helped him stand.

Lindsay watched Wren lead Commissioner James toward the storage room he had used when Deputy Annie Huggins had trouble dealing with what she had seen working with Little Bob. She wondered what Wren did when he “helped” someone, but at the same time, she did not want to know. Lindsay had seen with Annie that he could almost reprogram someone to believe something else had happened. She looked at her desk and was thankful to see the pictures that had been there were now gone. Lindsay wanted to forget all about those. She logged into her computer and pulled up the most recent weather forecast. She glanced up when she heard talking and saw that Wren and Roy were coming back toward her office.

“Sheriff, I just want to say have a good day, and I’m sure you have everything under control as far as this weather thing that will be starting tonight,” Roy called out from near the front counter, then walked out the door.

“Don’t tell me. Even if you could tell me what you do, I don’t want to know,” Lindsay told Wren when he walked back into her office.

“What? Do you think that I brainwashed you into loving me?” Wren asked, smiling.

“I hope not, but if you did, you did a good job,” Lindsay answered with a smile.

“I have to get back to the base. They are having a few issues that I need to take care of,” Wren said, leaning over and giving her a quick kiss.

“OK. I will try to be home on time this evening. We both know I probably won’t sleep tonight, so hopefully, I can at least get a little if I do the same thing as yesterday. Maybe I will get lucky and not have nightmares and be able to sleep longer,” Lindsay told him.

“I will be home on time. How do you feel about leftovers tonight? That way, we can just relax and not worry about dinner.”

“Sounds good.”

“I will see you at home,” Wren said before leaving the sheriff’s department.

Moments after Wren left, Little Bob and Yuri came back in. Little Bob acted as if he had gone to get a cup of coffee. On the other hand, Yuri was very excited and still a little wide-eyed. Lindsay stood up and walked out to where they were. Yuri spoke with Cat very quickly and occasionally used a word in Russian instead of English.

“Bob, what happened?” Lindsay asked him quietly as Yuri continued to ramble at Cat.

“Not much. It was just some lights in the woods, and when we got there, they shot straight up and out of sight. I know the other shifts have had those lights, too. I didn’t think that much about it, but it sure wound him up tighter than usual,” Little Bob said.

“Yuri, I hate to interrupt, but are you alright?” Lindsay asked him.

“Sheriff, I am wonderful. I have always believed that things like that were real, but I have never seen anything until now. Are there more of those things happening? Not the lights, but other things that happen,” Yuri said.

Lindsay replied, “Yuri, I can tell you that there are a lot of other things that happen around here. Right now, at least one case of weirdness, as we call it, happens per shift. Sometimes, it is call after call, and none of it is normal. If you liked today, you are going to love working here.”

Lindsay had just finished saying that when Big Bob, Annie, and Andy walked in together. Annie, as usual, was talking a mile a minute. Big Bob was nodding, and Andy was utterly silent, trying not to look at Annie.

Little Bob asked, “What did you three do? Come in the same car?”

“I found out that I drive by Little One’s house to get here, so I picked her up, and Andy was on his phone in the parking lot,” Big Bob told him.

Lindsay asked, “Has anyone heard from Viktor? That is the only question I have.”

Cat answered Lindsay, “He sent me a text saying he was on his way.” Just as she finished, Viktor walked in. “Well, there you are. I see you decided to come back to work,” Cat said to him.

“Of course, I came back. I work here and have a job to do,” Viktor said, sounding confused.

“Now, the next question is, where is Madison?” Lindsay said.

“She is on her way and should be walking through the door any moment,” Cat answered.

“Fantastic. Everyone is either here or will be here soon. I’m going to give you basic instructions for the night. Viktor, you ride with Andy tonight. Annie, of course, you are working with Big Bob tonight. It will depend on the weather whether you keep riding with him. I will put you with Max on nights or even put you by yourself. Yuri, you need to go home and get some sleep because you need to be back at midnight to ride with Max. If the weather does turn severe before morning, you are to call me. Make sure you tell Max that tonight when you see him. Yuri, you may even be put in your own car with directions depending on how bad the weather gets tonight. We might need that second unit to respond. Everyone, check the weather updates often because the storm system has been changing throughout the day.” Lindsay told them. “Are there any questions?”

“What about the weirdness calls?” Big Bob asked.

“When the storm system gets here unless it is a direct threat to human life, the weirdness calls take a back seat to everything else. I have also been advised that the weirdness calls might increase, especially right before the storms get here,” Lindsay told him. “There is Chinese food in the back for anyone that wants it. I don’t know if you guys will have time to go out and get food later, so enjoy.”

Viktor asked, “You bought us food? Why would you do that?”

“Because this is a small department, which means we are family. Sadly, because I am the sheriff, which also makes me the parent who tries to take care of all of you. You and Yuri are new and getting a very rough introduction to this department. For that, I’m sorry. Hopefully, I got something that you like, and if I didn’t, blame your sister because she told me what to have ordered. Just wait until I am in the mood to bake. I bring in cookies or whatever I make, so I don’t eat all of it myself,” Lindsay told Viktor.

“If you are going to bake, can I request the chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies you make? Those are good,” Little Bob said.

“Oh, those are good. Those, and the coconut cookies that she makes. Those might be my favorite,” Big Bob said to Little Bob.

“And as you can tell, I have done that before,” Lindsay told Viktor.

“If you can find a reason to stop by her house on a day when her husband is making pizza from scratch, do it. It is the best I have ever had,” Big Bob told everyone just as Madison walked in.

“Madison, there is Chinese food in the back, so help yourself. Viktor is riding with Andy, and Annie is riding with Big Bob again. Keep an eye on the weather and pass everything on to the next shift. If you have any questions, Cat will answer them. I am going home and hopefully will get a little sleep,” Lindsay said.

Big Bob told Lindsay, “You do look like you haven’t slept in a month of Sundays, but I wasn’t going to say anything until you mentioned it.”

“Gee, thanks, Bob, you do know how to make a girl feel good,” Lindsay said sarcastically. “I’m going home. Call me if anything big happens or the weather starts to go downhill.”

Lindsay did not wait for anyone to say anything. She just turned and walked out the door. Lindsay got in her car and paused before heading home. She just hoped she would be able to sleep after she got there.

-

When she got home, she changed into her pajamas and quickly ate a couple of slices of leftover pizza. As soon as she finished eating, Wren walked her to bed to make sure she lay down and went to sleep with her dog Crook curled up beside her. He just hoped she would get to sleep through the night for a change.