Joey drove slowly, keeping his eyes open for anything out of the norm. He might only have been a cop for a couple of years, and a small town one at that, but after living with Glenn for the past six months he had some idea of what he should be looking for.
Not that I’ll find anything, but it doesn’t hurt to be even more aware of the surroundings than I usually am.
He really wished he’d been sent out with the searchers to check the vacant buildings outside of town. At least then he’d have felt a bit more useful.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Think about what Nate’s going through.
He slowed in front of one house where he knew the owners were on vacation and scanned it carefully to be certain no one had tried to take advantage of the fact and break in.
Hell, that’s something we never considered.
Getting on the radio immediately to tell Chief Leades, he shook his head when the man told him to check on the houses of the other residents who had left notice with the department they would be out of town.
That’s what I get for opening my big mouth, he thought in amusement.
He was about to drive on to the next one when it occurred to him a man with even half the skills Glenn had would know how to break in without leaving any evidence. Pulling into the driveway, he got out and did a more thorough check, walking slowly around the house, looking for anything which said someone might be inside. Satisfied no one was he went back to the car and headed to the next one on the list.
Six homes later and he decided it was a wild goose chase. Every one of them was, as far as he could tell, empty.
But… what if...?
He started over again, needing to canvass neighbors on all sides of each house in question to see if any of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary.
On his third stop he hit possible paydirt. The older couple who lived next door said they were night owls. The man had stepped out into his yard for, as he put it, ‘a breath of fresh air’ and thought he’d seen the curtains moving in the house in question.
“I put it down to maybe they forgot to close the window all the way,” he said, “and forgot about it until just now.”
Of course Joey knew all the windows were closed. That was one of the first things even a rookie would have checked. He thanked the man and called in to report to the chief.
“We have a set of keys,” the woman told him when he’d hung up. “In case of emergencies you know. The Reynolds are our age so we sort of keep an eye on each other when we’re all home.”
When he asked, she went to get them, and then he went back to his car to wait for backup.
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