Faith's Sheriff (Montgomery Family and Friends) Read Online Free PDF Page A

She tightened her hold on the phone and placed it against her ear.  It rang once then twice.
    Finally someone on the other end answered, “911 please state your emergency.” 
    “My name is Faith umm Faith Riley and I am with Sheriff Cole Duncan at 125 um yes 125 Cypress Lane.  The sheriff has requested backup.”
    “What’s the emergency,” the dispatcher insisted on knowing.
    “I… I’m not sure,” Faith stammered.  “We came to this address looking for the mother of a neighbor.  There was a person collapsed on the front porch when we arrived and the door was standing wide open.  The sheriff went inside to check it out and he told me to call you.  He hasn’t come back out yet.”  She let out a strangled sob as her nerves finally got the better of her.  “Um I don’t know exactly what the problem is, but Cole needs help. Please hurry,” she implored the woman on the other end of the phone. 
    “I’ve got an officer on the way and an ambulance too just in case,” the woman answered in a calm and soothing voice.  “I want you to stay on the line with me until they arrive or you can put Sheriff Duncan on okay.”
    “O…o… okay.”  Faith’s teeth were chattering.  She was suddenly very cold.  She trapped the phone between her ear and shoulder and wrapped both arms around her body trying to warm herself.  She glanced back at Jasmine and was happy to see that the little girl was still sleeping.  She looked so sweet and innocent, and Faith was deathly afraid that that poor little girl’s world was about to change forever.
    “Faith, are you still there?” The woman on the other end of the phone line asked.
    The composed voice of the dispatcher brought her back from her morbid thoughts.  “Yes, I’m still here,” she confirmed.  “Sheriff Duncan hasn’t come out of the house yet.”  Faith perked up.  She could hear sirens in the distance.  The shrill sound was faint but growing louder with each passing second.  “I can hear sirens,” she told the dispatcher.
    “Good, someone will be there with you soon, just stay on the phone with me until they arrive.”
    A large figure jogged out of the house and Faith’s heart almost stopped.  She let out a stifled scream.  Before her scream could get any louder the silhouette passed by a light and she recognized Cole immediately.  “Here comes the sheriff,” she told the dispatcher.  Faith unlocked the doors and waited for him to slide into the driver’s seat next to her.  She wordlessly held out the phone for the sheriff to take. 
    Cole looked at the shivering and pale woman sitting next to him and was almost overcome by a sudden and all-consuming urge to wrap her in his protective embrace and never let go.  There’d been a ghastly murder and attempted murder committed here tonight and this sweet and innocent bystander had been dragged in the middle because of her good deed and concern for a student and neighbor.  He took the phone she’d offered and held it to his ear. 
    “Hello this is Sheriff Cole Duncan.  I’ve got two gunshot victims.  One is still alive.  I need an ambulance sent to 125 Cypress Lane ASAP!  I’m going back onto the porch to wait for backup.  There’s no sign of the perpetrator in the house.  Make sure the responding officers know I’m here and that there is an unarmed woman and child inside the black SUV parked in the driveway.” 
    The last thing he wanted was for some gung ho officer to ride to the crime scene with guns blazing and scare Faith more than she already was or worse accidently injure her.  He would never forgive himself if anything happened to Faith.  He was the one that had brought her to the crime scene even though this was probably the last thing he had ever expected to find here.
    He handed the phone back to Faith.  The sirens were getting louder and had to be close.  “I’ve got to go out there and wait for help.”  He cupped her chin and looked her dead in the