Officer Blake Alston took the left turn out of town and began to head along the back road, which looped around the outskirts, at a crawl. It was after midnight on a Saturday, the last bar in town had closed, and all was quiet but for the sound of crickets and bullfrogs. His shift was done. The deputy figured he would drive once around the outskirts just to check, and go on home. There wouldn’t be anyone there and the bed wouldn’t be warm, but the big double bed was better than the seat of his ca