Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(54)

Wednesday





Chapter 34


Marcie


Marcie sat beside Pecos as he explained that Wednesday was a great day to cover, but Thursday was an iffy night. One time it would be dead at the station and next week you’d think some drunk must have sent out invitations to join him at the sheriff’s office for a party.

“It depends on if there’s a Thursday night game, I’ve decided. If so, we’ll have bar fights. Sometimes couples start fighting before the weekend, like they’re gearing up for the main event.” Pecos answered a call from a Mrs. Davis. She was turned around again and couldn’t find her house after leaving choir practice.

He gave directions and hung up. “I thought Mrs. Davis might be going into Alzheimer’s. She’s eighty-seven. Then I found out that her husband always drove. When he died last year, everyone noticed she had no sense of direction. I asked her if she knew north and south and she said, ‘Of course, dear, they are sides of the Civil War.’ After that I’d just tell her how to get home by landmarks. Last month she brought me cookies for helping her, then called me from the parking lot so I could direct her home.”

Marcie wondered if big-city dispatchers had to put up with calls like Mrs. Davis.

Pecos folded his arms over his thin body and continued, “Now if it’s a full moon, we get lots of calls. Don’t know why. Folks go crazy. Babies pop out. Men are more likely to kill someone.”

“What about women?”

“Nope, they always kill during their period. It’s a known fact.”

“Who told you?”

“The sheriff. He’s had three wives, he should know.”

Another call came in.

“You want to take this one, Marcie?” Pecos glanced at the caller and picked up the phone before she could answer. Suddenly he was all panic.

“Kerrie. What’s the matter?”

Marcie knew they weren’t allowed to take personal calls.

In the stillness of the room she heard Pecos’s wife say, “I think my water just broke. We have to go.”

“I’m on my way.” Pecos’s low, controlled tone was gone.

It took him three tries to hang up. “You’ll have to take over. Call the sheriff if you need backup. Rip should be back soon to help.” He stood up, then sat down to take off his headset. “I don’t remember who else is on duty out there. I got to go.”

Pecos looked like he was about to faint. “I’m about to have a baby! I got to get to the hospital.”

Marcie stood and followed him out. “I can’t take over yet. I haven’t finished my forty hours of training.”

“You’ve read the book. You’ll be fine. Our water broke. We have to go. The baby could come out anytime now. We have to start breathing. I’ll have to help Kerrie find her shoes. She can never find the right shoes she wants to wear. I have to go.”

He was starting to sound like a windup toy with only one saying.

Marcie could see that to Pecos’s way of thinking, this baby birthing was going to be a group project. She yelled, “Good luck,” but he was already out the door.

In the silence of the office, Marcie suddenly felt totally alone. She sat in Pecos’s chair. Read every report that had come in today. The huge clock seemed to be ticking louder and louder in the still room.

As she waited, the night wind began rattling the windows. It sounded like someone was trying to get in.

Panic crawled up her back like a hundred fire ants waiting to bite.

No calls came in.

About the time she was ready to call the sheriff and scream that she quit, Rip Carter came in. “What’s happening, Pecos?” he yelled.

She stood and went to the open doorway. “Pecos isn’t here. He’s having a baby.”

The deputy studied her. “You all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine. I just don’t like being alone.”

Rip didn’t look like he believed her. “First time on your own at the boards, right?”

“First time,” she answered. “Maybe we should call in the sheriff? I’m not sure I can handle it. I was supposed to have forty hours of training before I had to take over.”

“Lots of calls?”

Marcie shook her head. “No. It’s too quiet in here.”

“The sheriff will be madder than hell if he’s called in for nothing. How about I move in there with you? I can do my paperwork on the empty desk as easy as here. If something happens, I’ll call the sheriff, but it’s too late now to worry. There’s a good chance we’ll make it through the night in silence.” He moved into the dispatch room. “We’re a team. I got your back. That’s the way things work around here.”

Marcie nodded. Rip was right. It was after two. “A team,” she repeated as she sat down.

Rip got them coffee and they waited. He told her about Rip Ford, the hero of early Texas who he was named after, and she told him of her days in Nashville where the streets rang all night with music.

Slowly, she relaxed.

Pecos called in at six to tell Rip that he’d had a girl.

“That’s great, kid. Any chance your wife was there?”

Marcie fought down a laugh and kept laughing while Pecos must have told Rip every detail. The young deputy looked like he’d just watched a horror film by the time Pecos finished describing the afterbirth.