❧
Matt stopped outside the parking area to the university and waited. As soon as he saw the little blue car, he began pursuit. He pushed the button for the siren to alert the car to stop, which it did.
“16Bravo4,” he said to the radio.
“16Bravo4 copy,” the dispatcher echoed.
“I’m out of service. I have a car pulled over, possible taillight infraction. Will advise.”
“16Bravo4 copy.”
Matt left his red and blue lights flashing and approached the driver’s door of the little blue car.
“But officer, I wasn’t speeding, I. . .Matt?”
“Hi, Sarah. I got your message. What’s up?”
“What are you doing stopping me like this? I was on my way home. Where you were supposed to phone me.”
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to answer a question with a question?”
“Didn’t your commanding officer or whatever you call him tell you not to scare people and not to pull them over for no reason?”
Matt grinned. Truthfully, he had been waiting for her to leave the parking lot. If she didn’t notice him, he had planned to pull her over. When she turned out of the parking lot, he noticed she was missing a light, making this a legitimate stop. “Your driver’s side taillight is out. I’m going to have to write you a warning to get it fixed.”
She turned around and looked toward the rear of the car, which Matt thought ridiculous. Sitting behind the wheel, she couldn’t see her taillights.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m serious. It’s not a big deal. I have a package of bulbs at home I think will fit. What’s up?”
“Something happened at Donnie’s today. Three goons came to see him.”
Matt stiffened. “Goons?”
She nodded so fast her hair bounced. “They were really sleazy looking characters. The one guy said their names were Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe.” Her voice lowered. “But Curly Joe didn’t have any hair. I don’t know why he got that nickname.”
A shiver of dread coursed through Matt. He knew exactly who they were. And no one messed with Curly Joe, shaved head or not.
Sarah grabbed her steering wheel with both hands. “They talked quite possessively about someone they knew going to Donnie, and it sounded like whoever it was bought some drugs from him. They said if it ever happened again, they wanted a cut. And then they started knocking things around Donnie’s office.” Her voice lowered. “They broke his calculator. On purpose.”
Matt gritted his teeth and counted to ten. He forced himself to keep his voice low and even. “Those guys are bad news, and anyone can tell they’re bad news just by looking at them. Why didn’t you push the panic switch? How could you wait and only leave a message at the station? I told you to use it, any time, day or night.”
“You told me that it was only to be used in an emergency, or when Kincaid was there with enough evidence to convict him. This was none of the above.”
“If you couldn’t tell, it sounds like they think Donnie is encroaching on their drug-selling territory, which could be true if Donnie is the new kid on the block. This isn’t a game.”
She rolled the window all the way down and stuck her head a little out the opening. “Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen Kincaid coming around until recently.”
Matt shuffled closer to her. He rested his palms on the roof of her car and lowered his head in an effort to keep what they were saying private. People were starting to stare.
“While this new development is very interesting and proves that Donnie hasn’t been at it very long, it doesn’t negate the fact that you’re in the middle of a very dangerous situation.” He stopped talking and stared down at Sarah as she sat behind the wheel of her car. He replayed her words over in his head, trying to fit everything into place. Suddenly, he stiffened. An icy chill swept through him. “Just exactly how did you find out this information?”
She hunched her shoulders. “I heard them say it,” she said softly.
“And how did you know they broke Donnie’s calculator?”
“I. . .” Her voice trailed off. Matt’s stomach clenched at the absence of a reply, which told him an answer he didn’t want to hear.
Matt sucked in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. “You were in the closet again!”
“You’re shouting.”
Matt backed up two steps. “That does it. Out of the car.”
“Pardon me?”
Matt braced his feet apart, crossed his arms, and lowered his voice to a deep, even pitch. “You heard me. Get out of the car.”
“What are you going to do, frisk me?”
He narrowed his eyes and glared at her.
Sarah’s eyes opened wider than he’d ever seen them, and she looked back up at him. Very slowly, her door opened, and she inched out. As soon as both feet touched the ground and she stood upright, Matt unceremoniously escorted Sarah to the squad car.
“I can’t believe this. What are you doing? It looks like you’re arresting me!”
“I just might. You’re not being a very cooperative criminal.”
She stiffened, glanced down at his gun, then back to his face before she slid into the back seat of the squad car. Matt closed the door, then went around to the other side so he could get in as well. It really wasn’t what he wanted to do, but he needed somewhere more private than the busy street where he could speak privately and not be under the watchful eye of every passerby.
“What were you doing in the closet?” he growled.
“You’re still shouting at me. You may not be loud, but you’re still shouting.”
A few choice words raced through his head, but he held himself back. “I have every good reason to shout! I thought you agreed with me that it was too dangerous for you to be spying on Donnie when he’s in his office! Do you have any idea of the risks you’re taking?”
“Calm down. No one saw me or knew I was there. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay! All it takes is one slipup, and they could decide to make you a target to keep you silent. For good!”
“You’re still shouting.”
Matt lifted his hat off his head, swiped his fingers through his hair, and replaced the hat. “I’m sorry. But you’re scaring me. You don’t seem to realize the danger involved when you do stuff like that.”
“I know the risks I’m taking. But I want to stop what’s going on, and I can’t if I don’t know what Donnie is doing.”
All he could do was stare at her. From the way she spoke, he did believe she really knew the risk she was taking, although perhaps not to the fullest degree. Then again, as a law enforcement officer, Matt had seen the worst cases played out in real life. He knew he’d been hardened to some degree by all he’d seen, but that didn’t alter the facts. Worst-case scenarios did happen and nothing could assure him that this case wouldn’t be one of them.
He didn’t know what he would do if Sarah got hurt or worse. He didn’t want to think about the danger she was putting herself in, but realistically, he had to. Her bravery only endeared her more to him. He had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss her, right in the back seat of his squad car. But he couldn’t. He was in uniform, on duty, and out in public. It wouldn’t have mattered if Sarah were his wife—people were always looking for any slipup any police officer made, in order to cause trouble or throw the department into disrepute.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He couldn’t entertain the possibility of Sarah being his wife. He had already told himself that he would never marry a non-Christian, and he wasn’t about to change his own rules. As a law enforcement officer, he knew it would be hard enough to maintain a happy, balanced marriage without adding more problems.
He wouldn’t marry her, but nothing would stop him from caring about what happened to her. “Please promise me that you’ll be more careful, and you won’t go in the closet to spy on Donnie’s office.”
“I thought you w
anted to catch Kincaid?”
“More than you’ll ever know. But catching him isn’t worth risking you.”
“Since this whole thing began, I’ve had the feeling that this is very personal to you. Why do you want to catch this guy so badly?”
Matt turned and stared out the window, but his eyes didn’t focus on anything in particular. “Kincaid was involved in a power game with a rival a few years ago. Kincaid has no respect for human life, and he only sees kids as easy marks or in the way. The end result was that one of my neighbor’s kids found some of Kincaid’s wares, didn’t know what it was, and died from an unintentional overdose. Kincaid got off on a technicality and walked away laughing. I want to do everything I can to keep Kincaid off the streets, forever.”
“I’m so sorry. Did you know the child well?”
Matt had to clear his throat in order to speak. “Yes. Her name was Jenni. She was only ten years old.”
“That’s so sad. . .”
He turned back to Sarah. Her concern was his final undoing. He couldn’t kiss her on her warm, soft mouth, so he did the next best thing. He picked up her hand and kissed her palm. She gasped, but she didn’t pull away. “I’m going to send you back to your car now. Please wait there while I write you up. All you have to do is come over to my place, and I’ll give you a new lightbulb. I’ll put in the report that I did the follow-up, and the file will be closed.”
“This is silly.”
“I know. But if anyone is watching, then there’s something on file. I’ll need your driver’s license and registration.”
Matt opened his door, walked around the vehicle, and opened the door for Sarah to get out. He followed her back to her car and waited for her to provide the documentation, then returned to the squad car and processed the warning.
He felt like an idiot, but if nothing else, it assured him that he would see her again in the next few days, before the warning expired, and he had to chase her down. Although doing a follow-up right now wasn’t entirely a bad idea.
When everything was done, he returned to Sarah’s window. He handed her the paperwork to sign, then tore off her copy and handed it to her.
She let go a loud sigh as she read the terms of the warning. “You’re working tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but it’s going to be a strange day. The RCMP has a booth in the mall this weekend for Bicycle Safety Week. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I was assigned to do the booth. I’m stuck there from 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s usually pretty boring, so it’s bad. Give me a call when you want to change that lightbulb. And remember, Sarah. Please stay safe. No more trips to the closet.”
Fifteen
From a distance, Sarah watched the constable in the bright red RCMP serge uniform explain the proper way to wear a bicycle helmet. When the little girl was satisfied she knew how to wear her nice new pink helmet, he demonstrated to a group of boys what could happen to a head upon impact with the street at varying speeds. The demonstration turned out to be quite graphic, with pumpkins substituted for the heads.
Next, he handed brochures to a couple of teen boys who didn’t appear to think it was very manly to wear helmets while on a bicycle. At the same time as they remarked on looking geeky, they kept glancing back to the mangled pumpkins that had started out with very realistic pictures of human faces.
Finally, when he was alone, Sarah approached the display booth.
“Good day, Constable Walker.”
He touched the wide brim of his hat and gave her a slight nod. “Ma’am.”
Sarah checked over her shoulder. Since no one was watching that she could tell, she shuffled up to a large map of the city park that highlighted a bike trail and rested one finger on what was described as a landmark. Matt stepped beside her.
“You sure look spiffy in your red serge,” she said in a whisper just loud enough for him to hear.
He stiffened and clasped his hands behind his back, his trim physique making the uniform look even better. “Yeah, well, that’s good, because it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear. This collar is so high and done up so tight I can’t turn my head properly. I’ve also gained a few pounds since I finished my training years ago, and it’s a little more snug than it used to be.”
Sarah tried not to giggle. He didn’t know half the battle women had to face with their clothes every day. She didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for him. “Other than the uniform, how’s it going?”
“As expected, I guess.”
“It can’t be all that bad.”
He grinned from beneath the wide-brimmed hat. “Actually, it’s kind of fun smashing those pumpkins.”
“Men are just little boys who grew taller,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear that. What did you say?”
“Nothing worth repeating. Are you allowed to take a lunch break? Or am I not allowed to be seen out in public with you?”
“Quite honestly, I don’t think that’s such a good idea here in the middle of the mall on a Saturday afternoon. Even though this is my full-dress uniform, I’m still in uniform, and I am officially on duty.”
“Okay. Then tell me all about the bike trail at this park.”
“What do you want to know? Do you really want to go mountain-biking or do you just want to make me talk?”
“I own a bike. I’ve never gone on a trail with it, but I do have one. It’s packed in my storage closet in the underground parking. What about you?”
“Actually, I do a lot of biking.”
“Do you go for distance or rough terrain riding?”
Matt grinned so brightly his eyes twinkled. “Rough terrain. I used to do BMX racing too, but the most biking I’ve been doing lately is taking my bike down to the Half-Pipe to do some skateboarding.”
Sarah felt all the color drain from her face. “You mean those cement basins, where the kids go roaring up the sides, and do flips and stuff?”
Sarah wouldn’t have thought it possible, but his grin widened even more. “It’s okay. I always wear a helmet. And it’s not only kids who do that, you know. The bigger guys just need better skateboards. And we have to go faster to get the height, but our weight helps the velocity. Still, I don’t do it as much as I used to. Takes more out of me, I guess.”
She wouldn’t have taken him for a thrillseeker, but on second thought, it seemed to suit him. He had a dangerous job where he never knew what perils he would be facing from day-to-day, even hour-to-hour. At least with the extreme sports, the risks were obvious, and there were no surprises, although she knew there was always the possibility of injuries.
“I was right about men and little boys,” she muttered, then cleared her throat. “If you’re an avid biker, then maybe that’s why they chose you to do the booth.”
“Either that or everyone senior to me refused, and nobody junior to me is working this shift today.”
“You have a bad attitude, do you know that?”
“I have a realistic attitude.”
A mother and two boys stepped up to the display showing proper hand signals, so Sarah took that as her cue to leave.
Matt hadn’t given her any indication if he would be back at the booth tomorrow, or if he was going to be back on regular duty.
Regardless of where Matt would be, Sarah knew where she was going tomorrow, and that was to church.
❧
Matt pulled into the entrance to his townhouse complex and steered down the hill toward his carport. He’d never been so glad to have a rotation end. He was dead-dog-tired, and he’d never needed to go home more in his life. On top of being at the end of the last twelve-hour shift, an armed robbery at a drugstore had kept him on an hour of overtime, and then he’d gotten stuck in the tail end of a traffic jam that resulted from an accident during the morning rush hour. At times like this, he wished he could reach forward, turn on flashing lights and a siren in his own car, and
make the traffic part before him like Moses parted the Red Sea. Unfortunately, wishing wouldn’t make it so.
The only thing that could possibly make him smile was knowing that in forty-eight hours, he would be buzzing Sarah’s apartment and taking her once again to a Bible study meeting.
As Matt rolled past the visitor parking, he blinked, slowed, and looked in the rear-view mirror.
Wishing hadn’t made his own car have lights and sirens, but unless he was going crazy, wishing had made Sarah appear. Her car was sitting in one of the visitor parking stalls.
He was ready to hammer on the brakes and back up, but a movement in his driveway caught his eye.
It was Sarah.
Suddenly, Matt was no longer sleepy.
He accelerated slightly, steered into the carport, hit the brakes, and killed the motor. She walked up to the car and was ready, standing beside the door as soon as he got out. “Sarah? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
She smiled and held a small black rectangular object in the air at shoulder height. “No, something is very right! Look what I’ve got!”
She held the object out, and Matt accepted a small video cassette.
“What is this?”
“Have you got a camcorder you can hook up to your television? I hope so, because I don’t. I want to see what’s on this tape.”
Matt waited for Sarah to elaborate, but she didn’t. She merely stood behind him in silence as he unlocked his door and punched in the alarm code for his home security system. “It will take me a minute to hook everything up.”
“No problem.”
“Want to make us some tea or something?”
She turned toward the kitchen but didn’t move. “I don’t think so. Everything is so nice and clean, I hate to mess it up.”
“How much mess could you possibly make?” He told her where to find the tea, a kettle, and the mugs, since he didn’t own a teapot.
While Sarah remained in the kitchen to make the tea, Matt took his camcorder out of its case, removed the cables from the drawer, and began to connect the camcorder to the television. “By the way, why aren’t you in class?” he called out.
Donut A Day Page 13
