Passion In James County IV: Hell Hath No Fury
Chapter 9
"We had a vandalism incident in the Heights last night," Sergeant Dawson told the morning watch shift officers at roll call. "The lieutenant asked me to put extra patrols in that area for a while. You guys in the units assigned to that sector keep your eyes open for anyone up there who doesn't belong. You see something that doesn't look right, you check it out, you got that?"
The officers in the room all nodded. Tim Jackman wondered what he'd be doing. His partner had the night off and he assumed he would be assigned a temporary partner.
"Jackman," Sergeant Dawson said, "Since Dumont's off tonight, you'll be in an X-car in the East Sector. I want you to stay in the Heights. Jones, you and Mackey are assigned to regular patrol in the East Sector. If Jackman gets anything in the Heights, you get your asses up there five minutes before he calls for back up, you guys got that?"
"Got it, Sarge," the Jones and Mackey replied in unison.
Tim was happy with the assignment. "X-cars" were cars assigned to sectors in addition to the units normally assigned to patrol that sector. Usually only experienced officers were assigned to them. The fact that the sergeant had given him this assignment was a real honor.
"I'm going to spend as much time in that area as I can," the sergeant continued. "I don't think the asshole is going to be back, but if he shows up, we might have a chance of catching him if we're on the ball."
"Hey, sarge," Mackey called. "How's my partner supposed to get any sleep if you're hanging around all night?" Mackey's comment drew a chorus of laughs from the rest of the officers on night shift.
"Shut up, Mackey," his partner responded.
A half hour later Tim, who had radio call sign X-25, was cruising down a dark street in the residential area known at the Heights. He passed both the sergeant and the other officers several times, but nothing seemed to be out of order.
"There's Heidi's house," he thought as he cruised by the home of his former lover. "I wonder how she is? I wonder if she thinks about me as much as I think about her." A wry smile formed on his face. "Hell, I'm kidding myself. She probably doesn't think about me at all."
He saw a car was parked next to the curb, just down the street from the Tate house. Was there someone in it? He studied the car carefully while his patrol car moved by slowly. He couldn't see anyone in the vehicle. It wasn't unusual or illegal for cars to be left parked at the curb overnight in this area, so he kept going, but he did pick up the radio mike.
"X-ray twenty-five to Sam five," he said.
"Sam five," the sergeant replied.
"I have a parked car over here on Thomas," Tim said. "It appears to be empty. Did you see it when you rolled through there?"
"10-4, X-ray twenty-five," Sergeant Dawson replied. "I saw it when I went by there about fifteen minutes ago."
"Adam forty to Sam five and X-ray twenty-five," the radio said as patrolman Mackey joined the conversation. "We spotted it, too. You want us to check it out, sarge?"
"Negative," the sergeant replied. "It probably belongs to someone who lives up there."
Tim continued patrolling. The area he was assigned to was normally was part of a larger patrol sector that was one of the slowest in town for police activity. The officers in the sector car, Adam-forty, were assigned several calls, none of which turned out to be much, but no work came his way.
An hour or so later, Sergeant Dawson advised dispatch he was headed back to the station. Tim continued his patrol in the Heights. He liked police work, but he'd tire of quickly if every night was like this one.
About three a.m., he was approaching the street where Heidi lived again. The car he'd seen earlier was still there, but something seemed different about it. He strained to see. Was there someone in it? Then the car's lights came on and it began moving. He pressed down on the accelerator and the cruiser surged forward. The car moved away from the curb and started down the street, accelerating slowly.
The situation looked suspicious to Tim. He followed the car a while, getting close enough to read the license plate. The light from the streetlights let him see the driver, who was acting nervous, glancing in the rear-view mirror. He decided it wouldn't hurt to find out what was going on. It was probably someone who worked some weird shift going to work, but it could be the vandal.
He picked up the radio mike. "X-ray twenty-five to dispatch," he said into the microphone. "I'm stopping a dark colored Olds Cutlass, registration William-William-George, seven-four-three, at the intersection of Johnson and Eighteenth."
"Copy, X-ray twenty-five," the dispatcher replied, "You're stopping a dark colored Olds Cutlass, William-William-George, seven-four-three, at the intersection of Johnson and Eighteenth."
"Adam-forty to dispatch," the radio said. "We'll back up X-ray twenty-five. ETA five."
"Copy, Adam-forty," the dispatcher said.
"Sam five to dispatch," Sergeant Dawson joined in. "I'm rolling toward Johnson and Eighteenth. ETA five to seven."
