When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,25
I’ve got my hands full enough that I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Pull harder!” Ernie shouted.
“I am!” Officer Sprout protested, tugging with all his might. He put a foot on the door for more leverage and pulled again.
“Um…” Neely Kate said, trying not to laugh. “Should someone tell him that he’s actually keeping the door closed with his foot?”
“Or that Ernie only has to scoot over to the passenger side and open that undamaged door?” I said.
“Don’t either of you dare,” Joe said, shaking his head. “Hopefully, that’ll keep them busy while we go through the house.”
Officer Sprout released a loud grunt and then fell several feet back, landing in a large puddle I was pretty sure was the homeowner’s attempt at a water garden.
As Officer Ernie released a loud string of curses, Joe spun around. “That’s my cue to get started.”
“Don’t you go in that house, Chief Deputy Simmons!” Ernie shouted, turning to face us.
Joe turned back and cupped his hand to his ear. “What did you say? Good luck with the search? Thanks!”
He headed toward the house while Ernie started kicking his door with both feet. “Call the fire department!” he shouted at Officer Sprout. “We need the Jaws of Life!”
A confused expression settled on Officer Sprout’s face. “I thought that was just for dyin’ people trapped in cars.”
“And if I don’t get out of here, I’ll die, Sprout!”
Officer Sprout’s eyes narrowed as he tried to see Ernie’s reasoning, but then his face lit up and he nodded. “Yeah. I guess that’s true.”
He wandered over to his car, presumably to make the call.
I turned from the circus in front of me to watch Randy and the other deputy walk up to the front door with Joe behind them. Wearing a pair of gloves, Randy unlocked the door and pushed it open.
“Fenton County Sheriff’s Department,” he called out. “We’re here for a welfare check.” He waited for several long moments, then the two deputies and Joe walked into the dark house.
Neely Kate and I stayed on one side of the driveway, while Mike’s parents and Deanna waited on the other. I expected his mother to give me dirty looks, but some of her persistence seemed to have faded and now she looked genuinely worried.
Deanna’s phone rang and she stepped away to take the call.
Officer Sprout emerged from his car and returned to his task of trying to open Ernie’s door.
“Gee,” Neely Kate said in a mock congenial tone. “I wonder who called the police department?”
“Mike’s house is in Henryetta city limits,” his mother said, lifting her chin. “We needed someone to take charge.”
“And how’s that workin’ out for ya?” Neely Kate said, her brows lifted.
I tapped her arm and frowned. “I’d like to think we all want the same thing—to find Ashley and Mikey, safe and unharmed.”
“And Mike,” I said, because I was hoping the kids were with him, and because he had been my friend for years before turning on me. While his betrayal hurt, I couldn’t help remembering the way things used to be.
More sirens sounded down the street, and a Henryetta fire truck came speeding toward us. It slid to a halt in the middle of the street, and a couple of firefighters hopped out and made their way over to Ernie’s patrol car, where Officer Sprout was still struggling to get him out.
“You called us for this?” one of the firemen said in disgust, his hands propped on his hips. “All you need to do is file a report and call a tow truck.”
“But he’s stuck in there!” Officer Sprout protested, pulling on the door handle to prove his point.
“I’m about to starve to death!” Ernie said, sounding panicked. “And I’m running out of air!”
The other firefighter, a woman with a long blonde French braid and a no-nonsense swagger, walked to the passenger door and lifted the handle, popping the door open. “How about you get out over here?”
Officer Sprout’s mouth dropped open and his eyes lit up with puppy love. “You’re amazin’.”
I could see why he was entranced. She was pretty and competent.
She gave him an are you serious? look. “Nothin’ common sense couldn’t fix.”
Her comment passed right over his head and took off for the heavens. “You saved his life.”
“And you just cost me a half hour in paperwork,” she grumbled as she headed back to the fire truck.
Ernie scrambled over his console and out the door, falling to his knees and holding his hands