Note: This entire chapter is about the Cline family and their friends so I hope you all don't get confused with original characters in one chapter. Sorry if one of the future chapters will be long but I'm just trying to follow the chapter and its plot. To see more of the Clines and their friends, go to my fictionpress account. The first one about them after this introductory on them is 'The New Law' so I would recommend you start there after you see the rest of the introductory about them in this chapter. Enjoy!
Back in Milwaukee, Sheriff Cline walked into his house that evening to joint he family for supper.
"I'm home!" he called as he walked into the living room.
His wife, Terry, was in the kitchen, making supper. His children, Tony and Sara, were watching television in the living room.
"Hi, Dad," they both said, not taking their eyes off the screen.
"No hugs for your old man?" Sheriff Cline asked.
Tony got up from the floor and gave his father a hug.
"That's better," Sheriff Cline said and returned the hug his son gave him.
"No hugs from my sweetheart?" Sheriff Cline asked his youngest daughter.
"Sara, Dad's talking to you," Tony said.
"What did Dad say?" Sara asked, eyes still glued to the screen.
"He wants a hug from you," Tony repeated their father's words.
"Sorry," she said and ran to their father's arms and gave him a huge hug.
"That's better," Sheriff Cline said and squeezed her.
"Not that hard, Daddy," Sara said.
"Sorry, sweetheart," Sheriff Cline said and let his daughter go back to their television show.
That's when he entered the kitchen and gave his wife a hug.
"Hi, Terry," Sheriff Cline said.
"Hi, Jeremy," she said.
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Terry Cline asked.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Did you remember to take your medication before you left for the office this morning? What about last night?" Terry asked.
"You ask that every day, Terry. Off course I took that awful Prozac last night and again this morning. Don't worry so much," he said as they kissed.
"I worry about you, Jeremy. I worry about what happened to you twelve years ago. You weren't doing your job right twelve years ago. You were sleeping a lot back then," Terry said.
"You know why I was sleeping a lot, Terry. If it weren't for Andy's murder, I wouldn't have been on CPAP and Prozac today," Sheriff Cline said.
"Of course you wouldn't, Jeremy. That's why I worry. You were depressed a lot back then when Deputy Jones was murdered.
"A lot of the officers had to act sheriff because of your health and you couldn't do your job right," Terry said.
"I am now, aren't I? I'm still sheriff of this town," he said.
"Yes, you are, since you're back on track," Terry said.
"Look at you twelve years later, Jeremy. You're still without a deputy," Terry said.
"I know that. I plan to look for a new one tomorrow. I think I know who it is," he said.
"Is that officer anyone we know?" Terry asked.
"She's been in my department for some time now. She's just Andy's age, but she isn't on Andy's case. She is also deputy, but I think she is the one who could do the job right," Jeremy said.
"Did you say she? Who is this woman?" Terry asked, finding it interesting her husband had a woman officer as deputy.
"Her name is Karen McCarey. I don't know if you two have met or not, but she's pleasant," Sheriff Cline said.
"I've never heard that name before. Is she new in town?" Terry Cline asked.
"No, she's not. She's a citizen here. I'll have to introduce you two sometime. You'll like her," Sheriff Cline said.
"I'm sure I would. Would you call Tony and Sara to the table? Have them wash their hands first," Terry said.
"All right," Sheriff Cline said and left the kitchen.
He went to the living room where the teens were watching television.
"Dinner's on the table, kids," Sheriff Cline said.
Tony got up right away. He knew it was Sara's turn to turn off the remote that night.
"Don't forget to wash up for supper," Sheriff Cline added.
He saw Sara turn off the remote and get up.
"Before the kids get in here to sit down, mind if I ask how you felt this morning before you left for work?" Terry asked.
"Not this subject again," Sheriff groaned to himself.
He didn't want Terry to hear him.
"Why do you want to know?" Sheriff Cline asked his wife.
"I need to know, Jeremy. I like to keep track of how you're feeling every day," Terry said.
"I felt fine except I wake up with headaches every morning. Those don't disappear," he said.
"You should know by now that's normal with CPAP," Terry said.
"I know," he said as Tony joined them in the kitchen and they sat down in their regular seats.
They waited to eat until Sara came in so they could start eating. Sara finally joined the three of them and then they started passing food around the table.
"How was school today?" Sheriff Cline asked Tony and Sara.
"Fine," they both replied in unison.
After a few moments' silence, Terry was the first one to speak.
"Jeremy, I saw Cecil at the gas station this afternoon," Terry said.
"You did? I didn't know you had to take the car in to get the tank filled up," he said.
"It had to get filled up. Cecil filled the tank for me. We had a nice chat," she said.
"He asked about you," Terry added.
"He did? That's nice. What did you tell Cecil?" Sheriff Cline asked as he took another bite of meatloaf.
"I told him you were doing fine and were busy at the office. He said to tell you your squad car is due for a service," Terry said.
"Thanks for the reminder. I'll have someone take it in," Jeremy said.
"When does Cecil want the squad car in?" Sheriff Cline asked.
"He said he wants it on Thursday at nine o'clock," Terry said.
"Thanks. I'll have someone from the office take it to him," Sheriff Cline said.
"All right."
"Tomorrow morning I'm getting myself a new deputy. It's been twelve years since I've had one," he reminded his wife.
"Good luck, Jeremy. You do need a new one," she said.
"It's still not the same without Andy," he said.
"He sure was a good deputy. He was the right one to put away the robbers in jail. I don't know if Karen can do the same thing. We'll wait and see," Sheriff Cline said, feeling a little depressed.
Dinnertime was finally over. The family cleared the table and Terry asked Sara to do the dishes that night. Sheriff Cline asked Terry if there was any mail for him that day.
"Just bills," she answered.
"That's all we've been getting lately," he said.
"That's no surprise," she agreed.
He went into the living room and changed the channel the teens were watching earlier when he walked into the house. He turned the television to the evening news. After the news came on, they went to commercial break. He thought he came to the channel a little bit too late. That's when he saw Tony walk into the living room.
"Dad, would you help me with my homework tonight? Some of it is about the law," Tony said.
"Sure. Get started and I'll be up in a few minutes," Sheriff Cline said.
"Okay," Tony said and went to his bedroom upstairs.
That's when Sara walked into the living room. She was finished with the dishes.
"Don't you have homework to do too?" he asked.
"Yes, Daddy," she said.
"Go to your room and hop to it," he said.
"Yes, sir," she said and disappeared to her room.
That's when Sheriff Cline found his wife alone in the kitchen. He left the television on with the commercial talking about car insurance.
"The kids are in their bedrooms, doing homework," he said.
"Good idea. I cleaned out your CPAP machine again this morning. Those things are tough to clean. Your new machine will be coming at the end of this week," she said.
"I really am not a fan of these machines, Terry," he said.
"I know you're not and neither am I. At least they help you in the middle of the night. Some nights when you're sleeping, you stop breathing altogether. You scare me when you do that. That happened last night," Terry told her husband.
"I did? When was that?" he asked.
"Three in the morning," she said.
"Was I aware of it?" he asked.
"No."
"Sorry if I scared you," he said as the couple gave each other a hug.
"Well, I'd better go and help Tony with his homework. He says it's about the law," Sheriff Cline said.
"That's an easy subject for you," Terry agreed as they heard the evening news come back on.
Sheriff Cline headed to his son's bedroom and knocked at the door. Tony opened the door.
"Tell me what you need help with," Sheriff Cline said to his son as he walked into his son's bedroom.
Tony told him what the assignment was. Sheriff Cline stayed in Tony's room, helping him with his homework for a while and then he was out of the room. A few hours passed that evening. The children were in bed around nine o'clock that night. Sheriff Cline remembered he usually didn't go to bed around ten.
"Jeremy, don't forget to take your medicines before bed," Terry said.
"I know you worry, Terry, but you don't need to keep reminding me on these awful meds every day and night. I can do it myself," he said.
"I worry about this sleep apena you have, Jeremy. Isn't that why I remind you every day and night?" she asked.
He didn't answer her.
The next morning arrived. Sheriff Cline was at the office at seven – thirty that morning. He hung up his jacket on the jacket rack with the other jackets. He sat in the desk chair as the phone begin ringing. He answered it.
"Sheriff's office," he said and listened to the first complaint of the day.
"I'll send someone over right away, ma'am," Sheriff Cline said and put the phone down right away.
That's when he saw Karen McCarey walk in fifteen minutes later.
"Hi, Sheriff," she said.
"Morning," he said.
He saw her red hair was neatly washed.
"Sorry if I was a bit late. I had to drive my boys to school," Karen said.
"That's all right. Do whatever you have to do," he said.
"Karen, while you're here, we need to talk," Sheriff Cline said.
"About what?" she asked.
"Before we start, I'm going to send an officer out on Main Street. There was a complaint," Sheriff Cline said.
"A complaint at this hour? Do you want me to do it?" Karen asked.
"I'd be happy to," she offered.
"Sure. You can do it if you want," Sheriff Cline said.
"After you get back, the two of us are going to have a little talk," he said.
"Okay. Where on Main Street is the complaint?" Karen asked.
"Out by Super Cuts," Sheriff Cline said.
"I know the location, Sheriff," Karen said and headed out of the office.
Karen drove straight for Main Street.
Before she could get into the car, she saw another officer outside of the sheriff's office.
"Morning, Deputy McCarey," the officer said.
"Morning, Officer Williams," Karen said.
"Where are you headed?" Officer Williams asked.
"Out to Main Street. Sheriff says there was a complaint out by Super Cuts," Karen said.
"You can't go alone anymore, remember, Deputy? Remember what happened to Deputy Jones," Officer Williams reminded her.
"I remember what happened to Deputy Jones twelve years ago," Karen said.
"Let me go with you," Officer Williams said.
"Don't you have to tell the sheriff first?" she asked.
"Good point. I'll let him know," Williams and he disappeared into the building.
A minute later, Officer Williams came back to the squad car.
"Sheriff says it's all right," Williams said and got into the passenger's seat and they both drove off.
"What is the complaint we got, Deputy?" Williams asked.
Karen told him as they looked for a parking spot. Williams didn't say anything. They both got their guns out of the car and went to the real estate office.
"Hello, Deputy McCarey," the real estate agent said.
"We got the complaint," Karen said.
"What did you say to Sheriff Cline when you called?" Williams asked.
"We got robbed last night, Deputy," the real estate agent said.
"Robbed? Do you know what the robber looked like?" Karen asked as Williams grabbed his little book to take notes.
"The real estate office isn't the only place that got robbed last night. The haircut place got robbed, too," the real estate agent, Vicky Brown said.
"Which haircut place? The one here on Main?" Karen asked.
"Yes, Deputy, the one here next to Century21. You will have to talk to Joseph about that. He might have caught the robbers as he was closing up for the night," Vicky Brown said.
"I'm sorry, Vicky, catching robbers really isn't my department. I'm new on this job. I haven't been in this department long enough to catch robbers. Deputy Jones did that job," Karen said.
"I forgot your name, Deputy. What did you say your name is?" Vicky Brown asked.
"Deputy McCarey," Karen said, flashing her badge.
"I'm sorry your name is unfamiliar to me, Deputy. I'm just more familiar with Deputy Jones but we were all shocked with his murder twelve years ago," Vicky said.
"I know you were. I'm not on his case but I just know who he is. I've been with this department for twelve years now," Karen said.
"Maybe someday you'll be as good as Deputy Jones," Vicky told her.
"I might," Karen said as they got the description of the robbers that came to Main Street last night.
"We'll talk with Joseph and see what he caught. Thank you for your information," Karen said as the two officers left the real estate agent.
"We'll talk to Joseph later on, McCarey. The place still isn't open. You know these haircut places don't open till later," Williams reminded her.
"Right," Karen agreed as they went back to the squad car.
They drove back to the sheriff's department. Karen walked into the office a second time that morning. She gave Sheriff Cline the details they got from Vicky Brown, the realtor.
"We'll talk to Joseph later once he opens up shop," Sheriff Cline said.
"Williams and I already planned that," Karen said.
"Good," he said.
"Now let's have our talk," Sheriff Cline said.
"What's the talk about?" Karen asked, curious.
"You," Sheriff Cline answered.
"What about me?" she asked.
"I do have a surprise for you," he said.
"What's that?" Karen McCarey asked.
She wondered what the surprise was.
"Remember twelve years ago Andy was murdered?" Sheriff Cline asked.
"I do remember that," Karen said.
"I got to thinking last night. I want to you take Andy's place as deputy," he said.
"Aren't I already deputy?" Karen asked.
"You are, but I need a new deputy, though. You know I've been without one for twelve long years, Karen. I will understand if you're not interested," Sheriff Cline said.
"I will do it," Karen said.
"Good," he said and she was sworn in.
A few hours had passed. Sheriff Cline had thought it was a good time for Karen to go to back into town and see if she could question Joseph about the robbery the other night.
"Why don't you go into town and question Joseph, Karen? I think he might be open by now," Sheriff Cline said, looking at the wall clock.
The wall clock now read 10:00 A.M.
"Good point, Sheriff. Should I bring Officer Williams with me?" she asked.
"It's the law out here in Milwaukee now, Karen. Ever since what happened with Andy twelve years ago, you should bring somebody with you, no matter where you go, including patrol," Sheriff Cline said.
"Is this part of the policy?" Karen asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"I thought so," Karen said.
"It's a way to protect ourselves out here in Milwaukee, Karen so we wouldn't get killed like Andy did. We need to solve this case. I forgot to mention that you are officially on Andy's case now," Sheriff Cline told Karen.
"I am?" she asked.
"Yes, you are," he said.
"I never thought I would be on this case, Sheriff," Karen said.
"Well, you are now, since you're my newest deputy," he said.
She didn't reply. Karen headed outside to the squad car.
Before she could leave the office building, Sheriff Cline called after her, "Karen, while you're in town, would you and Williams mind going by the gas station and dropping the squad car off for its checkup?"
"Sure. I'm sure we won't mind. Did Cecil say it was due?" she asked.
"My wife told me she ran into Cecil yesterday afternoon and he gave her the message the squad car was due for its regular checkup," Sheriff Cline said.
"Okay. We'll see what we can do," Karen said.
"Thanks," Sheriff Cline said.
"You're welcome," she said and went to the car.
Williams was out on a break when she came out.
"Where are you going?" Officer Williams asked.
"To question Joseph. You want to come along? We also have to take the squad car to Cecil. Sheriff wants us to drop it off," she said.
"Okay. We can do that," he said.
He joined Karen McCarey in the squad car. He didn't mind being the passenger.
"Should we take the car in first or go to the barber shop first?" Karen asked Williams.
"I'd vote for the service. Barber shop is a little out of the way," Williams said.
"Right," Karen said.
She drove straight to the service station. They arrived at the service station within twenty to thirty minutes. They both got out of the car as they parked the car.
"I'll go find Cecil," Karen said.
"Okay. I won't mind staying with the car," he said.
"Okay," she said.
Karen went into the station. She found a short, skinny blonde – haired man in his twenties hanging up the telephone.
"Hi, Karen," the man said.
"Hi, Cecil. Officer Williams and I brought the car for its regular check – up," Karen said.
"It's not even Thursday," Cecil Thomas complained.
"You mean we brought it a little early?" Karen asked.
"Yes, you did. I don't take early arrivals. I'm sorry, Karen. I'll have to see you again in a couple days. It's only Tuesday," Cecil reminded her.
"I'm sorry. I thought you would take early arrivals," Karen said.
"No, I don't. I'm sorry," he apologized a second time.
"That's all right. We'll be back Thursday," Karen said.
"That's all right. I'm reminding you now I don't do early arrivals. Tell Jeremy he reminded you too early," Cecil said.
"I'll tell him you said that," Karen said and walked out of the station.
Karen rejoined Officer Williams at the car.
"That was fast," he said.
"Cecil said he doesn't take early arrivals. He said he'll take the car on Thursday instead of today. Sheriff Cline was wrong about today being Thursday," Karen said.
Williams didn't reply. The two officers got into the squad car and drove to the barbershop on Main Street in silence. Karen found a parking place near the barbershop. Once they found a spot, they put money in the meter and walked into the barbershop since the sign read OPEN. Karen and Officer Williams found a few customers in the barbershop waiting to have their haircuts. They found Joseph, the barber, cutting a customer's hair.
"Joseph, may we talk?" Karen asked.
The tall, overweight dark – haired man had a bottle in his hand sprayed water on the customer's hair and cut some more hair. Joseph heard the familiar voice of Karen McCarey. Joseph looked up from his customer's hair and looked at the two officers.
"Hi, Karen, Frank," Joseph said.
"Hi, Joseph," Frank Williams said.
"Joseph, we talked to Vicky Brown about the robbery. She thought you might have caught the robbers here in your shop when you were closing up. What did the robbers look like and what did they take?" Karen asked.
"Robbers? What robbers?" Joseph asked.
Joseph thought a second time.
"Oh, those robbers. The robbers were scary, Karen. You should have been here last night," Joseph said.
"Tell me about the robbers, Joseph," Karen said.
"They were here in my shop and the real estate agency," Joseph said.
"That's the information we got from Vicky, Joseph. What do you remember from last night?" she asked.
"Last night? Oh, I see. The robbers were wearing masks, Karen. The kind you can't pull off from their faces. I think they were John Doe," Joseph Miller said.
Karen was writing the information down that Joseph was telling her and Frank.
"Do you think those masks you are telling us about are fake?" Karen asked.
"How am I supposed to know that, Karen? If they were, you could pull them off in a snap," Joseph said.
"Maybe those masks are a joke, Joseph. Thank you for the information. You still haven't given us the description of the robbers," Karen said.
"Where they short, tall, skinny, overweight, what?" Karen asked.
"One of them was tall and the other one was fat. I couldn't tell what the color of their eyes were because they had masks on their faces," Joseph told Frank and Karen.
"Where they American, Asian, African, what?" Karen asked.
She wanted more detail on the robbers.
"I think one robber looked American and the other African American. I couldn't be sure," Joseph said.
"Male? Female?" Karen asked.
"Both were male partners," Joseph said because he knew both voices sounded manly.
"How did these men sound to you, Joseph? Old? Young?" Karen asked.
"In between. I don't know. I think one sounded like he was twenty or so and the other was in his fifties. I couldn't tell," Joseph said.
"That's good enough, Joseph. Did they carry any weapons with them?" Karen asked.
"I didn't see any," Joseph Miller said.
"Skip that, Frank," Karen said.
"Here's the last question and we should be on our way," Karen said.
"What's that?" Joseph asked.
"How much money was stolen?" Karen asked.
"From here or the real estate agency?" Joseph asked.
"Here. We'll deal with the agency when we go there," Karen said.
"Here they took over seven thousand dollars. I want my money back," Joseph said.
"We're working on it, Joseph. We wanted information first," Karen said.
"Thanks for the info, Joseph. We'll see you again next time," Karen said as she and Frank Williams started for the door.
"Anytime, Karen. Tell Jeremy hi for me," he said.
"We will," she said and the two of them headed for the squad car.
They drove back to the sheriff's office. Before they could go back to the sheriff's office, they went to a different direction of the town for a while. That's when Karen and Frank spotted the town druggie, Brad Scott. He was walking on the streets in the other direction unaware of things. Karen could see the town druggie was about to collapse any second.
"Should we take Brad with us?" Frank asked.
"Might be a good idea, Frank."
They parked the car near the town druggie and stopped the engine.
"Wait here, Frank," Karen said and got out of the driver's seat.
She went up to the skinny, blonde – haired twenty – year – old town druggie. That's when Brad collapsed on the ground. Karen dragged Brad Scott to the squad car. Frank was already out of the squad car and had the backseat open for Karen.
"Is he on dope again?" Frank asked.
"I don't know, but if you ask me, I would probably vote for yes," Karen said, thinking of the drug heroin.
"He's got to stop that. If he doesn't he could die at an early age," Frank said.
"True. At least he doesn't carry drugs with him when he's with us," Karen said.
"I know that," Frank said as the two officers carried the town druggie into the backseat and Karen shut the squad car door and the officers got back into the front seat and started the car again.
Several minutes later, Karen and Frank were back at the jail. They knocked on the sheriff's front door because she and Frank had their hands full with Brad Scott. Sheriff Cline opened the door and found Karen and Frank with Brad Scott in their hands.
"What's this all about?" Sheriff Cline asked, surprised to see Brad Scott with his newest deputy and officer in their hands.
"Brad collapsed on the ground. I think he was on heroin again," Karen said.
"Again? Lock him up," Sheriff Cline said, not surprised about Brad's doing drugs.
So Karen and Frank locked up Brad like Sheriff Cline told them to. While Karen was at it, she told Frank she was going to check up on the women prisoners.
"Okay," he said and locked up Brad in the cell.
Brad didn't budge once when Frank and Karen were putting him in the cell. He was still out. Karen did her routine where they kept the women prisoners. She didn't mind checking up on the men either. She heard tons of complaining from the women prisoners.
"QUIET!" Karen yelled at the top of her lungs.
Frank joined Sheriff Cline at his desk again.
"Where's Karen?" Sheriff Cline asked.
"She's checking up on the prisoners," he said.
"Good idea," Sheriff Cline said.
He thought he heard Karen yelling.
"I'll be back, Frank. I thought I heard yelling," Sheriff Cline said and disappeared to the cells where they kept the women prisoners.
Sheriff Cline walked into the room just then.
"What's going on here?" Sheriff Cline asked.
Karen went over to the sheriff.
"I could hear yelling from my desk, Karen. It's way to noisy for me to hear," Sheriff Cline said.
"The prisoners are complaining. I don't want to hear their complaints, Jeremy," Karen said.
Sheriff Cline looked at the wall clock.
"You know what I think?" Sheriff Cline asked her.
"What?" Karen asked.
"I think it's time to give the prisoners their meds," Sheriff Cline said.
Karen groaned.
"That's the one thing I don't need to worry about yet about myself," Karen said as the two of them headed out of the cell room.
"You're lucky. I do. I wish I could turn the clock back twelve years ago when I didn't have to worry about medications. Terry's bugging me about that day and night," Sheriff Cline said.
"Why don't you tell her to stop if it's driving you crazy?" Karen asked.
"She'll continue, don't worry. You're lucky you're not married to have a husband to tell you the same thing," Sheriff Cline said as he helped Karen carry the containers with the prisoners' names on them.
"I was married once. Marriage doesn't work for me," Karen said as the two of them gave a woman her allergy medicines and another woman her diabetes medicines.
"I can take over, Sheriff. Don't the men need theirs too?" Karen asked, thinking of the men in the other room.
"You're right. I'll help Frank with the men prisoners while you finish up here," he said and left with a few containers he had finished.
"Frank, it's routine time with the prisoners for meds," Sheriff Cline told Officer Williams.
He heard Officer Williams groan just like Karen did.
"I don't want to hear any groaning. Deputy McCarey has done the exact same thing," Sheriff Cline said as he put the diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and thyroid medications away for the meantime.
He then grabbed the next few containers for the men prisoners as Frank Williams did the same thing while groaning and moaning. The phone began to ring. Karen came out just then.
"Karen, would you get that?" Sheriff Cline asked.
"Sure," she said as the sheriff and the officer went into the men cell room.
"Sheriff's office," Karen said.
"Is Jeremy there?" Terry Cline asked.
"Who is this?" Karen asked.
"His wife," Terry said.
"He is, but he went to take care of some duty here at the jail. If you don't mind waiting for a bit, he'll take your call," Karen said.
"Okay," Terry Cline said.
A few minutes later, Sheriff Cline came back to the desk.
"Your wife is on the phone," Karen said.
"Thank you," he said, taking the phone from Karen.
"Hi, honey," he said.
They talked for a while and then he put the phone back in its spot.
"Your wife sounds like a nice lady," Karen said.
"Thank you. She is. I was thinking of introducing the two of you sometime," Sheriff Cline.
"That's thoughtful of you," Karen said.
"We'll talk about it and see when we can do that," Sheriff Cline said.
"I'm available. I'll just have to find a baby – sitter if it's an evening," Karen said, thinking of Norman and Jay, her adopted sons.
He didn't reply. Five o'clock arrived and the three officers left for home for the evening. Sheriff Cline ate supper with his family that evening. After the meal was over that evening, and the teens were in bed at nine o'clock, he and Terry were in bed one hour later. Sheriff Cline and his wife said good – night at ten o'clock and fell asleep.