Night Light

Often times parents can get really tired of their children, especially when their children are adults and still living with them. As the call comes in, the complainant is a father who caught wind through neighborhood chatter that his 25 year old drug dealing son had a warrant out for his arrest. And being the loving father he was, he was going to turn him in to the authorities.

 My beat partner and I arrived at the house. As I spoke with the father, it was a typical merry-go-round conversation that revolved around his son not respecting the house and that he was constantly bringing in illegal substances and allowing shady people onto the property. Fair enough. We obtained the son's information in order to check him on our national system to confirm the warrant. Not that we didn't trust the father but a confirmation is required and well, people lie. Our police radios buzzed back with the long awaited information. Warrant confirmed. The father chose this very moment to share that his son was in the back bedroom but when he heard us arrive he ran out the back door just prior to us knocking.Hmm. Please note that useful information does not always come at the best time. My beat partner and I checked the house and all the bedrooms just to be sure and well, people lie. The house was clear and empty. We all walked together to the back of the house. We stood at the rear of the home for a few moments talking to the father who was now becoming worried about his son.

 I opened the back door to look out at the empty quarter of an acre yard with a wood line nestled closely to the left muffling the sound of the distant street traffic. I walked down the few steps into the yard. My beat partner began to stare at me with his please don't look on his face. He always knew when I was up to something, and was always reluctant to participate. Nonetheless he came and stood beside me in the night mist, leaned in and whispered " I'm not walking through those woods." I grinned and asked the father to please turn out the back porch light and go inside. He complied quickly. 

My beat partner and I quietly talked a little shop as we stood at the base of the steps in the pitch black dark and I whisper "Just wait." About three minutes had passed with us just standing in the backyard in complete darkness and awkward silence when it happened. Our young man with the warrant had grown impatient and checked his watch for the time, and illuminated the face of his watch. I yelled out "There he is!" and the chase was on! We sprinted through the trees and around fallen branches like jungle cats after a gazelle. I continued to weave in and out with graceful strides only seeing a shadow of a person. Then suddenly I hear a THUD! My beat partner had face planted somewhere behind me. I slowed my run as I approached the parallel road, looking right and left. No one in sight. Gone. Our loss. I continued to scan our surroundings as I looked just at the outskirt of the woods where we came out, my eyes fall onto a large black duffle bag. We approached the bag investigating the broken strap and opened it only to find 6 Ziploc bags with approximately a pound of marijuana in each. His loss.