It was another nice day, for October. Once again the sun was shining, but the sky had a cool tinge to its blue and the billowy morning clouds carried centers of darkness that threatened of approaching cooler weather.
Deb Raymond tooled her red Honda Rebel casually down Main Street on her way to work at the” Gossip Grill.” She seldom rode the black Honda around downtown Mandalyn, using it mostly on the highway for higher speeds as she had the previous night. She was dressed in her uniform of white blouse with a brown collar and matching brown slacks. She wore a black leather jacket and a red helmet which matched her bike. A decal depicting a branch with two peaches on it, was pasted to the front of the helmet. Beneath it was inscribed in italic capitals, the word ‘Peaches’.
She turned the bike off the main thoroughfare and rolled into the long drive in front of the town hall, rode into the parking lot, passed a parked red Ford and a black Chevy and squeezed into a narrow space between the two police black and whites parked there.
She had deliberately set out for work early this morning so she could stop off at the police station to report the incident of the night before. Neither Deb nor Liz had felt it was necessary to report it last night. The intruder had gone and there was not much the police would have been able to do about it anyways.
When Deb had returned to the house that night, Liz was finally coming out of her funk. It was not unusual for Liz to wake up to what she called the monster and find it impossible to move or see for quite some time, but she usually came around eventually. This would usually mean a bad day for Liz, with increased pain and weakness and often blurred vision for most of the day. Some days, she would come out of it, and have a relatively good day. She could never predict from one day to the next or sometimes even hour to hour, just how the monster would dance with her. The intruder in the house had only added to her distress. For some strange reason the monster had receded and Liz had returned to somewhat reasonable motor functions and her vision cleared to a satisfactory level. She was, however, wide awake and she knew she would remain so for several hours. She had stayed up watching TV and holding Sissy Boom Boom in her lap, stroking the little pug gently and soothing her from the earlier ordeal. Sissy curled up snugly and slept silently, secure in the refuge of Liz’s arms.
Deb had stayed up with her awhile until she was sure Liz was all right. Liz had told her to go to bed and not to worry, adding that Deb had not worried about her initially when she left her alone and went chasing the intruder in the dark.
“Aw, I knew you were okay,” Deb had defended herself even knowing that Liz was just ribbing her good naturedly.” Besides, I couldn’t let that bastard get away, could I?”
“Well Deb,” Liz had said.” What did you think you were going to do if you had caught up with him?”
“I dunno. Never did think that far ahead.”
“That’s about what I figured,” Liz had said.
Deb was unfastening the strap of her motorcycle helmet as she stepped into the police station. She shook her long black hair out, flinging it back and forth until it fell free. She let her eyes adjust to the dimness of the small area that served as the town’s police headquarters.
Tom Hall was standing at the file cabinet in the far corner to the right and sliding a folder into its place. The drawer slammed shut and he turned just in time to see Deb tuck her helmet under her arm and start across the room toward Chief Ben MacCready’s office that was separated from the rest of the room with a half height panel partition with a two foot plexiglass extension on top of it.
“Whoa, whoa, there, Aunt Deb,” Tom said stepping away from the file cabinet and blocking the path Deb was obviously intent on following.” Where do you think you’re going?”
“To see your boss. What do you think?”
“You can’t just barge in on him like that,”
“No. Just watch me.” She started forward and Tom grasped hold of her arms and restrained her.
“You know Tommy boy you better change your brand of boxers. You got your shorts twisted again.”
“Aunt Deb,” Tom said with a pleading tone.” What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re still meddling with what happened yesterday.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you that. I’ll tell you something else. We had an intruder last night and he nearly scared your Aunt Liz to death.”
“What. . . ? Is she all right? Why didn’t you call us right away?”
“Don’t worry, Liz is okay. The guy got away. Liz was pretty shook up for a while and there was nothing you could have done then anyhow. We figured, I’d just report it this morning, so you would know about it.”
“Come over to my desk, Aunt Deb,” I can take the report.” There’s no point in bothering Ben about it, right now.”
“Just the same, Tom. I prefer to talk to Ben.” She didn’t sound so flippant now.” Liz would prefer it.”
“Okay, but let me ask him first. Please? Just wait a minute.” He turned and left her.
She turned to her left and saw Sadie Bell looking up from her desk at her. Sadie quickly returned her attention to the papers on her desk, obviously trying to ignore Deb. She was a middle aged woman who obviously still thought of herself as a hot chick, even though additional pounds and a lot of hard mileage had obviously left better days far behind her. She had a brassy red hair dye job that hardly looked natural and it was pulled up into an upsweep and pinned with a myriad of bobby pins. A curled lock fell loose onto her forehead. Her face was beginning to get puffy with the onset of age, but she had powdered it thick trying to hide the tell tale lines. Her eyes were heavily mascarade and her brows were penciled garishly. Bright red lipstick smeared full lips. Her Mandalyn Police Department uniform fitted her too tight and the blouse was opened at the neck by two buttons worth as her full figure pressed the fabric to its limits and some might say beyond. She didn’t wear a bra. She used tape under her arm pits and under her breasts to push them up and out, for all to see.
“Getting a little too fat for your shirt, ain’t ya, sister,” Deb quipped knowing that would get Sadie’s attention. She tried to stifle a mischievous smile, but her eyes couldn’t hide the intent.
“Fits just right,” Sadie answered, and thrust herself out even more, as if that was possible.” So, I’ve been told.” She forced a smile.
“I’m sure,” Deb agreed. She glanced toward Ben MacCready’s office.
As if on cue the police chief emerged; Tom right behind him.” Deb,” he gushed.” Tom said you’ve had some trouble. How are you? And Liz.” He limped forward.
Ben MacCready was a big man. Although, just under six foot tall, he had broad shoulders and a stocky build. His middle was thick, but not really gone to fat. He had black thinning hair streaked with strands of gray, combed back over patches of bare scalp and a narrow bushy gray black mustache on his upper lip.
“We’re fine,” Deb answered, now ignoring Sadie who was trying to hide a glare.” And nothing was taken. Liz said I should come in and report it. What’s the matter? You hurt yourself.” She indicated MacCready’s limp.
“Oh nothing,” MacCready said.” Just bruised myself a little, sliding down the bank at an accident scene yesterday.”
“Then it’s just as well we didn’t bother you last night. Liz said we might as well wait until morning. There’s nothing you could have done then. I chased him, but he got away.”
“You chased him? That was a foolish thing to do. You could have gotten hurt.”
“Nah. I can take care of myself. After all, I am a duly bound officer of our neighborhood watch committee.”
“Aunt Deb, you didn’t go through with that crazy idea, did you?” Tom put in.
Deb scowled at him and said with annoyance,” You just heard me say so, didn’t you?”
“You mean, you really got the neighbors to go for it?”
“Hey, buster. Just because you don’t listen to me, don’t mean other people don’t.” She didn’t admit she was the entire
watch committee.
“Really, Deb,” MacCready said.” You should leave the police work to us. That’s what we get paid for.”
“Well, you weren’t there. Now, were you?”
“No. But we would’ve been, if you had only called.”
“It was too late by then. The perp already got away.”
“Did you get a good look at him?” MacCready asked.
“It all happened so fast and it was dark. All I saw was shadows. But I could see he was a big man. He got away in a car, but I couldn’t make out what kind it was.”
“You did a good job, Deb. But, I would feel more comfortable if you left the police work to us. Meanwhile, I’m glad you’ve come to me now. I’ll go out and talk to Liz a little later this morning and look around. I’ll put extra patrols on your street. That might discourage our intruder and keep him away.” Then he added,” Then, perhaps you can disband your citizen’s committee.”
“Why would I want to. . . .” Deb started, then, noticed the consternation on the faces of both Tom Hall and Ben MacCready. She said,” If the patrol is needed again, we’ll be on the job.”
The police chief nodded reluctantly.” Sure.” Then with dismissal, he said,” See you later Deb. It was nice talking to you, but now I’ve got to get back to other matters.” He turned and shuffled back into his office, still favoring his right leg. Deb looked down at Sadie Bell and said,” Looks like your boss is a little the worse for wear today.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him,” Sadie said sardonically.
Deb lifted her helmet and placed it on her head.” I’m sure you will, sweetie,” Deb said with a knowing smile. She winked at Sadie, daring her to lose her cool. She fastened the strap of her helmet
“Have a nice day,” Sadie said with a touch of venom in her voice. Then, noting the decal on Deb’s helmet, she added,” Peaches.”
*****
Chapter Nine