The drive to the call went faster than I expected – It helped that there wasn't any traffic, what with the icy roads and all. Sometimes winter was alright. Dex stayed quiet, which was weird for him. Normally he was always talking about some city down south that he wanted to retire to, or how much of a jaggoff the mayor is, or something like that. It was nice to hear him shut up for a change, but that whole talk we had about him being a cigar kept running through my mind.
Freud would probably have a field day with that conversation.
"Alright," I said, turning the wheel to the left. Through the windshield I could see the woman who'd made the call. Mrs. Winnefrod was a nice old bat, but crazier than Chuck Manson sometimes. She always wore this... nightgown thing. I dunno what the hell it was, but it was always some shade of blue whenever we showed up. I think the woman bathed in it, for chrissakes! Today wasn't any different, either. She stood on her porch, snow everywhere, in her blue nightgown, tapping her foot on the ice. God, she was even barefoot! What the hell was wrong with this woman?!
I parked the car in front of her house and sighed. Dex was already halfway out of the door. I had to give him credit; the guy loved to help people and always tried to make up for lost time. Even if that time was deliberately wasted. I followed behind him slowly, not looking forward to the next crazy story Mrs. Winnefrod had to offer us.
“'Bout time you boys got here!” she scolded with that southern drawl of hers. At times, she sounded almost dignified and, I dunno... wise with it. Others.... not so much. “Ah've been waitin' an' waitin' an waitin'!”
“Ma'am, I know you've been waiting. I'm sorry for the delay,” Dex sounded bored, yet amused. I have no idea how that's even possible, but somehow the guy pulled it off as I wandered around the lawn, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Well... out of the ordinary for her anyway. “What seems to be the problem, now?”
“They done tried t'steal my TV!” She yelled.
Wait... so she actually had a reasonable problem for us? And not some crackpot idea in her head that cats were Salsa Monsters from Krypton? Oh, this was going to be so much better than I'd originally thought! Maybe it was a serial burglar, or a small time kid who's just trying to pilfer a TV so he can eat? Either way, I was looking forward to it. At least until I started around the back of her house and heard three loud Bangs, all in quick succession. Something pushed me to my ass from my right shoulder and the corner of her house had two distinct explosions of dust and brick from where the bullets had hit the corner and not me. Thank God.
I didn't much check to see if I was bleeding or not. I knew It'd hit my vest. I was more worried about my lighter getting damaged than me, really. But that'd have to wait! I quickly pulled my pistol from it's holster on my side and held it high. Whoever this bozo was, they'd made me mad. And to be honest, I didn't want Dex to show up and me not have the situation under control. Last thing I needed today was him acting on that death wish of his!
“Hold it!” I screamed at a sillhouette running down a small alley. I saw the gun in his hand as I heard Dex running up behind me, alerting the whole precinct that shots'd been fired. I squeezed the trigger once. Hey, I'd been shot at, that gave me an excuse to fire back, God dammit! Any other cop would back me up on that!
The hot shell from the nine millimeter round struck the right side of my face, burning me a bit. I'd probably have to shave! Dammit, I'd been working on this beard for a week now! That son of a bitch! Lucky for him, he went down on that shot. Unlucky for me, since now I'd have to explain why I didn't aim for the legs or something if I'd got him in the back.
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