Badges

called out and your shirt is wet? You’ll be a sheet of ice within ten minutes. No, we’ll just hang ’em up.”

    They slid into a parking spot at the motel, and Dale went in and got a room. He told the desk to put through any calls for car two-twenty-one or for either of them by name.

    “You got any food around here?” Dale asked.

    “The best I can do for you guys is coffee and pizza. We’ve got frozen pizzas in the freezer, and I can throw a couple in the oven for you and brew some coffee. You all can either eat here in the lobby or take it back to your room.”

    “Thanks, we really appreciate that, Sid. Say about a half hour?”

    “Better make it forty-five minutes.”

    “Okay, see you then,” Dale said as he went out to the car. He moved it over to directly in front of their room, popped their portable radios out of the car charger, gathered paperwork, and headed into the room. Dale fumbled around for the light switch, and when he found it, both men were a little unnerved when they got a look at the room. There was only one bed.

    “Well, this is interesting. I’ll check to see if he has a room with two beds,” Dale said as he picked up the phone.

    “Hey, Sid, Dale here. You got a room with two beds, by chance?”

    “Sure don’t, Dale. The vacant rooms all have one queen-size bed. We got really filled up today because of the weather.”

    “Okay, thanks anyway; see you shortly.”

    “What? We’re stuck with this?” Rob asked.

    “Yep, looks that way. Motel is filled up for the same reason we’re here. We’ll just have to make do.”

    They put their belongings down and looked in the bathroom, which was as clean as the bed area. Rob flicked the TV on and found the weather. The news program was predicting another seven to ten inches of snow before morning with a temperature of seven degrees.

    “Holy shit, it’s gonna be cold out there tonight,” Rob said.

    Before Dale could answer him, the phone rang.

    “Officer Maxwell.”

    “Dale, it’s your cold and hungry sergeant here. You guys settled in?”

    “Yeah, kinda, Sarge. We got a room with one bed in it, but we’ll make do, I guess. Sid at the front desk is cooking pizza and coffee for us, and there’s plenty of ice!”

    When Drummond stopped laughing at the last part of Dale’s remark, he said, “We’ve got the other two guys at the Marchwell Motel. They’ve only got one bed too, and they’re real unhappy about that, but they’ll live. I’m going to anchor us at the station. If county dispatch goes out due to the weather, I can take calls here and dispatch from the station if necessary. I just pulled out the old army cot from storage and will bed down in the office here. If anything comes up, just call me on the phone; save your battery for the road. County road maintenance is coming by, and they’ll be putting chains on your cruiser. Hopefully that will enable you to get around easier.”

    “Okay, Sarge, sleep well.”

    Dale passed on what the sergeant had said, and he and Rob left their room to go eat. When they entered the lobby, they found a lot of people waiting on pizza, which was enough to make them decide to take theirs back to the room and eat. They grabbed the pizza and the coffee and headed back to their room, bracing against the strong wind that was now whipping the snow up into a blinding wall of wet, cold white.

    When they finished their meager dinner, they both felt a little better for having something in their stomachs. There was also a coffee pot in the room and enough supplies to make two pots in the morning. Dale was sure he could get more supplies from Sid if he asked.

    They both removed their uniforms and hung them up to try and keep them as wrinkle free as possible. That left both men in their underwear—Dale in his long johns and Rob in a surprisingly sexy tight little pair of briefs that made Dale look twice.

    They lay on the bed and watched what television they could get and then began to feel tired. They decided to try and sleep, and they turned off the TV and lights and crawled under the sheets. It was a tight fit, as both men were fairly large and well built. As they lay there in the dark thinking, Dale felt the heat coming from Rob’s body and worried that during their sleep, he might snuggle into his temporary partner.

    “Look, if I turn over in the night and put my arm over you or something, just wake me up and I’ll move it. Okay?”

    “Count on that, dude. Likewise