A few days later Kenny came home between his shift and his date with
another deputy, Douglas Reed. Douglas had been an under sheriff in Wills
County, Illinois, but had moved to Hogan County when his wife got a
position in Thayer Hospital's emergency department. Kenny had brought Doug
home with him to introduce him to Max and see if he could interest her in a
night of TV, pizza and beer. It seemed to Kenny that he saw Max less often
now than he did when they lived in separate apartments. Lately, they'd
been working off shifts, but tonight was her night off and Kenny wanted to
spend time with her.
Kenny put his key in the lock and turned, opening his apartment door. Immediately, something struck him as odd. The shower was running, but that was not out of the ordinary, what he did find strange was how clean his place was. Where there once was a pile of newspapers, there was now a cardboard box with the papers inside of it. Where there was once a pile of laundry, there was now nothing but empty space. Where there were once crumbs and all sorts of nonsense on the floor, there was now vacuum cleaner tracks.
"Oh my God," Kenny gasped, when he saw the place. "She cleaned."
"That's bad?" Reed asked.
"Yeah, how am I supposed to find anything? I had an order to that chaos," Kenny grumbled as he set his keys on the table and locked up his gun.
"Ask her, that's what I do when my wife cleans," Reed joked.
The shower water shut off and Kenny heard Maxine going about her primping business in through the door way.
"You know, with Cydney I can time exactly how much longer she's going to be in the bathroom by the sounds. A lot of clinking, that the make up, the droning sound, the blow dryer, the tiny little screech, eye brow wax..." Reed laughed.
"Maxine isn't really like that. If she knows I'm going to need the bathroom, she tries to move it along," Kenny defended.
"Yeah, because you're not married to her yet. When you're dating or living together, they can get ready in twenty minute. After you're married a few years...that's when the real fun begins," the seasoned husband laughed.
The two men settled on the sofa and Kenny popped open a beer, "We're not even dating, Reed. She's just crashing here until she gets back on her feet."
Reed laughed, "Keep telling yourself that, Lacos," He took a long sip of his beer. "Keep telling himself what?" Max asked towel drying her hair as she appeared in the living room wearing an oversized Rome Sheriff's Department sweatshirt and jeans.
"That this place looked better when it was a pigsty," Reed covered, "Lacos here was pretty upset that you did a little redecorating."
"I'm sorry, Kenny," Max apologized, "this place was really a mess. By the way, I'm Maxine Stewart." Max shot Kenny a glare and extended her hand to the new Deputy.
"I'm Reed. Deputy Douglas Reed," he smiled and introduced himself, taking her offered hand.
"Nice to meet you," Max smiled, "Kenny, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?"
Douglas, being an old married man, knew what was about to happen in the kitchen and he pitied Kenny. The poor slop had no idea what he was getting into.
"What's up, Max?" Kenny asked, getting another beer from the fridge.
"How could you do that?" Max asked in a harsh, hushed whisper. "How could you just invite someone back to the apartment without telling me?"
"Max, cool out. It's just another cop. I've seen you look worse than this, lots of the guys have," Kenny tried to justify it.
"Yeah, but those are people I know. You are my friend," Max explained, "this is someone I've never met before. Now he's going to think I'm a pig or a slob or something."
"Max," Kenny sipped his beer, "don't worry about it. Reed is married and his wife is beautiful. He's not going to care what you look like."
Kenny knew that was the wrong thing to say before the words even left his mouth. Max's face grew dark with anger, "You think that the only reason I care about my appearance is because I'm trying to land some guy? That I only care about the impression I make on someone I've just met because he happens to be male and reasonably handsome? I'm not as shallow as all that Kenny, some of the women you bring home, maybe, but not me."
"This is not about the women I date, Max," Kenny defended, putting his beer down with a sharp thud, "I don't even know why we're having this conversation. I can invite anyone I want to over the apartment anytime I want to, it's my damned apartment, Maxine!" Kenny shouted, "I live here!"
"Well, I have to live here, too, Kenny," she replied trying to keep her temper in check as Kenny was rapidly losing control of his, "and I know that's because I screwed up and you were kind enough to let me share this space with you. I do have to live here though and I'd like some consideration and respect while I'm doing that." Max told him flatly.
She though by acknowledging his kindness on her behalf, she could appeal to his reasonable side. Though, Kenny was angry now, about more than the current situation and his reasonable side could not be reached with a few patronizing words.
Kenny squared his shoulders, "Don't patronize me, Max," he said calling her on precisely what she was trying to do, "and don't accuse me of being inconsiderate or disrespectful of you. I've been nothing but considerate of you since this whole mess started, if anything you are the one who is being disrespectful, inconsiderate and down right rude."
Now Max's temper was boiling, Kenny had always had a hot head and he'd always had the ability to make her blood boil. He was not succeeding nicely, "I'm being inconsiderate of you!" she shot back, "That's rich, Kenny. How, praytell, am I being inconsiderate, disrespectful, and this is my favorite, rude? Come on, tell me," she lured.
"Well for starters, you never listen to any opinion that anyone has to offer you. You are always right, you are always the only one who knows anything and half the time, more than half you fall flat on your ass. Secondly, you move in here, because you cannot or will not listen to anyone but yourself and disrupt my system and my life. I can't find a dam*ed thing in this place anymore, you rearranged everything. I cut myself shaving twice because you used my razor. If I bring a woman home after a date, you get this self righteous holier than thou attitude about it, rolling your eyes at her, glaring at me...Now I can't even bring a guy friend home, without having to check it with you first. This apartment is not "our" place, Max, I'm just letting you stay here. It's my place!"
Max stared blankly at her friend and roomate. She didn't think that she'd done anything wrong. She cleaned up because she was trying to help. She did use his razor, but she could swear she changed the blade in it afterwards, well, maybe not the first time, but she knew she did it the second time, since he yelled so much about the first time. If she was being self righteous about his dates and his tendency for casual sex, she didn't know it, but she didn't think it was too much to ask for advanced warning on visitors. That was common courtesy. Before she could respond to Kenny's endless tirade of accusations with a few of her own, Reed knocked on the wall between the living room and kitchen.
"Kenny, Jimmy just paged. He told me he wants all of us to report to Main Road at the County line. A neighbor called in a claping incident, the carriage ran off the road," the newest deputy informed him, confused on what precisely it was to "clape" and how did that run a baby carriage off the road.
"Thanks, Doug," Kenny said, nodding in acknowledgement, "you head out to the scene. Max and I will follow."
Max, without a word, excused herself to get into uniform, the issues between her and Kenny temporarily forgotten in favor of their work. When Max was gone, Reed pulled Kenny aside, "You get busted for having me over?"
"Yeah, you heard?" Kenny asked, all ready knowing it was impossible for Reed not to have heard the way he chewed Max out, "I swear, Man, I love working with her and hanging with her, but I can't stand living with her. I shouldn't have yelled but..." Kenny finished his sentence with a groan of frustration.
"No, it's not that you can't live with her," Reed explained, "you can't live with a woman. You've been on your own for a long time, you've a bachelor, and from what I've heard, a confirmed one. You have your own way. Women have all of these hang ups that men don't get until you've slept with one everyday for five years and you know what gets you the couch or the doghouse, or even your mother's house. One of these hang ups for Max, apparently, is the impression she makes on people."
"But she's beautiful woman," Kenny argued, "in any state."
"Yeah, but she either does not think so, or that does not matter. Women are orderly creatures, they like routine, they like order, and they don't like messes. Women are private creatures, they don't like their private side shown off and to Max, her post shower sweats and wet hair is something intimate only to be seen by those who all ready know her and like her, not for some guy off the street." Reed explained this as if he was the authority on women and Kenny tried to put Jimmy's face and voice in the older more experience deputy. "And no matter what Max's hang ups are, you can't solve them by shouting at her; flies with honey, Lacos, flies with honey."
Kenny sighed and thought about the wisdom in Reed's words. The man had been married for a lot of years and marriage in a way was like living with your friend, only you could only have sex with your wife. Reed made several points, "So what do you suggest I do?" Kenny asked, "It can't go on like this."
"Talk to her, be reasonable and calm, set some ground rules," Reed told him, as he put on his jacket, "I'll see you there."
Reed was not gone two minutes before Max came out of her room dressed in uniform, "Ready?"
"Yeah," Kenny answered in his normal tone of voice. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the keys and tossed them to Max, "Let's go."
Max knew after working with Kenny for years that his offering to let her drive was his way of offering a truce. Max caught the keys and climbed into the truck.
As Max navigated the roads heading to the Hogan County Line, Kenny though again about Reed's advice and about how he should go about apologizing to Max without letting her indefinitely run the show around the apartment. Max beat him to it. "Look, Kenny," she began, "I'm really grateful that you let me stay with you while I'm sorting out this apartment fiasco, and you are right, I should have listened when you said that place was beyond my means, but...the fact is what's done is done now and we have to find a way to live together without killing each other. That said, I think after we get back tonight, we should work out some ground rules, that way we respect each other's privacy, but acknowledge that other person does actually live there. What do you say?"
She left it up to him. She knew he was calmer now and would be able to answer rationally. Kenny gently smiled at her, "Good idea, Max. I'm sorry I was such an ass about everything and we do need to talk, set some boundaries, find a common ground we can both live with," he agreed, "Oh, there it is," Kenny indicated, seeing the nearly overturned Amish family carriage in the brush along the Hogan and Mason county line.
Max nodded and pulled the car over and they both went down to meet Jimmy. "This is a lot of cops for a claping incident," Max commented to Kenny as they approached their boss.
"It's not just a claping incident, Max. Carter's here," Kenny pointed to the short medical examiner who was loading two body bags into his van.
"Max, Kenny," Jimmy said in way of greeting, "this is bad. A real mess. Never before has something like this happened in Hogan County."
"Well, before now," Kenny began, "claping was never that big an issue. It happened; the people chose to work it out themselves."
"Not this time," Jimmy informed him, "this time its homicide, two counts of child homicide." Jimmy beckoned and Max and Kenny followed him to where Carter's van was parked, "Our victims; two year old Jacob and six year old Sarah Schindler of Mason County. Those," Jimmy pointed to the grieving family, "are the parents, Rachel and John Schindler and their two older children, Ruth and Daniel Schindler. Kenny, I want you to talk to Mr. Schindler and Daniel, Max to Mrs. Schindler and Ruth, see if anyone saw anything at all before that carriage went off the road."
The two deputies nodded and went to approach their witnesses. Max and Kenny walked toward the bereaved family and took in the unusual end to a common situation. Attacks on the "plain people", the Amish, were sadly common in Mason County, where a significant portion of Wisconsin's Amish lived. Hogan County had the other significant portion. The usual result of claping, rock throwing, at the carriages was property damage and the Amish people tended to accept monetary sums to repair the damage and did not pursue charges.
"You know," Kenny said, "I read about a case like this happening in the 80s in Fulham County, North Carolina, an Amish baby was killed as a result of claping and the prosecutor down there got the boys to plead guilty to a lesser charge. They all got suspended sentences, but still, it has not happened since then."
"It's said that someone, that children, have to die before people learn," Maxine sighed, "look at them, Kenny," she indicated the family with a nod of her head, "someone has to pay for that."
Max and Kenny approached the grieving family and separated them as Jimmy had instructed. Max smiled gently, "I'm Deputy Stewart, Mrs. Schindler. I'm sorry for your loss." Those words seemed hollow leaving her mouth.
"Thank you," Mrs. Schindler replied kindly.
"I'd like to ask you and your daughter a few questions about what happened tonight. Hopefully, you saw someone or something and we will have some more to go on," Max explained, "the first thing I need to know was, as you are from Mason County, why were you on the road here in Hogan County?"
"We were on our way home from my sister's house," Mrs. Schindler explained, "She just had a baby and I went to help out. My family came to get me and we were on our way home. Or we'd never have been on the roads this late."
Max nodded and noted the response in her notebook, "Before the carriage went into the ditch, did you see anyone? Any kind of car? Anyone else on the road at all?"
"There was a black truck," eight year old Ruth responded for her mother, "I saw it. It was going very fast and cut us off."
"What kind of truck? Was it closed or opened in the back? Was it a pick up truck or did it look like my truck, here?" Maxine asked, pointing to her sheriff's jeep.
"It was like that truck," Ruth answered, "only it had the hole in the roof."
"Did you see the license plate? The numbers here," Max pointed to the Jeep's license plate.
"Yes," Mrs. Schindler replied, shocked she did remember, "the last three only. They were 80L."
"Excellent," Max nodded writing down the numbers, "Now did you see anyone who was in the truck. Did you notice what anyone was wearing? If they were male or female? What color hair they had?"
Both women shook their heads, "All right. All I need now is an address from you so that Deputy Lacos and I can get in touch with you when we have a better idea of who is responsible for what happened here tonight," Maxine sighed, "Sometimes crimes like this go unpunished, but we'll do our best..."
Mrs. Schindler cut her off, "No crime goes unpunished in the eyes of the Lord. Those who have done this thing, they will see judgment. It's in the Lord's hands if it is in this world as well as in the next," she explained. "Thank you for your help." With that shocking declaration, Mrs. Schindler moved to join her husband. Back at the apartment, Kenny and Max finally got to enjoy the pizza and beer night he had planned for them, albeit somewhat later than he had wished it to be. Max was quiet though and Kenny could tell that their argument was still upsetting her as was the Schindler case.
"Max," he began, "we've gotten some great breaks in this case. That partial plate and the fact that we know it was black Jeep with a moon roof, those are great details to go on. Most claping cases, the victims don't even notice that."
Max nodded. She felt badly for the Schindlers but Mrs. Schindler's attitude disturbed her as did the continued tension between her and Kenny, without that, she might be able to unburden herself more to him. "I know that, Kenny and I feel terrible about what happened. It makes our problem seem petty doesn't it?" Kenny smiled softly and shook his head, "If it's upsetting you Max, it's not petty to me. We said we were going to lay some ground rules, let's do that. Okay?" he asked, feeling terribly that he had her so upset, that his words and coldness had upset her.
"Okay," Maxine agreed, "you start."
"Okay," Kenny agreed and cleared his throat, "Rule one; the kitchen, living room, and bathroom are common areas. Those areas are to be kept clean so that both parties are comfortable in said common areas. Each bedroom is a private area and cannot be entered or disturbed without the permission of the occupant." He smiled, that sounded very official.
"All right," Max agreed, knowing he gave her a lot on that one, "Rule two; we respect each other's privacy. That means, no butting in on where the other one is or was or whom they were with and no bringing guests over without warning and no overnight guests."
"Whoa," Kenny objected, "No guests without warning and no overnight guests in common areas while engaged in private activities," he amended.
"And no excessively loud private activities," Maxine added, then nodded, "Agreed." Max knew if that no overnight guests rule did take effect, she'd never see her roomate.
"Rule three, we respect each others property, meaning, I won't throw out Cosmo if you don't use the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as a coaster," Kenny suggested. "All right," Max agreed, "rule four, we respect each other's dating choices and practices," she suggested, feeling badly for knocking Kenny's choice in dates.
"Attached rider," Kenny amended, "we can discuss or advise on dating choices constructively, but not criticize." Kenny wanted this, because he could not help but want to protect her. He wanted to be able to offer his opinion if he felt she was being sucked in, he wanted to protect her from another Danny Shreve.
"All right," Max agreed, "and no hard feelings if the advise if rejected?"
"Deal," Kenny answered and extended his hand, "Does that about cover it?"
"Yeah," Max agreed, "only one more thing. Rule five, once a month; we make it a priority to hang out like this, the two of us."
Kenny sighed, and shook his head, "Nah, Max. I can't give you that one."
"Oh," Max said, her face falling, but she shrugged and said, "All right."
Kenny could not help but smile at her reaction, "We make it a priority to do this twice a month."
Max's face brightened and she let out a genuine laugh, "Deal. Now how about this case..."
End for now
A/N: Part of this plot line is borrowed from the movie A Stoning in Fulham County. I do not own that movie.
A/N 2: I'd like to see what reader would like to see happen in the subplots to this fic. Other situations between Max and Kenny, etc. Please include those suggestions in your reviews. Hope you enjoyed it so far.
Kenny put his key in the lock and turned, opening his apartment door. Immediately, something struck him as odd. The shower was running, but that was not out of the ordinary, what he did find strange was how clean his place was. Where there once was a pile of newspapers, there was now a cardboard box with the papers inside of it. Where there was once a pile of laundry, there was now nothing but empty space. Where there were once crumbs and all sorts of nonsense on the floor, there was now vacuum cleaner tracks.
"Oh my God," Kenny gasped, when he saw the place. "She cleaned."
"That's bad?" Reed asked.
"Yeah, how am I supposed to find anything? I had an order to that chaos," Kenny grumbled as he set his keys on the table and locked up his gun.
"Ask her, that's what I do when my wife cleans," Reed joked.
The shower water shut off and Kenny heard Maxine going about her primping business in through the door way.
"You know, with Cydney I can time exactly how much longer she's going to be in the bathroom by the sounds. A lot of clinking, that the make up, the droning sound, the blow dryer, the tiny little screech, eye brow wax..." Reed laughed.
"Maxine isn't really like that. If she knows I'm going to need the bathroom, she tries to move it along," Kenny defended.
"Yeah, because you're not married to her yet. When you're dating or living together, they can get ready in twenty minute. After you're married a few years...that's when the real fun begins," the seasoned husband laughed.
The two men settled on the sofa and Kenny popped open a beer, "We're not even dating, Reed. She's just crashing here until she gets back on her feet."
Reed laughed, "Keep telling yourself that, Lacos," He took a long sip of his beer. "Keep telling himself what?" Max asked towel drying her hair as she appeared in the living room wearing an oversized Rome Sheriff's Department sweatshirt and jeans.
"That this place looked better when it was a pigsty," Reed covered, "Lacos here was pretty upset that you did a little redecorating."
"I'm sorry, Kenny," Max apologized, "this place was really a mess. By the way, I'm Maxine Stewart." Max shot Kenny a glare and extended her hand to the new Deputy.
"I'm Reed. Deputy Douglas Reed," he smiled and introduced himself, taking her offered hand.
"Nice to meet you," Max smiled, "Kenny, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?"
Douglas, being an old married man, knew what was about to happen in the kitchen and he pitied Kenny. The poor slop had no idea what he was getting into.
"What's up, Max?" Kenny asked, getting another beer from the fridge.
"How could you do that?" Max asked in a harsh, hushed whisper. "How could you just invite someone back to the apartment without telling me?"
"Max, cool out. It's just another cop. I've seen you look worse than this, lots of the guys have," Kenny tried to justify it.
"Yeah, but those are people I know. You are my friend," Max explained, "this is someone I've never met before. Now he's going to think I'm a pig or a slob or something."
"Max," Kenny sipped his beer, "don't worry about it. Reed is married and his wife is beautiful. He's not going to care what you look like."
Kenny knew that was the wrong thing to say before the words even left his mouth. Max's face grew dark with anger, "You think that the only reason I care about my appearance is because I'm trying to land some guy? That I only care about the impression I make on someone I've just met because he happens to be male and reasonably handsome? I'm not as shallow as all that Kenny, some of the women you bring home, maybe, but not me."
"This is not about the women I date, Max," Kenny defended, putting his beer down with a sharp thud, "I don't even know why we're having this conversation. I can invite anyone I want to over the apartment anytime I want to, it's my damned apartment, Maxine!" Kenny shouted, "I live here!"
"Well, I have to live here, too, Kenny," she replied trying to keep her temper in check as Kenny was rapidly losing control of his, "and I know that's because I screwed up and you were kind enough to let me share this space with you. I do have to live here though and I'd like some consideration and respect while I'm doing that." Max told him flatly.
She though by acknowledging his kindness on her behalf, she could appeal to his reasonable side. Though, Kenny was angry now, about more than the current situation and his reasonable side could not be reached with a few patronizing words.
Kenny squared his shoulders, "Don't patronize me, Max," he said calling her on precisely what she was trying to do, "and don't accuse me of being inconsiderate or disrespectful of you. I've been nothing but considerate of you since this whole mess started, if anything you are the one who is being disrespectful, inconsiderate and down right rude."
Now Max's temper was boiling, Kenny had always had a hot head and he'd always had the ability to make her blood boil. He was not succeeding nicely, "I'm being inconsiderate of you!" she shot back, "That's rich, Kenny. How, praytell, am I being inconsiderate, disrespectful, and this is my favorite, rude? Come on, tell me," she lured.
"Well for starters, you never listen to any opinion that anyone has to offer you. You are always right, you are always the only one who knows anything and half the time, more than half you fall flat on your ass. Secondly, you move in here, because you cannot or will not listen to anyone but yourself and disrupt my system and my life. I can't find a dam*ed thing in this place anymore, you rearranged everything. I cut myself shaving twice because you used my razor. If I bring a woman home after a date, you get this self righteous holier than thou attitude about it, rolling your eyes at her, glaring at me...Now I can't even bring a guy friend home, without having to check it with you first. This apartment is not "our" place, Max, I'm just letting you stay here. It's my place!"
Max stared blankly at her friend and roomate. She didn't think that she'd done anything wrong. She cleaned up because she was trying to help. She did use his razor, but she could swear she changed the blade in it afterwards, well, maybe not the first time, but she knew she did it the second time, since he yelled so much about the first time. If she was being self righteous about his dates and his tendency for casual sex, she didn't know it, but she didn't think it was too much to ask for advanced warning on visitors. That was common courtesy. Before she could respond to Kenny's endless tirade of accusations with a few of her own, Reed knocked on the wall between the living room and kitchen.
"Kenny, Jimmy just paged. He told me he wants all of us to report to Main Road at the County line. A neighbor called in a claping incident, the carriage ran off the road," the newest deputy informed him, confused on what precisely it was to "clape" and how did that run a baby carriage off the road.
"Thanks, Doug," Kenny said, nodding in acknowledgement, "you head out to the scene. Max and I will follow."
Max, without a word, excused herself to get into uniform, the issues between her and Kenny temporarily forgotten in favor of their work. When Max was gone, Reed pulled Kenny aside, "You get busted for having me over?"
"Yeah, you heard?" Kenny asked, all ready knowing it was impossible for Reed not to have heard the way he chewed Max out, "I swear, Man, I love working with her and hanging with her, but I can't stand living with her. I shouldn't have yelled but..." Kenny finished his sentence with a groan of frustration.
"No, it's not that you can't live with her," Reed explained, "you can't live with a woman. You've been on your own for a long time, you've a bachelor, and from what I've heard, a confirmed one. You have your own way. Women have all of these hang ups that men don't get until you've slept with one everyday for five years and you know what gets you the couch or the doghouse, or even your mother's house. One of these hang ups for Max, apparently, is the impression she makes on people."
"But she's beautiful woman," Kenny argued, "in any state."
"Yeah, but she either does not think so, or that does not matter. Women are orderly creatures, they like routine, they like order, and they don't like messes. Women are private creatures, they don't like their private side shown off and to Max, her post shower sweats and wet hair is something intimate only to be seen by those who all ready know her and like her, not for some guy off the street." Reed explained this as if he was the authority on women and Kenny tried to put Jimmy's face and voice in the older more experience deputy. "And no matter what Max's hang ups are, you can't solve them by shouting at her; flies with honey, Lacos, flies with honey."
Kenny sighed and thought about the wisdom in Reed's words. The man had been married for a lot of years and marriage in a way was like living with your friend, only you could only have sex with your wife. Reed made several points, "So what do you suggest I do?" Kenny asked, "It can't go on like this."
"Talk to her, be reasonable and calm, set some ground rules," Reed told him, as he put on his jacket, "I'll see you there."
Reed was not gone two minutes before Max came out of her room dressed in uniform, "Ready?"
"Yeah," Kenny answered in his normal tone of voice. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the keys and tossed them to Max, "Let's go."
Max knew after working with Kenny for years that his offering to let her drive was his way of offering a truce. Max caught the keys and climbed into the truck.
As Max navigated the roads heading to the Hogan County Line, Kenny though again about Reed's advice and about how he should go about apologizing to Max without letting her indefinitely run the show around the apartment. Max beat him to it. "Look, Kenny," she began, "I'm really grateful that you let me stay with you while I'm sorting out this apartment fiasco, and you are right, I should have listened when you said that place was beyond my means, but...the fact is what's done is done now and we have to find a way to live together without killing each other. That said, I think after we get back tonight, we should work out some ground rules, that way we respect each other's privacy, but acknowledge that other person does actually live there. What do you say?"
She left it up to him. She knew he was calmer now and would be able to answer rationally. Kenny gently smiled at her, "Good idea, Max. I'm sorry I was such an ass about everything and we do need to talk, set some boundaries, find a common ground we can both live with," he agreed, "Oh, there it is," Kenny indicated, seeing the nearly overturned Amish family carriage in the brush along the Hogan and Mason county line.
Max nodded and pulled the car over and they both went down to meet Jimmy. "This is a lot of cops for a claping incident," Max commented to Kenny as they approached their boss.
"It's not just a claping incident, Max. Carter's here," Kenny pointed to the short medical examiner who was loading two body bags into his van.
"Max, Kenny," Jimmy said in way of greeting, "this is bad. A real mess. Never before has something like this happened in Hogan County."
"Well, before now," Kenny began, "claping was never that big an issue. It happened; the people chose to work it out themselves."
"Not this time," Jimmy informed him, "this time its homicide, two counts of child homicide." Jimmy beckoned and Max and Kenny followed him to where Carter's van was parked, "Our victims; two year old Jacob and six year old Sarah Schindler of Mason County. Those," Jimmy pointed to the grieving family, "are the parents, Rachel and John Schindler and their two older children, Ruth and Daniel Schindler. Kenny, I want you to talk to Mr. Schindler and Daniel, Max to Mrs. Schindler and Ruth, see if anyone saw anything at all before that carriage went off the road."
The two deputies nodded and went to approach their witnesses. Max and Kenny walked toward the bereaved family and took in the unusual end to a common situation. Attacks on the "plain people", the Amish, were sadly common in Mason County, where a significant portion of Wisconsin's Amish lived. Hogan County had the other significant portion. The usual result of claping, rock throwing, at the carriages was property damage and the Amish people tended to accept monetary sums to repair the damage and did not pursue charges.
"You know," Kenny said, "I read about a case like this happening in the 80s in Fulham County, North Carolina, an Amish baby was killed as a result of claping and the prosecutor down there got the boys to plead guilty to a lesser charge. They all got suspended sentences, but still, it has not happened since then."
"It's said that someone, that children, have to die before people learn," Maxine sighed, "look at them, Kenny," she indicated the family with a nod of her head, "someone has to pay for that."
Max and Kenny approached the grieving family and separated them as Jimmy had instructed. Max smiled gently, "I'm Deputy Stewart, Mrs. Schindler. I'm sorry for your loss." Those words seemed hollow leaving her mouth.
"Thank you," Mrs. Schindler replied kindly.
"I'd like to ask you and your daughter a few questions about what happened tonight. Hopefully, you saw someone or something and we will have some more to go on," Max explained, "the first thing I need to know was, as you are from Mason County, why were you on the road here in Hogan County?"
"We were on our way home from my sister's house," Mrs. Schindler explained, "She just had a baby and I went to help out. My family came to get me and we were on our way home. Or we'd never have been on the roads this late."
Max nodded and noted the response in her notebook, "Before the carriage went into the ditch, did you see anyone? Any kind of car? Anyone else on the road at all?"
"There was a black truck," eight year old Ruth responded for her mother, "I saw it. It was going very fast and cut us off."
"What kind of truck? Was it closed or opened in the back? Was it a pick up truck or did it look like my truck, here?" Maxine asked, pointing to her sheriff's jeep.
"It was like that truck," Ruth answered, "only it had the hole in the roof."
"Did you see the license plate? The numbers here," Max pointed to the Jeep's license plate.
"Yes," Mrs. Schindler replied, shocked she did remember, "the last three only. They were 80L."
"Excellent," Max nodded writing down the numbers, "Now did you see anyone who was in the truck. Did you notice what anyone was wearing? If they were male or female? What color hair they had?"
Both women shook their heads, "All right. All I need now is an address from you so that Deputy Lacos and I can get in touch with you when we have a better idea of who is responsible for what happened here tonight," Maxine sighed, "Sometimes crimes like this go unpunished, but we'll do our best..."
Mrs. Schindler cut her off, "No crime goes unpunished in the eyes of the Lord. Those who have done this thing, they will see judgment. It's in the Lord's hands if it is in this world as well as in the next," she explained. "Thank you for your help." With that shocking declaration, Mrs. Schindler moved to join her husband. Back at the apartment, Kenny and Max finally got to enjoy the pizza and beer night he had planned for them, albeit somewhat later than he had wished it to be. Max was quiet though and Kenny could tell that their argument was still upsetting her as was the Schindler case.
"Max," he began, "we've gotten some great breaks in this case. That partial plate and the fact that we know it was black Jeep with a moon roof, those are great details to go on. Most claping cases, the victims don't even notice that."
Max nodded. She felt badly for the Schindlers but Mrs. Schindler's attitude disturbed her as did the continued tension between her and Kenny, without that, she might be able to unburden herself more to him. "I know that, Kenny and I feel terrible about what happened. It makes our problem seem petty doesn't it?" Kenny smiled softly and shook his head, "If it's upsetting you Max, it's not petty to me. We said we were going to lay some ground rules, let's do that. Okay?" he asked, feeling terribly that he had her so upset, that his words and coldness had upset her.
"Okay," Maxine agreed, "you start."
"Okay," Kenny agreed and cleared his throat, "Rule one; the kitchen, living room, and bathroom are common areas. Those areas are to be kept clean so that both parties are comfortable in said common areas. Each bedroom is a private area and cannot be entered or disturbed without the permission of the occupant." He smiled, that sounded very official.
"All right," Max agreed, knowing he gave her a lot on that one, "Rule two; we respect each other's privacy. That means, no butting in on where the other one is or was or whom they were with and no bringing guests over without warning and no overnight guests."
"Whoa," Kenny objected, "No guests without warning and no overnight guests in common areas while engaged in private activities," he amended.
"And no excessively loud private activities," Maxine added, then nodded, "Agreed." Max knew if that no overnight guests rule did take effect, she'd never see her roomate.
"Rule three, we respect each others property, meaning, I won't throw out Cosmo if you don't use the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as a coaster," Kenny suggested. "All right," Max agreed, "rule four, we respect each other's dating choices and practices," she suggested, feeling badly for knocking Kenny's choice in dates.
"Attached rider," Kenny amended, "we can discuss or advise on dating choices constructively, but not criticize." Kenny wanted this, because he could not help but want to protect her. He wanted to be able to offer his opinion if he felt she was being sucked in, he wanted to protect her from another Danny Shreve.
"All right," Max agreed, "and no hard feelings if the advise if rejected?"
"Deal," Kenny answered and extended his hand, "Does that about cover it?"
"Yeah," Max agreed, "only one more thing. Rule five, once a month; we make it a priority to hang out like this, the two of us."
Kenny sighed, and shook his head, "Nah, Max. I can't give you that one."
"Oh," Max said, her face falling, but she shrugged and said, "All right."
Kenny could not help but smile at her reaction, "We make it a priority to do this twice a month."
Max's face brightened and she let out a genuine laugh, "Deal. Now how about this case..."
End for now
A/N: Part of this plot line is borrowed from the movie A Stoning in Fulham County. I do not own that movie.
A/N 2: I'd like to see what reader would like to see happen in the subplots to this fic. Other situations between Max and Kenny, etc. Please include those suggestions in your reviews. Hope you enjoyed it so far.