Peril in the Pines Ch. 07

Then there's the baby of the family, Gordon Martin Olson, who recently graduated from the police academy up near the top of his class, and is now a rookie investigator on the state's attorney's staff.

Jan is still beautiful, still wonderful, and still teaching. She turned down two offers of principal jobs, and insists that her elementary school pupils still make her feel young at heart, and challenge her daily to put meaning into their lives.

Jan's mother passed away a year ago, in her sleep with a smile on her face. She loved being a grandmother, and as our children grew into their teens she regaled them with stories of her own younger, wilder years while stuffing them full of milk and cookies, the same afternoon snack she'd spoiled them with since first grade. We still have her cute little mother-in-law cottage, the park model with a large slide, attached to our kitchen. It's all ready to welcome visitors at any time. It sits at the back of our extra lot, with a four car garage in front of it. One of the things in the garage is my old yellow Jeep. It's been lovingly restored and is all ready to roll, but I left the bullet hole that the hit man put in the hood, as a reminder of past adventures.

My old friend and mentor, Sheriff Peterson, served two more terms after our wedding and then announced that he was retiring from public office. He called a press conference to make that announcement, and mentioned that he hoped to see Vince run as his successor. Various old hands in the police world filed papers to run for the office, but within two weeks after Vince officially announced his candidacy all the others had withdrawn, leaving Vince to run uncontested. Talk about professional respect! I can't think of a more profound compliment for the way he's done his job and lived his life.

I'm still Chief Deputy, promoted a step at a time to wearing colonel's eagles but still pushing constant improvement, anticipation, and action plans A, B, and C. Vince is in his fourth term now, and he says this will be his last. Sergeant Kathleen Cafferty Meyers is getting ready to run to succeed him, with attorney Chet Meyers, her husband, managing her campaign. I figure she's a sure thing, because she's done such a good job all these years that she'll get a lot of votes from the police in the county, plus the Irish, plus the feminists. Then there's the religion angle to consider. The Catholic votes alone will give her a formidable push, and she's also very popular at Chet's temple, so she may get a strong Jewish vote as well. As for Chet and his asociates, nobody has ever figured out how to predict whether lawyers will agree on anything, but I'll go out on a limb and guess that the attorneys in the county will support Kathleen, too, and we've got a lot of them. I'll make another prediction: once Kathleen is elected, she'll do such a good job that she'll keep the job as long as she feels like running for re-election.

Many things have changed over the years, and we've scurried to keep our Sheriff's office up to date and as efficient as any police force in the southwest. But one relic of the past that I've refused to part with is the good old all-steel Smith & Wesson 40 caliber pistol that the Sheriff handed me before I was even on his payroll. To some it probably seems old fashioned, but to me it symbolizes accuracy, reliability, and security. And symbolism aside, it'll still shoot the bullseye out of a target any day of the week.

Oh, I've gotta go now. Tim, my senior deputy, just came in to get me for a tour through the northern part of the county, where we'll meet with leading citizens in three towns whose residents are asking for more patrols through their area. I've promised Sheriff Vince a full report tomorrow morning over coffee, so we can come up with a plan. But of course, we'll actually come up with plans A, B, and C. That's how we do things around here!