She took a deep breath in.
Remember, he might be doing this to more people than just you.
“It’s about one of your deputies,” she told him.
Jake nodded encouragingly and she told him about last night. About how Deputy Doofus had basically dismissed her worries and been condescending and rude. As she spoke, Jake’s face grew darker and angrier.
“All right,” he said as she finished. “First of all, you were completely right to bring this to me. Not just because he’s my deputy but because it upset you and I’m here to help you.”
She nodded, feeling relieved. Part of her had been worried that he might dismiss her concerns. That he might tell her that she was being stupid or sensitive or something.
“You won’t need to worry about Deputy Dunn anymore. He’ll be leaving today.”
“Oh. You’re going to fire him?”
“Yes. Well, actually, I’ll be sending him back to where he came from. He’s just on loan to me for a while.”
“If he’s only here for a short while, I can put up with that. I don’t want you to be short-staffed,” she told him.
Jake shook his head. “Better to be short-staffed than have someone like that working for me. And don’t worry, I was getting near the end of my patience with him anyway. You’re not the only person to complain. But yours has been the most serious.”
“That makes me feel better.”
“Is everything else all right? What about these noises you heard last night? Did they come back after Deputy Dunn left?”
“No, there was nothing else. I was wondering if it was some sort of animal? I’m not sure what the lights were, though.”
“It’s odd. Do you feel unsafe? I could have someone do some drive-bys for the next few nights.”
“I don’t think you’ve got time for that.”
“I will make time,” he said firmly. “Even if I have to do it myself.”
She felt guilty but nodded. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It was just a bit weird. Oh, there is one other thing.”
“Yes?”
“This isn’t the first time that Deputy Dunn has been at my house. Apparently, someone made a complaint about Horse making a lot of noise while I was out of the house. But my only neighbor is Abe and I’m just wondering who made the complaint.”
“I can’t tell you who it was but I’ll take a look at our records.”
“Thank you.”
Leaving the police station, she felt a lot better about everything. Until she saw them leaning against a car along the street.
And wouldn’t luck have it that her car was three cars down from theirs.
Shit.
What to do? It didn’t look like they’d seen her yet. She glanced around.
The bakery!
She still hadn’t been in to check it out. It always looked busy with lots of people sitting inside drinking coffee and eating.
Maybe it would give her some inspiration. She had done some content creation yesterday, but today her brain just wasn’t in the right space.
Turning, she walked as fast as she dared down the street toward the bakery. She managed to trip up once, but thankfully she caught herself before she could land on her butt.
