“It’s just a formality.  She’s fine.”  I said looking at her mother.

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

Her mom went through the house praising Jesus’ mighty name.  I even whispered a praise myself.  Her dad sat down in his chair in the living room and lit his pipe and wiped his eyes.  With tears in her eyes, Ruthie reached her hand out to me as if she was pushing me to go and get her baby.

“Go on son,” Jimmie Earl said.  He laid his double barrel shot gun on his lap.  “We ok.”

I smiled and raced out the door.

It took fifteen minutes to get from her parents’ house to the hospital. Under normal circumstances it can take up to 25.   I parked my Crown Vic in the parking lot where the ambulances drop off patients.  I flashed my badge at the security officer sitting at the desk.

“Charlotte Reed.”

“Yes sir, she is in Triage Five. Turn right at the corner then left up the hall and on the left.”

“Thanks.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Capt. Davis and Chad Caddis standing outside her door.

“Jared, she is inside waiting for you.”

I looked at them both.  “Thank you both.”

“You can thank me by marrying that woman in there.  You are all she been asking for since she got here.”  He smiled and opened the door for me.

She looked up from the nurse that was talking to her and smiled as I walked in.

“Jared, baby.”  She was still crying when I put my arms around her.

We kissed.

“I thank God you are all right.  I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You mean without…us?” she said. She had an odd smile on her face. I looked at the nurse. She had the same look.

She grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly.  “I’m pregnant.”

*   *   *

Burncutt interviewed Tabitha at the Texaco she worked at by the lake.

“So what do you remember about him that day?”  He pointed to the picture of Carl Minton.

“Well he came in wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. He carried a fishing pole. He made a phone call at that payphone and then a cab picked him up.”

“Anything else?”

“No-- else unusual.  He paid for his food and two packs of Marlboro cigarettes and told me to keep the change.”

Burncutt thought for a minute.  “Damn! The lake.”

“Come on, we have to go check out something.” Burncutt took his assistant Glass with him to their unmarked Crown Vic and raced out of the parking lot.

The lake was just a ? mile ahead.  Burncutt turned left on the dirt road leading to the lake.  He stopped the car and put it in park.

“Glass, be careful not to disturb these tire tracks.  It looks like a truck has been through here but never came out.”

They both pulled their weapons and walked alongside the dirt road until they got to the embankment.  The high noon sun was glaring down upon them and also it reflected off something in the lake.

A small area of a truck bumper was barely below the water level.

Burncutt called it in.  Within minutes, police, media, and onlookers were all over that place.  A heavy wrecker pulled the truck from the lake.  CSU guys took photos as the truck was pulled ashore.  Inside the truck, they found a switchblade and a pair of uniforms, one with blood on it.  They also found a wet pack of Marlboros with maybe a couple of cigarettes left.  Capt. Davis walked over to Burncutt.

“This is the truck,” said Burncutt, pointing to the Billy’s Pest Control sign on the driver door.

“We found a knife and some other stuff.  CSU is tagging and bagging everything now.”

“Good work Detective, anything else?”

“Yes sir,” we talked with the clerk and she gave us the info that led me here, plus she stated that she saw him get in a cab.”

“Ok Burncutt, follow up on it and I’ll let Detective Jackson know what’s going on.  And, oh yeah--the next time you decide to go to the chief without going through your chain of command, I will have your badge.  Do you understand?”

Burncutt looked crushed. The high horse he was on reared up and dumped him off.  “Yes sir.”

“Come on Glass; let’s go follow up on this lead.”

Chapter Nine

I had never been so happy in my whole life.  We had a nice drive from the hospital to her parents’ house.  Her mom came to the door teary eyed.  Her dad walked slowly behind her still carrying his shotgun.  Chad pulled his patrol car behind mine.  I was glad he was here.  I needed to go back to my place for a shower and a change of clothes.

I had never seen so much hugging and kissing.  I walked her inside and made her comfortable.  It didn’t last long because once she told her mom that she was pregnant, her mom started praising Jesus again.  She reached out to Charlotte and hugged her and for a moment it seemed like they were communicating telepathically.  They both smiled.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat for attention.  “And I would like to say something please.”

All eyes were on me.

“Charlotte, have a seat, Baby.”  I reached in my pocket for the One Carat Marquis shaped diamond ring I had been keeping in the console for about a month.  I knelt down and held her left hand.  I looked at her parents.  Her dad was sitting in his favorite chair with her mom standing next to him and holding hands.

“Mr. and Mrs. Reed, I love your daughter and I want you to know that I plan to love her forever and a day.  I looked at Charlotte who was now breathing fast.

“Charlotte?  Will you marry me?”

“YES! YES! YES!”

I slipped the ring on her finger.  We kissed as if nobody was in the room but us.

“Ahem.” Her dad cleared his throat.  He mother snapped at him.

“Oh Jimmy Earl, leave them kids alone.  They are grown and they are getting married and they are having us a grandbaby.”

Jimmy Earl smiled and got up and hugged his wife of 40 years and kissed her like nobody else was in the room.  Ruthie had a puzzled look on her face.

“What?” asked Jimmy Earl  “I still got it.”

“Yes you do baby,” said a smiling Ruthie.

Charlotte rubbed her right index finger on the back of her left index finger.  “Shame.”

Her mother snapped.  “What, that’s how you got here.”

Everybody in the house was laughing including Chad.

“Congratulations Detective.”

“Thanks Chad.”  We shook hands.

“Chad, I need you to stay here until I get back.  I have to run to my place in town and take care of some things and I will be back within an hour.”

“No problem, take your time.  Oh and hey, on your way back, get me a taco or something.  I haven’t eaten all day.”

I looked at Ruthie.  She loved hearing words like that.

“Well Chad, you are in for a treat.  How about some Salisbury steak, sweet peas, mash potatoes with cut up bacon in it and some of my homemade biscuits.”

Chad looked at me.  “Take your time, I ain’t going anywhere.

Charlotte walked me out to the porch.  I really didn’t want to leave but I couldn’t hide the fact that I needed a shower much longer.

“Hurry back ok?”

“With lights flashing and sirens blasting.”

She laughed.  We kissed and slowly let go of each other’s hand.

I got in my car and backed out the driveway.  I was in high spirits.  All in the world felt right and I looked forward to being a dad. I couldn’t help but look back in the rear view mirror as Charlotte stood on the porch waving bye.  It was a beautiful sight to see.

Dark was setting in as I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.  I got out of the car.  The air was cool and moist so I grabbed my faithful leather jacket and walked up the stairs to my apartment and turned the key.

“Ah! Home sweet home.”  I had just closed the door when I caught a glimpse Carl Minton sitting in my kitchen with a gun pointed at me. It was my spare gun, the one I kept under the mattress.

“Well, Detective it’s good to finally see you again.  I didn’t know where you were but I was sure you would come back here.”