Fortin was the one who’d put Lyle in jail for two days on assault charges from the previous incident. Trudy pleaded to the court for Lyle not to be kept in custody. Helped by relatives and neighbors, she’d raised the money for Lyle’s bond and the court released him with the promise he’d seek counseling and show up for his next court date, which had been set and pushed back several times.

This is how these things go.

Now, his next court appearance was not for three weeks.

Why the court didn’t order Lyle to surrender his firearms was a head-shaking mystery to Fortin.

Now look at what we’ve got. Not good at all. Those little kids have been through hell.

In the static-filled radio silence Fortin searched the night for options on how he should approach the Dolan home.

-Chapter 6-

Southern Alberta

It was at times like this that Fortin hated that Lone Tree was an understaffed detachment. The fact that one of the other constables had booked off sick today didn’t help matters. This was Fortin’s seventh straight night shift and he was exhausted.

But he had to follow the backup policy on the Dolan call.

I can’t respond alone.

He considered calling an off-duty member for backup, Ted Dawson, but Ted was a solid hour away, if he was home. He could try requesting help from detachments nearby like Cardston, Rosestone, or Raymond, but again, they too were an hour away. He could request support from the RCMP Emergency Response Team in Calgary, but it’d be more than two hours before those guys got down here. Maybe the Tactical Unit with Lethbridge police, they were closer?

I’ve got to do something now.

“Control to Six, did you copy?”

“Six, ten-four, copied. Control, can you dispatch a member to back me up out of Rosestone Creek?”

“Stand by.”

While waiting, Fortin reviewed his dealings with Lyle Dolan one more time, knowing that he had to follow policy to the letter. He couldn’t walk into a dangerous domestic alone, or there’d be hell to pay.

“Control to Six, we’ve got Wilson coming from Rosestone Detachment, he’s forty-five minutes from you.”

“Ten-four, thanks.”

“Control to Six, what’s your ETA on the Dolan residence?”

“Coming up to the place now. I’ve got a visual on it.”

Fortin eased his car onto the gravel shoulder in front of the property. He killed his lights, put the transmission into park, and sized things up. The Dolan residence, the barn, and the outbuildings, sat near the road. The closest neighbor was a quarter mile away but right off, he didn’t like what he saw in the narrow, puddle-filled driveway.