"Okay, no problem." She stood and walked to the door when he spoke again.

"Hey, make it quick, school will be letting out for kindergarten at 11:30 today."

Vic stopped at the door prepared to tell him what he could do with the crossing guard shit. She turned to him but he held up his hand, "Close the door on your way out, Vic."

She slammed the door and left before she would say something that might cost her her job.

Driving down Main Street, she picked up the radio. "427 to Caleb."

"427!" Jennifer acknowledged.

"En route to 6 Logue Road."

"Old Man Garvey smell another dead body in Mama’s Milk?" she asked and Vic could feel the smile behind her words.

"10-4 Caleb, going to check it out."

Another voice on the radio. "415 to 427."

Vic rolled her eyes, then answered tersely. "427."

"Need back-up?"

Vic was about to tell Ron to kiss her ass when the Chief interrupted, "Clear traffic."

She muttered in her car, "Yea, Chief saved ya this time Ron, smart-ass."

Twenty minutes later, Vic pulled into the mile and a half drive to Old Man Garvey’s and up to their old country home. Just like a Norman Rockwell painting, the century old home stood snuggled in a valley surrounded by rolling hills. Its whitewashed appearance gave her the welcomed feeling of coming home. The wooden house had been a family place for generations. The Logue family on his mama’s side and a well-known part of the community.

The two-story house was surrounded by a wrap-around porch, complete with several hanging ferns with tentacles reaching for the ground. A cool northern breeze blowing through her open windows was such a rarity for July in Tennessee. She would like nothing better than drinking a large glass of iced tea while sitting on one of the weathered porch swings. But, she was on the job and animal or not, she had to check it out. It was, after all, a day in the life a small-town detective.

She pulled up in her Toyota Tercel, courtesy of a kid selling drugs, and stepped out of her vehicle.

Speaking into her radio, she confirmed her arrival. "427, 97, 10-8 with Mr. Garvey."