Rude Awakening Read Free Page A

there’s something you need me to pass on to him, I’d be glad to.’
    Her hands moved to her hips as she studied me. ‘If you get my boy in trouble with this undercover business, I’ll have your badge. You understand me, Sheriff?’
    I wasn’t sure what she was gonna do with my badge, but I nodded just the same. ‘Let me get a message to him,’ I said, ‘and I’m sure he’ll get a chance to get back to you later today.’
    â€˜Just tell him to call me. That’s all.’ With that, Clovis Pettigrew swung around and marched out the door and Gladys and I both breathed a sigh of relief.
    Turning to Gladys, I asked, ‘Where’s Dalton?’
    â€˜Hell if I know!’ she said, which was one of the very few times I’d ever heard her use a cuss word. But Clovis Pettigrew has that effect on people.
    â€˜Find him!’ I said.
    â€˜Where? He’s obviously not at home and he sure as heck isn’t here! He doesn’t go any place else!’ Gladys said.
    She had a point. I went back to my office and called up my second-in-command, Emmett Hopkins, who was at home today, since he’d be covering the weekend. I woke him up.
    â€˜You know where Dalton is?’ I asked him.
    â€˜Dalton?’ he repeated, sounding sleepy, which made me feel a little bit guilty, but it was a measure of my manhood how quickly I got over it.
    â€˜Yeah. We can’t seem to find him. You send him out on something?’ I asked.
    â€˜Uh uh,’ Emmett said. ‘Haven’t talked to Dalton since yesterday morning.’ There was a small silence, then he said, ‘But he did seem excited about something. When I asked him what, he just said he had a busy weekend coming up.’
    â€˜Well, according to his mama he left there yesterday evening, saying he was going undercover and wouldn’t be back until Monday,’ I told Emmett.
    â€˜Say what?’ Emmett said. I could hear the bed covers rustling as he got himself up.
    â€˜You heard me,’ I said.
    â€˜Yeah, I heard you, but that’s bullshit,’ Emmett said.
    â€˜ I know that. I wouldn’t use Dalton for anything undercover. Even if we had anything we needed somebody to go undercover for. I’m thinking he lied to his mama.’
    â€˜No shit,’ Emmett said. ‘Dalton lied to his mama. That’s not like him.’
    â€˜Tell me about it,’ I said.
    â€˜So where is he?’ Emmett asked.
    â€˜Hell if I know.’ I hung up without a goodbye and sat at my desk thinking. Dalton had today and the weekend off, told his mama he wouldn’t be back until Monday and he wasn’t due back here until then. So why was I upset? Dalton was a grown man and if he decided to get away from his mama for a day or two, who could blame him? He’d talked a while back about wanting to get married. He’d said at the time that he didn’t have a girlfriend or anything, but that had been a while ago. Didn’t mean he didn’t have one now. So maybe he was with a woman. That was a good thing. At least to me – doubt his mama would see it that way, though.
    I couldn’t help thinking back to when Dalton first came on with the sheriff’s department. My predecessor, Elberry Blankenship, was sheriff then and him and his wife went to the Church of Christ, where Clovis Pettigrew had dragged her children twice a Sunday – every Sunday of their lives.
    At that time, Dalton was twenty-two years old and had held five jobs. Because of his size, when he graduated high school, Bodine’s Feed & Grain hired him right up, knowing he was big enough and strong enough to throw around the huge sacks of feed and other stuff Bodine’s Feed & Grain sold. That is, until they found out he was very politely not selling deer feeders, deer licks or the very expensive (the prize that kept Bodine’s Feed & Grain in the black every year) deer blinds handmade by