“Can’t we come?” Sally asked, glancing around with her eyes but her head never moved.
“Okay, but if I say run, you run to this door,” Wendy told them and braced her body for the odor to come.
Walking inside, Wendy’s eyes started to water, swearing she could see the smell. Moving into the kitchen and seeing the back door she had tried, Wendy unlocked it and opened it up. Then she moved over to the sink and opened the two windows.
Feeling a breeze, Wendy still didn’t take a deep breath as she led them into the house. In the living room, she stopped at seeing the bloated form of a man holding a woman that was equally bloated lying on the couch. Continuing through the living room, Wendy opened the door she thought would lead her into the garage.
Opening the door, Wendy sighed to see the Tahoe. Then she saw very dark tint on the windows. “How the hell can they have tint that dark?” Wendy mumbled and then saw the post-mounted lights on each side of the windshield. Turning, she looked at the other vehicle for the first time and saw it was a sedan, also with the post-mounted lights by the windshield. But on the sedan, she saw forward mounted flashing lights beside the rearview mirror.
“How in the hell could cops afford to live in this neighborhood?” she asked, walking over to the Tahoe and opened the door. Not seeing the keys, Wendy closed the door and headed back inside. Stopping in the living room, Wendy saw the man and woman were only wearing shorts.
“At least you died together,” she mumbled and then moved over to the front windows and opened them up a few inches. The breeze blew in, pulled through the house, and out the back open doors and windows.
“That’s better,” Jo Ann said, looking around. “Are those the keys on the bar?”
Turning to the kitchen, Jo Ann saw the bar that separated the kitchen and living room. On the bar were two sets of keys. Walking over, she saw the keys for the Tahoe. Snatching them up, “Very good. Now, since they were cops, let’s find the guns,” Wendy said, moving around the first floor and very happy she hadn’t had to entertain those earlier bad thoughts about the occupied houses with SUVs.
She found an office and a gun safe in the corner. “Come on,” she groaned, stomping her foot.
“Try the keys,” Sally said, moving over to the safe.
“Baby, it needs a combination to open,” Wendy told her, looking at the safe and wondering how to break into it.
“No, look,” Sally said, pointing at the combination dial and a key slot.
Holding up the keys, Wendy moved over and started trying them out. On the third try, the key slid into the lock and to Wendy’s surprise, it turned. Grabbing the handle, Wendy turned it and heard the bars in the door unlock. “Why didn’t Arthur make us gun safes like this?” Wendy wondered, opening the door.
“Wow,” Sally said, looking at the rows of guns.
Jo Ann moved over to look inside. “Can you shoot them?” she asked hopefully.
“Girls, not only can I shoot them, I can take them apart and put them back together,” Wendy said, putting the spear gun on the desk. “For once, I won’t complain about a Glock,” Wendy said, pulling out a pistol.
Ejecting the magazine, Wendy smiled at the full mag. Press checking the pistol, Wendy saw brass and let the slide lock back and then slapped the magazine back in. “Glock 17, I’m betting this was hers,” Wendy said, looking back in the safe and pulling another pistol out. “Glock 37, I’m sure this was his.”
“They have boy and girl guns?” Jo Ann asked as Wendy put the Glock 37 on the desk.
“No, but boys tend to go with bigger bullets,” Wendy said. “Can I get you two to sit and feed Ryan? Then can you play with him, but stay in this room. I’m going to check the rest of the house.”
They looked at the ease with which Wendy held the pistol in her hand and felt much safer. “Okay,” they said in unison.
Taking Ryan off, Wendy left him with the girls and grabbed the keys from the lock on the safe. Walking back into the living room, Wendy stopped and looked at the second set of keys and saw the same key on it that had unlocked the gun safe. Grabbing the keys, she moved back into the garage and climbed into the Tahoe.
Turning the key on, Wendy saw the gas tank was half full. “I’ll take that,” she said and moved over to the sedan and turned the key on, finding it only had a quarter of a tank. Moving to the trunk, Wendy almost used the key but then saw a trunk button on the fob. Pressing it, she stepped back as the trunk popped open.
Seeing an equipment bag, Wendy pulled it out and set it on the floor. In a gun rack was an M4 and Wendy went through the keys until she found the one that unlocked it. Taking the M4 out, Wendy set it on the duffle bag and dug through the trunk and found a garment bag with a pair of tactical boots. It only took a glance to tell Wendy they were female boots. Looking at the size, “Six and a half is almost a seven, I’ll try them,” Wendy mumbled.
Unzipping the garment bag, Wendy found a spare uniform. “Girl stays prepared,” Wendy nodded, setting the boots next to the bag.
Walking back inside, Wendy headed upstairs and walked in the first room and found it was the master bedroom. Seeing a picture on the dresser, Wendy walked over and picked it up. It showed a nice-looking man and woman in sheriff uniforms. They both looked around
