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“Brian?” Gavin was paying attention now, a grin on his face like he knew this was going to be good.
“It’s what Leonard Denmore named him,” Armie explained. “He found Brian in his backyard. He was a baby abandoned by his mother, probably because she died. Leonard took him in and fed him and got way too invested.”
“People keep raccoons as pets?” Gavin asked, obviously fascinated. Gavin loved any quirkiness. He called it the ultimate expression of humanity.
“As babies, raccoons are adorable and quite affectionate, and then they hit mating age and become feral demons who love to throw their own feces around,” Roxie replied. “Leonard’s landlord had Brian removed before he could chew up all the wiring in the house and now Leonard has two very nice cats who don’t toss food at visitors. Zep relocated Brian to a more appropriate habitat, but he’s pretty sure Brian found his way back to town and brought along his new gang. They’ve hit at least three different streets on garbage day. It was not pretty.”
“Trash collection is early here.” Armie leaned on one of the free desks. “Most people put their cans out the night before, and that’s when the critters go to work. We always have problems, but I’ve got to admit Brian has taken it to a whole other level. It’s like The Purge but with garbage.”
Landon frowned. “I still don’t see how this falls under our department. Maybe Zep should call sanitation.”
Rachelle Martin was one of two dispatchers. She wore a wrap dress and sensible shoes. She was probably in her mid-twenties, but she dressed like she was trapped in her fifties. “It’s our problem because I’m getting calls every single day, Landon Price. You don’t even live in town, so you don’t know how bad it is. Hallie Rayburn is in a state of terror. She’d just tossed out her new baby’s trash. Do you know what a group of raccoons can do with a bunch of diapers? It is horrifying. You have to catch them. They are menaces.”
Landon seemed to have lost his arrogance and simply nodded. “Will do. So how do we police what are essentially large and apparently organized rodents?”
“One of you on night shift, go out with Zep tonight,” Armie ordered. “He’s got a plan to catch them in the act, so to speak. Luckily we’re pretty sure they aren’t rabid, but I would wear gloves. And maybe goggles. They’re good at throwing stuff.”
“Major’s on night shift this week,” Landon pointed out.
Armie’s face went grim. “I think we’re going to need to cover for him for a couple of days.”
Roxie was sitting up straight again. “He has an appointment with his dad’s doctors. He told me he would be done long before he had to come in.” Her face went tight. “He’s going to need the night off, isn’t he?”
Armie nodded. “You know I can’t talk about things my wife might know. Or that I might have overheard. But I think we should be ready to take care of his shifts for a couple of days.”
“I’ll do it,” Roxie volunteered. “I’ll go home and feed the pets and come back and work his shift.”
“We’ll split it,” Landon offered. “One of us can stay an extra couple of hours and one comes in early. We can handle it for however long Major needs.”
Brynn’s heart threatened to constrict. What was Major going through? She couldn’t ask because Armie couldn’t answer. It was obvious he knew something about Major’s father he wasn’t supposed to know.
Brynn stood. She needed some air. It had been a week since she’d done anything more than wave hi to Major when she saw him, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something good.
She pushed through the station house’s doors and out to the front, where there was a green yard and a big oak tree. There was a bench where she’d seen some of the local kids sit and eat ice cream they got from the truck that wound its way across the town.
She missed him. She hadn’t known the man for long and she missed him like they’d been together forever.
“Hey, you okay?” Gavin sat down beside her.
She stared out across the lawn. The park wasn’t far, and she could smell the heavenly scent of fried chicken coming from the diner. “I’ve gotten to like this place.”
“Me, too. Are you upset that we start work next week? Or are you worried about him?”
She thought about the question for a moment. “Can I be both?”
“Of course you can.” Gavin slung an arm around the back of the bench. “His father is sick, right? I heard him talking on the phone to a nurse.”
“He has early-onset dementia,” she replied. “He’s on a new protocol, and according to Major, it seemed to be helping him a lot. I suspect he’s getting bad news today. I wish I could be there for him.”
