The Stories of the Wild One (continued)

He was not sure that he liked it—nor was he entirely certain that he did not. Based on rumors he had overheard, she sometimes liked to bring her work home, as it were—complete with handcuffs. John could not quite figure out whether the idea intrigued him . . . or terrified him.

Probably both, he decided, and then shoved the whole idea forcibly from his mind. That is so not happening.

Snapping the keys onto his belt, he looked down to his clipboard. With mixed feelings of relief and reluctance, he saw that it was the same patrol assignment as he had received the previous night. Although there were plenty of other places along the route where a dead body could turn up, he found the consistency somewhat reassuring. So far, he had only encountered when he had been assigned to a different patrol route

And let’s keep it that way.

John knew, though, that this patrol assignment would probably change tomorrow—or certainly within the week. Although he had not thought to ask whose route it normally was, he guessed that it probably belonged to someone was out sick, or on vacation, and he would be assigned somewhere else when that person returned. For the moment, though, he took it as a sign that the evening would hopefully be far less eventful than some of the previous ones had been.

He climbed into the patrol car, dumping his computer bag and lunch onto the passenger seat. Starting it, he saw that the gas tank showed as nearly full.

About time . . .

His two of his last three shifts had all started with him having to locate an open gas station so that he could complete his full patrol for the night. Most gas stations, he thought, were open twenty-four hours a day. Apparently not in this part of town, he had discovered much to his initial aggravation. Once the tank was filled, and he was feeling more charitable toward the owners of the stations that he had found closed, he decided that it probably did make sense. Getting robbed on a regular basis was probably less profitable than remaining open all night in a neighborhood with a high crime rate.