51: The Series

51: The Storm Chapter 7 Part 1

Lindsay was back at her desk with more reports of weirdness to read. Viktor had worked the night shift with Max and had barely spoken to her when she arrived at the office. Lindsay had the feeling that someone had spoken to him about the day before. She looked at the reports Max and Viktor had written for the calls they had during the night. She picked up the first one to read and began to laugh. The first one was not even a call they had received. They had been returning to the department when a massive creature walking upright ran in front of the patrol car. They had seen one of what she and Wren referred to as her large friends.

“What are you laughing at?” Little Bob asked, standing in the doorway of her office.

“Oh, nothing. I think Viktor had a pretty good taste of our little county last night,” Lindsay answered, still smiling. “How is Yuri doing so far?”

“Good so far. From what I can tell, Yuri is more like Cat than Viktor,” Little Bob said. “If you are interested, Max made a pot of his night shift coffee.”

“If he were still here, I would kiss him for doing that. I will get some in a few minutes. I want to finish reading the reports from Max and Viktor,” Lindsay told him.

“Give me your cup, and I will get some for you. The new guy needs to learn how the boss takes her coffee anyway,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Thank you, I think. Just don’t be so mean to Yuri that he quits. I think he and Viktor are a package deal,” Lindsay said, handing Little Bob the coffee cup on her desk.

When Little Bob turned around, he was face to face with Cat. Without a moment’s hesitation, she leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

“You might want to go wash that off. It’s a lip stain. You will have those lip prints on your forehead all day if you don’t hurry,” Cat said with a wink.

Little Bob did not say a word. He just continued out of Lindsay’s office, shaking his head and mumbling. Lindsay watched as Bob turned toward his desk where Yuri was sitting. She saw Yuri get a confused look on his face when he saw the lip prints on Little Bob’s forehead before he looked at his sister.

“What can I do for you, Cat?” Lindsay asked.

“Nothing. Viktor was acting even stranger than normal when I came in this morning. He didn’t tell me what happened, but I’m guessing that he met something last night when he was working with Max,” Cat said.

“You are right on the money with that one. Would you like to put the pin in the map for it?” Lindsay asked as she handed her the pin and tag she had just finished making.

She took the tag from Lindsay and read it as she walked toward the map on the wall. She started laughing and put the pin into the map.

“Now, I understand. Viktor believes in that one paranormal type of thing. It serves him right for always trying to scare me with stories about monsters when we were kids,” Cat said as she walked back toward Lindsay’s desk. “I have made some progress on the mapping program, so hopefully, I will have it done in the next few days. It might take a little longer if there are bugs in it after I try it out.”

“That’s great, but it may have to be put on hold until after the weather clears. I checked the forecast, and according to the latest one, it will be hitting tonight, not tomorrow. We thought we had over twenty-four hours, and now it looks like we have much less time before it gets bad. Will you call Viktor and see if he can do a turnaround shift? I will put him with Andy, and then Yuri can do a turn-around and come back in with Max tonight,” Lindsay instructed.

“Of course,” Cat said and turned to leave the room.

“No, wait, don’t do that. They aren’t new to law enforcement, so they don’t need the extra training. Never mind, they should be good. Viktor got to know the weirdness last night, so really, Yuri only needs to train today with Little Bob and hopefully without wrecking another car,” Lindsay said. “No, wait, never mind, call them and have them do it. They both need to work another shift supervised to get used to this place.”

Cat tipped her head to the side and asked, “When was the last time you slept?”

“Why is everyone so concerned about when I sleep? Seriously, I slept last night,” Lindsay said with a tinge of anger in her voice.

“I am only concerned because if you have been awake long enough to have a psychotic break, I would like to be there to watch when it happens. I have heard they can be rather interesting, and you have seen enough that yours could be downright spectacular,” Cat answered calmly.

“OK, I get it. I’m sorry I snapped at you. Wren made me take a nap when I got home last night. I ate supper, and then he made me go back to bed. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay asleep, so I’m not sure how much it helped,” Lindsay said. “I don’t think I will be getting much sleep for the next few days, either.”

Little Bob walked back into Lindsay’s office, carrying her coffee cup. He had washed Cat’s lipstick off his forehead, but Lindsay was sure a faint lip print was still there.

“Ma’am, your coffee,” Little Bob said as he sat it on her desk.

“Ma’am? What did you do, or what do you want? Those are the only reasons you would call me ma’am. Either that or you spit in it,” Lindsay said, squinting at him and then looking in her coffee cup.

“Nothing. I was only going to ask how things have gone with Abigail Jones. I had Yuri make your coffee, so he’s the one who spit in it this time,” Little Bob told her.

“I called her from the house this morning, and she has at least one church in every community ready to be used as shelters and, in most cases, more than one. She and her family will be at the Baptist church just down the road from my house. I told you a long time ago that she is someone who can be a huge help in situations like this. Have you been in touch with the other departments and agencies in the county to make sure they are ready, too?” Lindsay asked.

“I have, and they are as ready as they can be for this. I saw the weather forecast this morning, and if it comes in as early as they think and is as bad as they say it will be, we could be in trouble. Some of these county roads could be closed for days, plus all that water might freeze,” Little Bob worriedly said, rubbing his forehead where Cat had kissed him.

“We can’t control the weather or what it does to the roads. We just need to make sure that if roads look like they will flood, we either evacuate the people who live on them or make sure they have what they need to shelter in place,” Lindsay told Little Bob.

Lindsay turned to Cat, “Cat, is there any way that we can have two dispatchers per shift instead of one starting around midnight tonight?”

“I have already called some of our part-time dispatchers, and there will be two per shift beginning at midnight, and they are available for at least a week,” Cat told her.

“Thank you. I am beginning to think you are psychic. You always seem to know what needs to be done before you’re told,” Lindsay said to Cat.

“Yuri says she’s a witch because she has done that her whole life,” Little Bob said.

Cat smiled, “He and Victor have both called me a lot worse than that over the years, and it has nothing to do with being psychic.”

The phone rang, and Cat ran back to the front counter in her six-inch heels. Almost as soon as she reached the counter, Game Warden Mike Sims walked into the department. He said something to Cat, and she pointed toward Lindsay’s office. Mike walked around the counter and headed toward her office.

“What are you up to, Mikey?” Little Bob asked as he walked into Lindsay’s office.

“I wish I knew. I have been checking some of the game cameras in the north part of the county, where I have been getting some reports about strange things. I can’t explain some of it, so I thought I would ask you guys about it,” Mike said.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a stack of printed photos. He handed them to Lindsay, and she began to look through them.

“Exactly where did you take these, Mike?” she asked.

“I have a couple of cameras set up at landowners' request not far from your house. They thought part of what was happening on their properties was poachers, but all I have found is that and some torn-up animals, same as I found a few months ago,” Mike told her.

“Can I keep these? I think I need to pass them on to Agent Gold,” Lindsay said as she handed the pictures to Little Bob for him to see. As he began looking, he got to one and let out a low whistle.

“Does that mean you know what that is, sheriff?” Mike asked.

“No, it doesn’t, but I know someone who might,” she answered him as Little Bob handed the photos back to her.

“Sure. I printed those out for you,” Mike answered.

“OK, thanks. I hate to ask this, but are you going to be able to help if evacuations are going to be needed because of this storm system?” Lindsay asked, leaning back in her chair.

“I sure can. Tell me when and where and I’ll be there. There usually aren’t a lot of issues with poaching during a flood or ice storm,” Mike answered.

“The ice storm is the part that worries me,” Lindsay said.

“Hey, I have to go, but thank you for having someone look at those pictures. Bob, when this weather passes and the water is back down, we have to talk about going fishing again,” Mike said as he left her office and headed out the front door.

“Let me guess, the two of you have been in a boat on the river in freezing weather while it was snowing,” Lindsay said, laughing.

“We most certainly have and will do it again, I’m sure. I don’t like to hunt, but I would go fishing during a hurricane,” Little Bob laughed. He turned and left her office, returning to his desk where Yuri was sitting.

Lindsay looked at the stack of pictures on her desk. She picked them up and began to look through them again. Lindsay knew what most of them were because she had firsthand experience with them. One of the photos made her cringe; she did not know what it was, but it was something that could have come straight out of her worst nightmare. The fact that these came from cameras near her home made it even worse. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed.

“Hey, do you have time to swing by the department?” Lindsay asked.

“Sure, I can be there in a few minutes. Would you like me to pick Chinese up for you for lunch?” Wren asked.

“That would be great. Would you be willing to pick up extra for Little Bob, Cat, and Yuri?” she asked.

“Send me what they would like, and I will get it. Are you OK? You sound like something is wrong.”

“I can tell you that I don’t know. I need you to look at something when you get here, that’s all.”

“OK. Send me a text with what everyone wants, and I’ll take care of it. I love you,” Wren told her.

“I love you too,” Lindsay said, then hung up.

Lindsay called out, “Cat, can you come in here, please?”

“Are you OK?” Cat asked from the door. “You look like something is wrong.”

“I just had this same conversation with my husband. I’m fine. Go get everyone’s order for Chinese food. My treat, Wren, is picking it up, so I need to text him the list,” Lindsay told her.

“Thank you,” Cat said, sounding a little surprised. “I’ll get it now.” Cat turned and walked toward Little Bob’s desk and quickly began to write down what they were telling her. She walked back into Lindsay's office a couple of minutes later with the list. “Here you go,” Cat said as she handed it to Lindsay.

“Thanks, Cat,” Lindsay said.

Cat smiled and went back out to her desk near the front.

Lindsay quickly sent the list to Wren and asked him to pick up some extra in case the deputies coming in later did not get a chance to get food because of the storms. Lindsay leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She hoped the storms would pass and not cause the problems they were preparing to encounter.