Free Forgetting Jane by C.J. Warrant Page B

job, so I’m off—Hold on…Do you think cows come back as ghosts too?”
    “Get the hell out of here,” Eli countered, throwing a rolled up paper at his deputy.
    Tom scooted out, but looked back at Eli with a laugh. “Ghosts.”
    “Wait,” Eli called out. “Why were you and the love birds in the back room?”
    Tom stuttered in his step as he closed the door. “Hm. I was hoping you forgot that.”
    He narrowed his eyes at the deputy. “Do I want to know?”
    “Give the kids a break. They are in love,” Tom said. “You’ll be in love one day.”
    “Right. Send them in here,” Eli directed as he looked down at the same paperwork in the past hour.
    Tom saluted before he closed the door.
    A minute later, Officers Beth and Ryan Banning walked in. Beth’s head hung low and Ryan’s shoulders were slumped. Both faces were flushed pink from ear to ear.
    Eli knew exactly what the two had been doing in the back room. He’d caught them once before, right after they returned from their honeymoon. They’d been mauling each other like teenagers since they got married a couple months ago.
    He tried to enforce the rule about married officers and had split their shifts. Beth took the first and Ryan had the second, but an hour overlap gave way to quick liaisons.
    He stared at the two as they stood side by side. He realized what an odd couple they made. In looks, they were polar opposites. Beth barely reached to Ryan’s shoulders. Where he was thin and lanky, she was short with meatiness to her build.
    Love must be truly blind.
    “Do I need to separate you two by giving Ryan the third shift? Or should I be firing one of you?”
    In sync, both popped their heads up and looked at him. Beth had watery eyes, while Ryan went from pink to pale. They shook their heads no.
    “I don’t want to lose either one of you, but your actions need to stop now. You two need to fi—”
    The radio chirped. “Dispatch. There’s an accident on Route U5, near marker 9. A hit and run, two victims. Request ambulance and back up.” Tom’s voice came over with urgency.
    Before the dispatcher, Cindy Lee, answered back, Eli responded. “10-4. On route now. Cindy get on…”
    “Already on it,” the short blonde shouted out as she passed the doorway of the office.
    Eli shot up from his chair and grabbed his jacket. “Ryan, stay here. Beth, you’re with me.”
                                                                                       
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
     
    E li and Beth arrived on the scene within ten minutes. A Volvo had crashed into a large balsam fir that grew out near the ditched road. The way the car hit, the front end was smashed against the tree and the back end sat wedged on the rim of the ditch.              
    As Eli pulled over to the side Tom rushed over to his side of the truck.
    “Both victims are breathing. The man’s out but woman’s awake. Eli, I think it was Harold who ran them off the road. From the way the woman rambled on about a red truck, it has to be him.”
    Eli got out of the vehicle. “We got this. Go bring him in.”
    “Wouldn’t be better if you went?” Tom asked.
    “No.” Eli gave a hard reply.
    “Okay, Chief.” Tom got in his squad and raced off.
    Eli ignored Tom’s barb, got out of the truck and focused his energy on the vehicle. “Beth, grab the blankets in the trunk and the med kit.”             
    He looked down at the ditch. The slope pitched almost in a ninety-degree angle with a few crags jutting out. The small patches of ice and snow made it difficult to find footing. Eli could have slipped under the car.
    Afraid the car would tip forward and crash front first into the ditch, Eli dug his feet into shallow divots and carefully opened the driver side door.
    The front end started to creak as he opened the door