Page 36 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
“Let’s hope not,” Aaron groaned.
A.J. hid a smirk as he started driving. “Is it just me, or do the police and the Lonestar team seem determined to throw us together?” Being sent twice in a row to the same 9-1-1 call didn’t feel like a coincidence.
Aaron took another swig of water. “If they’re trying to turn us into besties, they can forget it.”
A.J. curled his upper lip at him. “You cut me deep, man! Real deep.”
When they arrived at the bee farm, it was crawling with patrol cars. An ambulance roared into the gravel parking lot behind them with its sirens blaring.
“What in the world?” A.J. couldn’t fathom why anyone had felt the need to bother Aaron, since it looked like they already had all the help they needed.Or myself, for that matter.
The sheriff jogged over to them as soon as A.J. leaped to the ground. “Fair warning. It looks like a slaughterhouse inside the store, but I assure you it’s red dye. No body fluids.”
“Appreciate the heads up, Sheriff.” A.J. glanced toward the red barn rising in front of them. The windows and doors were trimmed in traditional white paint, and the owners still had their Christmas lights up. The sign over the door read Meyer’s Honey Farm.
“Is that Maggie?” Aaron hobbled around his side of the truck and broke into a faster hobble. He made his way to the ambulance blocking the front entrance of the market.
A curvy brunette wearing a white smock had her arms around a weeping older woman. A.J. recognized her as the nurse from the morning shift at the medical center. What was she doing here?
He hurried to catch up with Aaron, with Luke speed-walking at his side. “Looks like they know each other,” he noted briskly.
“Yeah, she was his nurse at the medical center.” That wasn’t the biggest issue here. A.J. eyed the sheriff curiously. “Any particular reason he’s been called to duty so soon after his discharge?” It was obvious that he was far from a hundred percent.
“Yep,” he grunted. “What happened here may be connected to the other stuff you guys are slogging through.”
A.J. frowned. “In what way?”
“Just a suspicion.” He didn’t say why. “How about you two examine the scene and tell the rest of us?” He paused before they reached Aaron, gesturing for A.J. to continue without him.
It was another test.Got it.A.J. preferred to draw his own conclusions anyway. He closed the distance between him and Aaron and arrived in time to see Maggie catch Aaron’s eye over the shoulder of the sobbing woman.
“What areyoudoing here?” she demanded.
“I’m a police officer, remember?” He frowned with concern at her.
“Who just got out of the hospital himself,” she spluttered. “Are you sure?—”
“Can you tell me what happened here?” he interrupted coolly.
She blinked at his tone. Then she started talking again in a rush. “I came as soon as my grandmother called.” She nodded at the ambulance in front of them. Its doors were open wide, revealing a pair of EMTs tending to an elderly man on a stretcher.
“My grandparents were on their way back from one of his doctor’s appointments and interrupted a burglary from the looks of things.”
Aaron proceeded to grill her about what her grandparents had seen, which wasn’t much.
“My husband collapsed in the parking lot, and I dialed 9-1-1,” her grandmother quavered. “It all…happened so fast.” She vaguely recalled a man in a black mask hopping into a big vehicle and roaring off, which they eventually deduced was an SUV. From her tearful description, it was impossible to determine its make and model.
“How is he?” Aaron’s voice was infused with a surprising amount of empathy for a guy who probably felt like garbage himself. Yet here he was, doing his job and looking after the welfare of others.
“He’s stable,” Maggie said firmly, giving her grandmother another reassuring hug. “They’re taking him to the medical center for observation, but it’s only a precaution.”
Her grandmother chimed in again. “His heart nearly gave out when he saw all the damage. Months of work down the drain. Thousands of dollars of inventory lost…” She choked back a sob.
“I’m sorry to hear it, ma’am.” Aaron’s voice was gruff. “We’re going to do everything we can to catch this scoundrel. In the meantime, we’ll also see what we can do about rustling up a cleanup crew for you.”
A.J. had no doubt this was the side of the deputy his higher-ups were determined that he see. He stepped closer to the curvy nurse and her grandmother. “If you could point out where the SUV was parked, I’ll go have a look at the tire tracks.” If the SUV had left any good impressions behind, they might be able to use them to back their way into a make and model.
Unfortunately, Maggie’s grandmother wasn’t very clear about the location of the SUV. At first, she cited the left side of the building. Then she pursed her lips and said she was pretty sure it was the right side of the building.
