51: The Series

51: The Beginning Chapter 8 Part 2

Lindsay took the papers and began to look at them. The calls the officers had been dispatched to were typical for the area, including strange lights in a field, ghosts in a house, an assault, a burglary in progress, and a cow in the road. The problem was when the deputies were sent to the calls and when the calls came in. It is simple. The more threat to human life, the faster the response needs to be. Unfortunately, that was not what happened. The deputies were sent to the calls in the order they were received. The dispatcher seemed to think that a report of a ghost in someone’s house was more important than someone being attacked and injured.

The door chimed. Cat turned around, and Lindsay looked up to see Max and Big Bob heading straight for her office. Max had worked the night shift, and Big Bob had worked the evening shift the night before. They walked into Lindsay’s office, and Big Bob slammed the door behind him so hard that it shook the entire wall.

“Get rid of that i***t who worked last night in dispatch. I know he knows better, and he is lucky he didn’t get someone killed,” Big Bob yelled.

“Bob, Cat just went over the logs from last night and found what happened, and I need you two to tell me exactly what happened since you were working those shifts,” Lindsay told him, hoping he would calm down a little. “But first, let me finish going through the logs.”

Lindsay went back to the logs in her hands. What she was reading was not how any of the dispatchers were trained. An assault call came in at 10 p.m. Instead of sending Big Bob and Andy to it, they were sent to call about a ghost in someone’s house. That was followed by the lights in the field. They were finally sent to the assault a little after midnight and worked more than two hours of overtime because of it. Max was sent to the call about a cow being on the road just a few minutes before midnight, even though the burglary in progress call came in at 11:15 p.m. and should have been the priority call over the cow. Thankfully, the burglary was an animal scratching outside, and no one was hurt.

“OK. Before anyone says anything, Jeff is fired effective immediately,” Lindsay said. “Gentlemen, did he give you any indication that any calls were pending or that any of them were potentially life-threatening?”

“No, he did not, the i***t,” Big Bob said. “I have never seen anyone do something like that in my life.”

“Cat, have you checked to see if he answered all the calls that came in? I hope he wasn’t ignoring calls completely. Oh, are the internal security cameras still linked to this computer?” Lindsay asked.

“I was just getting ready to check on the calls, and the cameras should be working. I will get you the login information for them,” Cat answered.

“Bob, Max, you two may be here for a while if you want to watch this video with me. I want to know what Jeff was doing instead of his job,” Lindsay said.

Cat walked back in and handed Lindsay a sheet of paper with the login information written on it. “Here you go. I will start cross-referencing calls now and pull the termination paperwork so it will be all filled out and ready for him,” Cat said.

“Thank you for both of those,” Lindsay said as she started logging in to the camera system. “Gentlemen, grab chairs and come sit.”

When Lindsay logged into the system and started reviewing the video, everything seemed reasonable at first. Jeff had come in early to cover for the evening dispatcher, which had all been on the schedule for weeks, so he worked from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. She saw on the video that he came in a few minutes before ten and spoke to the dispatcher for a couple of minutes before she left the building. As soon as she had walked out the door, things went downhill quickly.

He started by going outside the building repeatedly and having all the doors closed, meaning there was no way to hear the phone. He finally came back and sat down with his laptop computer. He then began playing games and watching what were probably movies. Then, they all saw it at the same time. The light on the phone was blinking, which meant there was an incoming call. He looked at the phone and then went back to his movie.

“Did he just ignore a call?” asked Max.

“Yes, he did,” answered Big Bob.

“If he did it once, then he probably did it more than that,” Lindsay said. “What was he thinking?” she asked no one in particular.

As they continued to watch, they saw Jeff continue to ignore calls that came in. He would only look at the caller ID and return to his movie. Jeff did answer a few calls after he took the time to pause the movie that was playing on his laptop. Those must have been the calls where he did send deputies. Then they saw someone walk into the department. It was a woman who looked as though she worked at one of the local clubs.

“Hey, Max,” Big Bob said, “Doesn’t that woman fit the description of the witness who left the strip club after the assault?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Max said. “Sheriff, can you go back to where she walks into the office?”

Lindsay went back in the video. They watched the woman walk in again and looked at the time stamp. She had walked in thirty minutes after Big Bob and Andy had arrived at the assault call.

“That son of a…” Big Bob said. “He knew we were looking for her when she came in.”

As they kept watching, Jeff took the woman into the back area of the department and made their way to a storage room. They were in the storage room for about fifteen minutes. In that length of time, the phone rang twice and went unanswered. When they came out, Jeff handed the woman something, and she left. This only made things look worse for him.

“Do you guys need to see any more of this?” Lindsay asked them.

“No,” Max said. “But if I go find him and beat him, will I also be fired?”

“Yes, you will. But if you two want, you can open a case on Jeff for his actions, including interfering with an investigation and possibly a solicitation of p**********n charge if you can find that woman and get a statement out of her,” Lindsay told them.

“Oh, I think we can do that, don’t you, Max?” Big Bob said with a smile.

“Piece of cake,” Max answered, also smiling.

Both Max and Big Bob stood up and moved their chairs back to where they had been in front of Lindsay’s desk.

“Before you guys leave, tell me how Andy did last night on the calls he went on,” she said.

Max and Big Bob looked at each other and sat back down. Big Bob looked at the ceiling, and Max rubbed the back of his head.

“Well,” Max started, “I didn’t actually see him on a call, but I did see him after he and this guy went out to the assault at the club. He looked a little worse for wear but seemed to have been OK. I know a month ago, if he would have had the same call, he probably would have been curled up in the fetal position sucking his thumb even a couple of hours later, so he seemed better to me.”

“He did pretty good, really,” Big Bob said. “The first call about the haunted house had him a little worn because that lady was crazy. She kept thinking a ghost was watching her and moving things around her house. He was good again by the time we got out to the club for that call, but he did good. I was really proud of him. He was able to take statements from some of the women who were there. Unless you knew him and knew his issues, I don’t think you would’ve noticed any difference between him and any other deputy.”

“I think what you guys have just told me might be the only good thing I’ve heard today,” Lindsay said. “Now, Max, go home and get some sleep before your shift, and Bob, you should go and get changed for your shift. It starts in 20 minutes. Both of you stay safe today.”

“You act like something bad is going to happen,” Max said. “Is everything all right?”

“Oh yeah, don’t worry. Everything is fine. There has just been a lot of weirdness in this county, and I want you both to remember to keep an eye out for anything unusual,” Lindsay answered.

Max and Big Bob had already started toward the door when Bob stopped, turned, and said, “Sheriff, this weirdness, as you call it, it’s going to be going on for a while, isn’t it?”

“Yes, most likely,” she answered.

“Agent Gold, give you that information?” Max asked.

“Yes, he did,” she said.

Max and Big Bob looked at each other and chuckled before they left her office. Lindsay watched Max go out the door and most likely head home for a while. Big Bob went out the door and came back in carrying a bag with his uniform and gear in it. Andy had come into the building while she was speaking with Max and Big Bob, and he was now walking toward her office.

“Sheriff,” he said as he reached her door. “May I speak with you for a moment?”

“Of course, Andy, come on in, and if you would feel more comfortable, you can close the door,” she told him.

“Oh, no, I’m good. That is actually what I want to tell you. I went out on the assault call at the club, and I think I did OK. I was able to talk to everyone I needed to talk to. I just want to say thank you for giving me the chance to get better. Most would have fired me or just made fun of me, but you didn’t. You made it clear that you wanted me to know I was good at this job and would be better if I could get past my issues. I know I still have things to work on, but I think I am better,” Andy said, barely taking a breath.

“You’re welcome, Andy, but you don’t need to thank me for that. Everyone has their faults and things they have to work through or around. I hope that any boss would try to help a good employee become a better one. You were always good at this job, and now you are better. And in time, you will be even better,” Lindsay said to him.

“That is so sweet, mom. Ma’am! I mean, ma’am,” Andy said. He quickly turned and almost jogged from her office.

She could see him blushing as he did. Lindsay just put her head in her hands and laughed. There was not much else to do at that point. She was still smiling and looking down at her desk when she heard a knock on her open door. She looked up to see Cat standing with more papers in her hand.

“Sheriff, I have Jeff’s termination papers done. I also compared all the incoming calls, logged calls, and actual dispatched calls that took place last night and put them in a spreadsheet as evidence for his termination,” Cat said.

“Cat, there are times when I feel that you are almost over-efficient. Then I think about it and realize that it isn’t even possible. Max and Big Bob are adding to the list of reasons, and from what we saw on the video of this office from last night, he might be lucky if he doesn’t wind up in jail. Can you do me a favor? Transfer the video from last night to a couple of flash drives, and make sure they both get a copy so they can watch the full thing when they can. You don’t need to worry about doing it today. You can do it tomorrow sometime. Let them know I will go through it, too, please.” Lindsay said. “Have you thought about a replacement for Jeff since you are in charge of that area?”

“I have already called Hannah. She was only doing part-time nights and wanted to go full-time and stay on nights,” Cat answered.

“I think she is a good choice,” Lindsay told her.

“She is excellent and is a stickler for protocol. Sheriff, you look tired. I think you need to go home. The next shift is already here, including dispatch, so you don’t need to worry,” Cat said.

“Gee, thanks,” Lindsay said, dripping with sarcasm. “I will take that as a suggestion and follow it. I will see you tomorrow. Have a good night, Cat.”

Cat just gave her a wink and walked out of the office. Lindsay stood up and made sure she had logged out of her computer. She walked out of the department, stopped, and took a deep breath. Fall was coming, and it was unseasonably cold for both the time of year and the time of day. She just wanted to go home and relax but had a nagging feeling that it was not going to happen.