“Are you hungry?”
“No. I’ll be hungry in the morning,” he replied.
“I hope we have power in the morning. All it takes is one car to skid off the road, take out a pole.”
“Maybe that will happen on the other side of the county, not our side.”
“Yeah, sure.” She grinned, continuing to look out the window. “Hope all the foxes, deer, bear, birdies are tucked up.”
“You know they are. They’re smarter about the weather than we are. Come on and sit back down. I miss you already.”
She snuggled next to him. The cats each claimed a lap, Tucker flopped in front of the fireplace.
—
Cooper, snug in a large county SUV, parked in the lot where Routes 250 and 240 separate, one going straight into Crozet and the other veering slightly south of that. Fortunately, there wasn’t much traffic. After a few hours of this, her shift about to end, she turned for home, driving west on Route 250. Sheriff Shaw told her not to worry about getting the car back to the station. Just take it home, come back out in the morning.
Heading down 250 she passed the small shopping center with Harris Teeter and the BB&T bank, kept going. As she kept heading west, she noticed across from Legacy Market and the BP station, a car halfway down the road. She called in the site. It would need to be towed off the road. She put on her flashers, got out, pulling on her jacket, took out her flashlight. No one in the Toyota Yaris, brand new, too.
Eager to get back in the county SUV, she called out, “Anyone here?”
The wind drowned out her voice. The snow fell so thick, so fast. She could barely see her hand in front of her face. Nonetheless, she walked along the roadside on both sides in both directions for fifty yards. Nothing. She couldn’t even make out the lay of the land. If anyone had turned off the road, she’d only see them if she came right up on them.
She called as she walked. No response.
Finally she gave up, returned to the SUV, gratefully opened the door.
There had been a few accidents. She hoped it wouldn’t be hours before a tow truck showed up. Luckily Jason Harvey, down on Route 151, just finished up a small mess at the 151 and 250 stoplight, took the call, headed east on 250 for Cooper.
She saw the tow truck, whispered, “Thank you, Jesus.” She got out of the car.
“Hey, Jason. Happy New Year.”
“You, too, Coop,” he called out the window as he maneuvered the big tow truck to hitch up the Yaris.
“While you’re lining that up, let me check the glove compartment. I should have done that in the first place.” She opened the door, nothing locked, read the papers, flashlight in hand.
The new vehicle belonged to Enterprise Rental, rented by Henrietta Bolander, address in Church Hill, Richmond.
Coop trained the beam on the front seat, nothing there. Then she checked the rear. Nothing. The keys, still in the ignition, had a button to unlock the trunk. She figured she’d better check it. So she pressed it. The trunk lid popped open.
Walking around she shone the light.
“What the…?”
Gary Gardner’s file books were stacked in the trunk. She wasn’t entirely certain as to the number of files he had in the first place, but the trunk was full of them. Wearing her gloves she opened one box. Papers. Building codes.
“Jason, take this and impound it, will you? Lock it up and give your dad the key. I’ll pick them up from him tomorrow or whenever the roads are okay.”
“All right.”
“It’s not exactly county policy but I don’t want to take a chance with this car.”
“What’s back there. Gold?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. As she climbed back into the car, she noticed all the lights went out. Total darkness except for her headlights and those of Jason’s tow truck.
She wondered if she should have put the file boxes into her SUV, then realized they should be fingerprinted first as well as the trunk. Who was to say when the power would come back on?
Well, that was life in the country, but she knew it would be a long, cold night.
9
January 1, 2017
Sunday
Parking near Coop’s back door, she moved the cats, who were grumpy about it, to grab two large shopping bags filled with food. She put them on the snow for a moment, lifted out the cats. Tucker had already jumped down. She waved to her husband, who waved back.
Knocking on the door, the four waited. The temperature wouldn’t budge off twenty-two degrees, Fahrenheit. Well, it was better than below zero.
The door opened. Cooper, in a heavy sweater, smiled. “Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year. I figured you worked late last night. Brought food. You can heat the casserole on your stove.”
“Thank God for gas.” Cooper eagerly took the two bags as Harry unburdened herself of a few layers of clothing.
A fire heated the room. All the old houses built before electricity had fireplaces. With a steady wood supply, a person could still get through winter without other sources of heat. The trick was keeping the fire going.
“Tuna puffs?” Pewter eagerly asked.