It was nearly 4am when the call came. Half asleep, DuPont reached for the phone on the nightstand. He pulled it under the covers and struggled to speak. “Uh huh,” he said.
“Sorry to wake you this early,” the deputy said. “But we got a call from Mrs. Ames. Apparently she woke up in the middle of the night to find her son Humphrey asleep on the couch. Now normally, this wouldn’t be much of a problem except that Humphrey got busted a few months back for cruisin up and down Interstate 20 and takin advantage of numerous hitchhikers of the female type, if you know what I mean. Fortunately, the boys in Bastrup caught up with him first. Of course, everything went to trial and Humphrey was found guilty and while he was awaiting a spot in Angola, they were holding him in Morehouse Parish. Evidently, he got out.”
“Well I’m sure you upheld your sworn duties and apprehended the man.”
“Yessir. He’s being booked as we speak.”
“So what’s the point of this story, Pete?”
“Well, after we apprehended him, Humphrey swore up and down that he didn’t escape from Morehouse. He’s tellin us that there was a fire and that a man of the cloth came through and opened the jail cell for him. He made all the way to his momma’s house in West Carroll before she called him in.”
DuPont immediately cut on the lamp and sat up in bed. “A man of the cloth?” he asked.
“Yessir. I tried calling Dirk but I can’t reach anyone over there. Do you want me to head out that way?”
The Sheriff threw off the covers. “No!” he said. “Don’t no one head out that way. I’m heading out there myself.”
“But sheriff, if there was a fire, it might be pretty dangerous. At least let me alert Chaz and the fire department.”
DuPont already had his khakis and button up on. He shook his head a moment and thought. “Yeah. Yeah Pete. Call up the fire department. Before I head out to Morehouse, I want to check on something first.”
“Do you want someone to come with you?”
“No. There will be no paperwork on this if you catch my drift. It’s Morehouse Parish’s problem technically. I’m just headed that way out of curiosity.”
“I catch your drift sheriff but should I be concerned?”
DuPont reached for his Stetson off the dresser and placed it on his head. “Well, I’ll tell you what,” he said, “if you don’t hear from me by nine A.M., you’ll have your answer.”
TO BE CONTINUED…