Parker
Keepingmy in-office boundaries was going to be a lot harder than I thought.
I’d been out on patrol all week. Mostly because the heatwave was making the people of my town crazy. There was barely a respite after the sun went down, it was just dark and humid instead.
Not that it mattered much to Cash.
He was in my air conditioning while I’d busted up parties every night. I was pretty sure it was the same kids on bikes. They were getting smarter with their location, but all far too young to be drinking and smoking.
My own frustration warred with empathy for the kids. I grew up in this town and knew how boring it was during the summers. We were just far enough away from the beaches of Saratoga Lake for a bike ride. And nothing was open late enough to occupy them.
I’d finagled an extra patrol into the schedule with me that night since there was a full moon. Ask any hospital worker or cop and they would agree full moon madness was a thing.
Around midnight, I rolled by the warehouse district, lowering my windows to listen for any voices or music. The usualspot was empty, and I was about to head out, when a popping noise made me turn the car off.
Indigo Valley had been a former factory town in the 70’s. Now they were just abandoned buildings and one more place for kids to get into trouble.
I slid out of my car, listening as I pulled out my flashlight. Something skittered in the trash as I followed the sketchy alleyway between the old bottling plant and paper bag factory. Laughter and music filtered through the night the closer I got to an open area at the back of the building. Old, rusted out barrels and broken pallets were scattered everywhere.
I crept back into the shadows and clicked my microphone on my shoulder. “I need backup to the old warehouses on Fuller Road.”
I turned down the reply speaker and heard Leroy’s affirmative then put it on silent as I eased into the shadows and doubled back around the building to see just how many were in this little party.
And if they were more dangerous than an underaged party.
I wasn’t stupid enough to walk in there alone. Even teens could be dangerous when their fear, flight, or fight was activated. No one wanted to get into trouble, especially in a small town where everyone knew their families.
I recognized a few of the kids, but the majority of the dozen were either unknowns or from another town.
I peered around the edge of the building. A bonfire roared from old pallets. All it took was one ember to fly and decimate this whole area. The town was a tinderbox with the endless heat and lack of rain.
It could easily catch along the scrubby grass and brush that had gathered in the interim years.
“Dammit,” I muttered to myself.
Maybe I’d need more backup than Trevor, my other patrolman tonight.
I waited another ten minutes, but Trevor still hadn’t arrived. The stench of weed was thick and the laughter had increased in the few minutes I’d arrived.
I couldn’t get my cruiser back here with all the debris, but I could use my bullhorn.
Sweat dripped off me as I jogged back to my car hoping to see another cruiser coming down the winding road.
No such luck.
I grabbed my bullhorn, hoping the badass cop voice I’d cultivated in Kansas City would do the trick. I didn’t think they were dangerous kids, but I’d learned never to underestimate hormones and the fear of getting caught.
As I quietly moved through the garbage and brush, I noticed an uptick of voices.
The flames of the pallets were way higher now. The kids were too high to see the danger in it. All ideas of stealth left me as I clicked on the speaker of my bullhorn.
“Police! You are trespassing!”
They all scattered and one stumbled, kicking a can full of pallet shards toward the flame.
It jumped down the dry wood making it even larger.
I hit my shoulder mic. “Leroy, where’s my backup? Call for the fire department. We’ve got flames getting out of control out near the old bottling plant on Fuller.”
