Faith came home with a forlorn, downcast
frown. It had been a long, hard day. All she wanted was a good meal and a bed.

It all began when it rained just after
dawn. The roof leaked with a constant “drip, drip” echoing through her dreams.
Breakfast was unappetising. She washed it down with mouthfuls of water.

Kenneth met her at the gate and opened the
car door so she could sit up front. Normally, Faith would have sat in the back
seat with the window open, feeling the wind on her face. Today though, besides
the constant drizzle outside, the backseat was wet because Kenneth had left the
window open overnight. Faith kept her comments to herself during the fifteen-minute
drive to work. She was not happy.

The day did not improve. Faith’s coat was
not at all waterproof, regardless of what the boss claimed. Faith and Kenneth’s
responsibilities were to track down drug carriers within the police force. That
might sound a neat job to some and most of these law enforcement officers were
her friends but it was also difficult to suspect these trusted friends as an enemy
They often shared a meal in the lunch-room. They joked together and tossed a
ball around when the telephone was quiet. Faith particularly liked Jonesy; he
always brought chocolate biscuits for morning coffee.

Today Faith had roamed the exterior of the
car park behind police headquarters a number of times. There had been a tip-off.
A shipment of heroin seized at the wharf, yesterday and while it was at
headquarters, it had vanished overnight. At headquarters Chief Barrymore had stored
the drugs in an unused vault behind the cells, for safekeeping. Some vault. It
was barely high enough for Kenneth to peer inside and examine the dark chasm.
Faith had to crawl on her belly along the short distance to discover the back wall
cut away—precariously balanced to give the appearance that it was still intact.

Faith had searched the surrounding area
using her keen senses and training. The cracked concrete car park showed signs
of fresh oil mixed with the rainwater. The murky liquid spread over an area
where a car had recently parked. Kenneth appeared behind her. He must have finally
realised where she was because he had gone around through the back door of the
stone-age building to find her searching for clues.

It was still raining. In fact, it was becoming
a heavy downpour. Kenneth knew she would not give up. Before he could pull Faith
under the cover of a broken awning, she had raced off again towards a car that was
parked opposite the squad vehicles.

It was Jonesy’s car. Faith was all over the
old Ford V8 in seconds. Chief Barrymore hurried over with an umbrella. What use
an umbrella had, Faith had no idea. The three yelled at each other above the
noise of the rain. Kenneth forced opened the boot with a piece of metal from
the wrecked security fence. Concealed inside the boot were the missing bags of
heroin. Chief Barrymore turned and ran as fast as he could against the driving
rain. His umbrella turned inside out with a violent rip, flew from his hold,
and lodged into the fence, narrowly missing Kenneth struggling with the duffle
bag.

In the confusion, Faith noticed Jonesy
creeping around the side of the building toward one of the squad cars. She
bounded after him, leaving Kenneth to deal with the now-soaking heroin. Jonesy
had, for some reason, removed the outer waterproof bags and emptied the
contents into his duffel bag, which left the powder exposed to the weather.

Faith dived on to Jonesy, bringing him down
hard onto the concrete. Chief Barrymore and three other officers arrived as he
hit the ground. Jonesy was handcuffed and taken back inside. Kenneth called to
Faith as he passed carrying the duffle bag over his shoulder.

Fortunately, the rain eased before Kenneth
and Faith finished their long shift and headed home.

“You did great today,” Kenneth praised
Faith as he dried her off with an old towel.

He put an extra handful of dried biscuits
into her dish and gave her a pat before heading to his bedroom to change into
dry clothes. Faith ate her tea hungrily and wandered off to her kennel. She
dreamt of chocolate biscuits she would no longer get at coffee breaks and the
loss of her good friend Jonesy.

© Chrissy Siggee

Kenneth
and Faith are real. All other characters,
and the story, are fiction.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading …

About Chrissy Siggee

Hi, I’m Chrissy,  More
information about me can be found HERE

• Mail

|

• Web

|

• More Posts (376)