19. The Raid

Chrissy receives the surprise of her life!

Against his better judgment, the lieutenant did not lock Chrissy up in a cell. He gave custody of her over to another officer and instructed him to get a statement from her and to keep an eye on her until further notice.

The two officers that he sent to the Hershberger farm returned about an hour and a half later with Emily. The lieutenant's mood softened a little when he saw the emotional reunion between the girl and her mother. Chrissy and Emily were taken by another officer to the employee's lounge to wait while the officers and a sergeant went into the lieutenant's office to be debriefed.

“What did you find out?” asked the lieutenant.

One of the officers consulted a notebook as he spoke. “We talked to an Amish couple named Micah and Sarah Hershberger and took statements from them. They couldn't corroborate very much of the woman's story I'm afraid. They insisted that they believed her, though. They also told us a few stories about how corrupt the sheriff's department is. It's all rumor and hearsay, though. Nothing concrete. Then we interviewed the girl. The story she told us syncs pretty well with what her mother said. She insists that she saw some men loading marijuana into a van.”

“Do you believe her?” asked the lieutenant.

He shrugged. “It didn't feel like she was lying to me.”

“Do you think that's enough probable cause to get a warrant to search that building?” asked the sergeant.

“I have a better idea,” answered the lieutenant, “Let's send a couple of patrol cars out that way and find a reason to pull one of those vans over. We'll send the K-9 unit, too. If the dog alerts us to drugs in the van then it'll be easy to get a warrant.”

“What about the sheriff's department?”

The lieutenant looked troubled. “We all know there's dirty cops, but I'm still having a hard time believing that the whole department is bad.” He grew thoughtful for a few moments. “Let's just worry about those drug dealers for the time being. But we won't let the sheriff's department in on what we're doing... just to be on the safe side.”

They finished their meeting and the sergeant sent two patrol cars along with the K-9 unit to the area near the building next to the general store. Then they waited.

About an hour later they received a report that one of the patrol cars pulled over a delivery van for a faulty tag-light. The dog immediately alerted them to drugs in the van and the vehicle was searched. It was found to be full of marijuana and methamphetamine. Then something strange happened. Two sheriff's deputies showed up and tried to take over the crime scene. The state officers refused and a tense standoff ensued that almost ended with weapons being drawn. The two deputies then backed down and abruptly left the scene. When the driver of the van realized he wasn't going to be rescued by the deputies he panicked and began cooperating fully with the officers. He told them everything he knew about Billy Groover's operation and that it had the full protection of the sheriff.

The lieutenant had no trouble obtaining a warrant to search the building after that and a team of several officers was sent out. They found plenty of drugs and cash and several men were taken into custody. He also sent some officers to Groover's house and they caught him loading his car with luggage and bags of money. He had a airline ticket in his pocket.

The sheriff's department did not interfere with any of their operations. Indeed, the whole department seemed to be in complete disarray. The sheriff was in the hospital and his second-in-command had abruptly walked out of his office and disappeared. No one seemed to know who was in charge.

It was near midnight when a rather weary lieutenant stepped into the lounge and instructed Chrissy to follow him. Emily was asleep on a sofa under the watchful eye of an officer. Chrissy followed the lieutenant into a room with a large window in one wall that looked into another room.

“We made several arrests tonight and we're going to bring some men into the other room and line them up,” he said, “I want you to look at them carefully and tell me if you recognize any of them. Don't worry - that's one-way glass. We can see them, but they can't see us.”

Chrissy nodded and six men soon filed into the room and lined up against the wall. Chrissy's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. She took a step back and muttered, “Gah!!”

“You recognize one of them?!” the lieutenant asked.

“N-number three!!” she pointed.

“Number three? You recognize number three?”

“I should hope so!” she exclaimed, “He's my husband!”

Author's Note

Hah! I couldn't completely leave Ian out of the whole story.

Suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Reviews

[Aspasia]

IAN! HA! I KNEW IT! Figured since the last chapter was named "Ian." But I thought Chrissy would welcome him home to find he'd been cheating on her, or something. Excellent plot twist.

[Craig2591]

Thanks for the read and review.

[Tina Kline]

Now what does Ian have to do with this. Thought he was far away off doing something else. Interesting twist having him in the line up whether he's one of them or someone paid to stand there in the line up..

[Craig2591]

Thanks. The next chapter explains all.

[Nienor Niniel]

This chapter seems to tie a nice tidy bow on things. The bad guys get busted and the heroine(s) get cleared; everyone lives happily ever after.... Then Ian pops up. Hee hee, how'd he get mixed up in all of this?

[Craig2591]

Thanks. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.