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connecting flight and therefore wouldn’t arrive until later.  Tuck exited the hospital and jumped into his truck.  He wanted to pass out, unfortunately it was an arduous drive to his house.  Another large cup of coffee and he headed for home.
                                           
    *****
     
    Tuck ’s cell phone rang over the pop music he had blasted in an attempt to keep himself awake.  It was Kerr.
    “ Where are you?”  Kerr sounded less than impressed.  Tuck’s Sergeant was a patient man, but Tuck had pressed him. Tuck pulled the truck over and composed himself for the upcoming lecture.
    “ I’m on Route 25.”  He regretted spewing the truth as soon as it left his lips.
    “ I believe, no, I KNOW I told you to go home when I talked to you nearly twelve hours ago.”  Yup, Kerr was pissed.  Very pissed.  “Did you go home?  No.  Do you know how I know this?”
    That ’s a good question.  How did he know?
    “ I know this because 610 saw you a few minutes ago on his way home.”  Fucking state troopers. They gossiped like little girls.  “I don’t want your ass driving around with a serious head injury.”
    “ It’s not serious,” Tuck tried to interject.
    “ Johnston, shut the hell up and listen.  You shouldn’t be driving around in a marked car in your condition.  That was why Mitch was instructed to drive you home.  But apparently neither of you can follow orders.  Do you need to be reminded of how the chain of command works?  I give the fucking commands, you follow them.  Is that easy enough to understand?”
    “ Yes, sir.”  Tuck felt like a child being scolded.  His Sergeant was vocal and did not hide his anger when his men acted beyond their scope, or went against orders.  
    “ The minute you get home, call me.  Park that truck and don’t even think about touching the damn keys until you have clearance from your doctor in writing.”
    “ Yes, sir.”
    Silence settled as Kerr calmed his quick, but appropriate temper.
    “Minus your insubordination…” Kerr paused.  “You did a good job.  More than was, or should be expected.  Which is why I suspect you stayed at the hospital, against your better judgment.  You didn’t want her to be alone.  Is that correct?”
    “ Someone needed to be there.”  Tuck wasn’t going any further.  Some form of law enforcement should have been there.  Period.  They could have spared one of the state troopers at the scene.  It wasn’t like those boys were going into the woods and getting their boots dirty.  Instead Kerr wanted a note left with a nurse to call them if she regained consciousness.  It was bullshit.
    “ It’s a dangerous thing, getting personally involved in your professional duties.  You need to work on that, keeping the two separate and in check.” 
    Tuck didn ’t answer.  The two were separate, but he was human.  He couldn’t treat the situation with absolute detachment because it was unnatural to do so.  And he knew as much as his Sergeant spewed, he would do the same.
    “ Have you found anything?”
    “ The dogs followed her scent halfway up the ridge then went off the trail.  They followed the scent for about six miles and found the dead deer and two sets of ATV tracks.  The tracks led to an ATV trail about ten miles away and no tracking them from there.  They could have come out on ten different trails and had more than twelve hours to get out of the woods.”
    “ Six miles off the trail?”  Tuck didn’t comprehend that part.
    “ Yeah.  Any idea why she wandered that far off?”
    “ No idea.”  He thought.  “She said something about a plane.  There haven’t been any plane crashes up there?”
    Kerr hesitated.  “ No.”
    “ She mentioned finding an old plane in the woods, but there’s nothing out there.”
    “ No, there isn’t.”
    “ Did you get her bag?”
    “ Ryan has it.  It’s time for you to stop worrying about the case