The cigarette dropped from Dwayne’s mouth to his feet, where it stayed sizzling on the car floor mat. I winced as he grabbed me, from the sheer olfactory force of perfume a la Dwayne. Gosh, but you need a bath., I thought, trying not to breathe in too deeply.

“You, you mean he’s – “

“Ease off, m’boy. Everything’s going to be okay. Easy-peasey.”

“Really?” The dark brown puppy eyes look at me eagerly, pleadingly, but…

“No.” Dwayne really can be a bit short on intellect sometimes.

“Ooooh, whatever shall I doooo? The boss’s gonna murder me. Ooooh.”

Yeah, as if. More like hang, draw, and quarter him. I pat Dwayne lightly on the shoulder. “Relax. I’ll put this to rights.” I groped in my pockets for a pen and pad of paper, and continued. “Let’s see, we’re just past Dunderhead Rail Crossing. The kid probably jumped off ‘round there, when we were waiting for the train to pass. So, we backtrack and start from there. Simple. See?”

“Bless you, Mike. I owe you one.”

I swear, this is why I love my job.