5:13 AM

14
5:13 AM

     Sheriff Donnelly pulled into his parking space and saw that there was already quite a bit of company for him, but that none of them were his own deputies. That pained him a bit, because he knew, without them, he'd be asked to do whatever the lowest level grunt work the Texas Rangers and FBI man could dream up. Oh well. They at least had to respect the fact that he ran the department.
     "Gentlemen," he said and approach the crowd.
     Lietenant Cantroux spoke first. "This is Captain Beaks and Sargeant Thomas, Texas Rangers. They wanted to give you some logistical support and, if you need it, back up. Your deputies on their way?"
     "Yeah, I think so. I think they'll be here any minute now. That or I'll go ahead and look for some new ones."
     They laughed at that, but it was an empty threat. Sheriff Donnelly didn't have any interested candidates to replace them if they he did fire them.
     "Well, let's get inside, decide on a plan of attack," the Sheriff said.
     "Sounds good," Agent Danley said, and they all went inside.
     "The way I figure it," Agent Danley started, the pot of coffee gurgling in the background. "This is a lone wolf. Lone wolf's hideout. We could be taking him by surprise or else he could be waiting for us."
     "You get in touch with the landlord?" Captain Beaks tried.
     "County records didn't get back to us."
     "You might have some trouble knocking down the door in Texas if you haven't mentioned it to the landlord."
     "This is a murder investigation, Captain. This is a possible terror cell planning attacks all over the state or country."
     "It's a guy got a screw loose, and I think we should follow up with the landlord before we go barreling through the doorway."
     "Captain, this really isn't our investigation anymore."
     "You're right. You're right. But I'd rather roll on the county official thinks they don't have to return calls from the FBI and Texas Rangers."
     "Maybe we'll make a stop on the way back."
     "We really need to have an operating plan here," Sargent Thomas tried. "We need to cut off all avenues of escape. Sheriff, you ought to take the lead, just in case we can solve this with talk. You can talk to him, get him to surrender. I'll be in the back ready to tackle him. We'll need two people, I guess that's the Captain and the Agent to act as reconnaissance flanking the sides. You may also find a way through a window or side door. I think we should go ahead and use every access point rather than wait and be sorry later."
     "Alright," the Captain said. "Sounds good."
     Sheriff Donnelly put on his hat. "Let's get to work."
     Agent Danley met the Sheriff at the door. "Look, Sheriff, I'll be there the whole time. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
     "What would happen to me? I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."
     "Yeah," Agent Danley said only. "Yeah."
     Just then, the door opened, and in walked a woman on a mission.
     "Margaret," the Sheriff said.
     "Well, I'm here. I got two hours of sleep, my makeup is probably on crooked, but I'm here."
     "Margaret, we'll be fine."
     "No, we got a killer on the loose, and you asked the whole department to come in, come hell or high water, so here I am."
She stopped in her tracks about a step away from sitting at her desk. "Who moved around all the files?"
     Sheriff Donnelly looked over at Agent Danley, who turned bright red, which was really pretty amazing, because it was incredibly hard to make him blush.
     "I just thought--"
     "You thought I didn't know how to keep a filing system is what you thought. But, actually, that's about the only thing they let me do all by myself, but I guess you didn't know that. My God! What did you do this for?"
     "I was trying to get a feel for this town."
     "Yeah, yeah, my fault for having a newborn child to feed."
     "You got some things for me to do, Sheriff Donnelly, other than to figure out a new filing system?"
     "Well--"
     "Don't be shy. I'm already here, against my better judgment. Might as well make me feel useful."
     "Well, I should have followed up with the landlord of the address we're about to go to right now."
     "Suspect's address."
     "Yes."
     "And Tracy and Powell ought to know if they don't want to come in today, they better expect not to have a job here anymore."
     "You want me to say that? Or you want me to say you said that?"
     "I want you to say I said that."
     "But you want me to say it."
     "You have a flair for this kind of thing."
     "I suppose I do, Sheriff. Someone's got to whip this Department into shape."
     "Might be expecting some calls, too."
     "Yeah, calls I got, no problem, Sheriff."
     They all went to their various cars in the parking lot.
     "Wow. Real firecracker you got there, Sheriff."
     "You should see her when she really gets going. This Department really needs her."
     The Sheriff stopped.
     "One thing I was thinking about, Agent Danley. We never followed up about that nursing student."
     "No. But I'm thinking we may not need to, or else we can double back. I feel more and more like this is the center of our investigation, the address we're headed to now."
     "True."