Winter love

Chapter 1

The call came through ten minutes before the end of her shift, directing her to investigate a reported desecration of property at new church just outside the town.

Officer Caddel Fox- Cadd for her family and friends- grimaced. Acknowledging the directive, she whipped the patrol car into a right U- turn and headed north to the sight of the crime. She did not activate the siren is the bar of flashers on the car roof; there seemed little point at doing so, since the late-night traffic was sparse and the perpetrator of crime was probably long time.

"Ten minutes," she muttered, her sharp face skimming the road before her and the bordering sidewalks; everything appeared peaceful and quiet, as it should at that time of the workweek might.

"Just ten lousy minutes," she continued her muttered grousing. The clustered buildings thinned, the area becoming more rural. "I'd have been back to station, smirking at uncle Duke, my venerated chief, while my replacement was making this run."

Feeling somewhat better for having vented her annoyance, Cadd steered the car into a black topped secondary road, and allowed a soft smile to ease her tight lips.

The smile was in responce to her thought about the man who was her chief, and her uncle. Duke Fox was at the station unusally late, having home in after being notified of the apprehension of a tale suspect.

Her uncle had started as a rookie patrolman with the Spurcewood Police Department over twenty-five years ago, when the town was a lot handful of men. He had work himself up through the tanks as the town and the force had grown and expanded. Duke had made chief two years before Cadd had graduated from the police academy and joined the force.

At that time, Jake, Cadd's father, and the eldest of the four Fox brothers, and a special agent of the FBI, had been, and still was, bureau chief of the Denver office. He'd held that position since before his marriage to Matt's mother, Sarah.

Along with her parental grandmother, Caddel,for whom Cadd had been named, her uncle Duke and his wife Sandra, had happily assumed the sole of surrogate parents of Cadd while she attended the police academy.

Recalling her early days in the force, Cadd laughed aloud. Her uncle Duke had been tough on her, tougher than he'd been on the other rookies. But he'd done so only because he demanded the best from her, expecting her to uphold the family tradition of excellence and dedication to law enforcement.

While Cadd had suffered moments of resentment for being judged by such high standards, passing the rigid Fox mettle test had endowed her with the satisfying rewards of self-esteem, value and worthiness.

Cats was a good cop- a darn good cop,and she knew it. So did everyone else. She had earned the unqualified respect of every members of her family; aunts, uncles, cousins, but most importantly, her parents and her sister, Reyya, who had followed their mother into the practice of law.

The thought of her parents, her sister, send a thrill of anticipation through Cadd. She would be seeing them soon, as her parents and Reyya  we're coming east in a few weeks for the holidays.

Another thought made Cadd grin. Along with having earned the respect of her entire family, she had earned the right to smirk at her cheif on occasion.

The thought was more warming than her police-issue leather jacket.

A few minutes later she reduced her speed to a crawl, then made a sharp turn to the church that had been built just few years before. Its profile gleamed stark white in the glow of the spotlights strategically positioned in the ground.

Bringing the car to a stop, Cadd took more of a dark shape emerging from the shadowed church enterway. The figure was male, and large. As she stepped fron the car, she slid her hand to the holsterd police- issue pistol strapped to her waist.