door.
“Look, Keith,” Lucy was saying in a pleading tone. “I just want to observe, see if I can learn something. I’ve mentioned that I want to take the deputy’s exam in the future and I—”
“I thought you were joking !” the man laughed maliciously. “Come on, Lucy. You’d never pass the physical. Besides, being a deputy is a man’s job.”
“I don’t think so,” Lucy replied timidly. “There are plenty of women in law enforcement and even in the Armed Forces. If they—”
Keith interrupted her once again, “I’d love to get into a philosophical debate with you, Lucy, but right now I’ve got a dead body to examine and some witnesses to interview.” He paused. “You ever seen a corpse, Lucy?”
“No.”
“What makes you think you can handle seeing one? I mean, most dead bodies are not pretty things. There’s blood and nasty smells and all kinds of bodily fluids involved, if you get my drift. It takes a tough person to look at one. You think you’re tough enough?”
Listening to the deputy’s patronizing tone, James suppressed an urge to come to Lucy’s defense. Why didn’t the jackass just give Lucy a chance? But instead of running to her side, James bit his lip and took a quick peek around the corner of the building in order to get a look at Lucy’s crass coworker.
Keith stood with his hands on his hips and his legs drawn apart in a cowboy-like stance. His red hair glinted in the October sunlight, and even from a distance, James could see that his face was covered so completely with freckles that it was difficult to see the pallid skin underneath. Keith wore mirrored sunglasses that reminded James of the cool cop shows on TV during the 70s, but seemed startlingly out of place in a small Virginia town in the twenty-first century.
“Let me see if I can handle seeing a dead body, Keith. If it upsets me, then I won’t bother thinking about taking the exam.” Lucy’s pleading was pathetic. Her new friends looked at one another, their eyes replete with sympathy.
“Donovan!” another male voice called out from within the building. “Get your tail in here!”
James saw Keith do a little jump and then hustle inside, leaving the door ajar. Lucy hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then pulled a small notebook from her purse, turned to a fresh sheet of paper, and resolutely followed in her redheaded tormentor’s wake.
“Come on!” Lindy moved forward, tiptoeing up to the back door.
The heavy metal door had been propped open and the sounds of a woman’s hysterical voice could be heard from within. Aside from the view of cooking equipment and the tantalizing smell of freshly baked cookies that curled around the foursome like an alluring, invisible boa, there was nothing to be seen through the back door.
“They must be up front,” Gillian suggested. “We can’t go in, so let’s sneak around to the street side and see if we can peak in the front windows.”
At that moment, the honk of a nearby horn sliced through the stillness.
“Hurry! That could be the paramedics!” cried Bennett as he led the group around the building. “It is! Look!”
The yellow van from Quincy’s Gap Fire & Rescue moved quietly but briskly past them into the bakery’s small parking lot. The driver honked again, but the breathless group was too far away to see why he was making such unnecessary noise.
The first window they reached took up most of the storefront. Megan Flowers always displayed examples of her decorous wedding cakes in that window, along with a sampling of items she would bake during the week. Today, her display shelves had been covered with black and orange crepe paper. Plastic pumpkins were brimming over with miniature banana nut and pumpkin spice muffins. A black plastic cat with glowing purple eyes drew attention to a platter of donuts dripping with white icing and showered with orange sprinkles. Beneath the shadow of a friendly scarecrow, another platter featured Megan’s
“Look, Keith,” Lucy was saying in a pleading tone. “I just want to observe, see if I can learn something. I’ve mentioned that I want to take the deputy’s exam in the future and I—”
“I thought you were joking !” the man laughed maliciously. “Come on, Lucy. You’d never pass the physical. Besides, being a deputy is a man’s job.”
“I don’t think so,” Lucy replied timidly. “There are plenty of women in law enforcement and even in the Armed Forces. If they—”
Keith interrupted her once again, “I’d love to get into a philosophical debate with you, Lucy, but right now I’ve got a dead body to examine and some witnesses to interview.” He paused. “You ever seen a corpse, Lucy?”
“No.”
“What makes you think you can handle seeing one? I mean, most dead bodies are not pretty things. There’s blood and nasty smells and all kinds of bodily fluids involved, if you get my drift. It takes a tough person to look at one. You think you’re tough enough?”
Listening to the deputy’s patronizing tone, James suppressed an urge to come to Lucy’s defense. Why didn’t the jackass just give Lucy a chance? But instead of running to her side, James bit his lip and took a quick peek around the corner of the building in order to get a look at Lucy’s crass coworker.
Keith stood with his hands on his hips and his legs drawn apart in a cowboy-like stance. His red hair glinted in the October sunlight, and even from a distance, James could see that his face was covered so completely with freckles that it was difficult to see the pallid skin underneath. Keith wore mirrored sunglasses that reminded James of the cool cop shows on TV during the 70s, but seemed startlingly out of place in a small Virginia town in the twenty-first century.
“Let me see if I can handle seeing a dead body, Keith. If it upsets me, then I won’t bother thinking about taking the exam.” Lucy’s pleading was pathetic. Her new friends looked at one another, their eyes replete with sympathy.
“Donovan!” another male voice called out from within the building. “Get your tail in here!”
James saw Keith do a little jump and then hustle inside, leaving the door ajar. Lucy hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then pulled a small notebook from her purse, turned to a fresh sheet of paper, and resolutely followed in her redheaded tormentor’s wake.
“Come on!” Lindy moved forward, tiptoeing up to the back door.
The heavy metal door had been propped open and the sounds of a woman’s hysterical voice could be heard from within. Aside from the view of cooking equipment and the tantalizing smell of freshly baked cookies that curled around the foursome like an alluring, invisible boa, there was nothing to be seen through the back door.
“They must be up front,” Gillian suggested. “We can’t go in, so let’s sneak around to the street side and see if we can peak in the front windows.”
At that moment, the honk of a nearby horn sliced through the stillness.
“Hurry! That could be the paramedics!” cried Bennett as he led the group around the building. “It is! Look!”
The yellow van from Quincy’s Gap Fire & Rescue moved quietly but briskly past them into the bakery’s small parking lot. The driver honked again, but the breathless group was too far away to see why he was making such unnecessary noise.
The first window they reached took up most of the storefront. Megan Flowers always displayed examples of her decorous wedding cakes in that window, along with a sampling of items she would bake during the week. Today, her display shelves had been covered with black and orange crepe paper. Plastic pumpkins were brimming over with miniature banana nut and pumpkin spice muffins. A black plastic cat with glowing purple eyes drew attention to a platter of donuts dripping with white icing and showered with orange sprinkles. Beneath the shadow of a friendly scarecrow, another platter featured Megan’s
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