Ghosts in the Gulch: An Evergreen Cemetery Mystery (Evergreen Cemetery Mysteries Book 1) by S.L. Hawke

Author:S.L. Hawke [Hawke, S.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-02-15T18:30:00+00:00

Randall followed the direction of the shouting up to the top of the cemetery. The Volunteer Coordinator Kate was holding her garbage bag, heavy with trash, coolly trying to reason with a man who had no pants on and was obviously camping on a section of the cemetery land that was a gully, but still part of Cemetery property. Randall almost stepped off into a deep hole made by the stream that ran down the right side of the gully.

“You can’t take my stuff!” he screamed. “I’ll come get ya, I’ll find ya, I’ll make sure you never see the light of day you punks!” the man screamed, his eyes wide with fright, his face tan with dirt. His tattered plastic tarp that he used over his body like a poncho was wet and filthy. His feet were bare.

Randall stepped forward. Barton came right alongside.

“Hey buddy. It’s me. You’re gonna be okay.” Barton held his arm out.

“They’re taking my stuff man. You know I need to be here.” The whites in the man’s eyes were very bright and his pupils were dark and wide. “I’m not going back there.”

“You need to be down at the shelter.” Barton tried to console the man, but Randall could see this was not working. A series of scars ran along the side of the man’s bare leg. Shrapnel marks from a long time ago. Randall had an idea.

“You need to get your gear, soldier,” Randall said firmly, hoping it would have the effect of cooperation. Instead, the man began to scream and put his hands over his ears. “They’re here! They’re here! Get outta my way!” Suddenly he ran right at Barton, tackling him.

Randall did not think. He simply reached over and with Barton’s help pinned the wriggling screaming man onto the mud just as two police officers came running up the pathway. Randall held the man down until cuffs could go on. Barton got up, signaled that he was okay, as the young officer grabbed the kicking screaming man into a sitting position.

Paramedics had come up the path with their gear but saw the officers grapple with the homeless man. One of the PTs assisted in maneuvering the man back down the rest of the path. Two more officers arrived and helped get the agitated individual down to the curb, but in the end, they put him into the back of the patrol car. By the end of the day hopefully he would be cleaned up and admitted into the Behavioral Unit.

“Thanks for that.” Randall turned towards the voice of a man his own height. They shook hands. “Name’s Barton. Hope this doesn’t scare you off.”

“We’d best give a statement.” Randall nodded his head towards the second set of officers coming up the pathway for just that purpose. They had an iPad ready and took the statements easily and with little difficulty. Randall was impressed by the ease with which these younger folk used all the new tech. The officers looked at Randall’s badge and smiled, shook his hand and made a joke about how you can never leave a job.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.