Angry Betty

by Jamie Lee Scott

  “What the hell? I should have known that was too easy,” Zane said.

  “Be patient, Grasshopper.”

  The car circled around and came to a stop in the second to the last parking spot in the row. Kroger was only open until midnight, and at that time of night, the lot was nearly empty. They waited as the car continued to idle. Or so it seemed, since the brake lights continued to shine bright. Then the car seemed to move a little, and Kate saw the reverse lights flash as the driver must have put the car in park. No more brake lights.

  Impatient, Kate wanted to speed up the video to full speed, but then she didn’t want to miss anything and have to rewind, only to lose more time. She already had the time jotted on her notepad, and tried to scribble more notes without taking her gaze from the screen.

  “What’s he doing?” Zane asked.

  “I’d bet fifty bucks he’s wiping down the inside of the car,” Kate said.

  “I’d bet dinner, but not fifty bucks,” Zane said.

  Kate ignored his response.

  A few minutes later the driver’s side door opened. A wiry looking person with loose fitting jeans and a light-colored hoodie got out. He didn’t look up or look around. Pulling the hood further over his head, he tightened the strings, then shut the car door with the sleeve of the sweatshirt over his hand. It was impossible to see if it was male or female, but Kate assumed male because of the clothing. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he walked away.

  “You see that?” Zane said.

  “What, his white sneakers?”

  “Sneakers? Does anyone call them sneakers anymore?” Zane laughed.

  “Shut up, who cares? See what?” Kate leaned back away from Zane.

  “The limp.” He rewound the video, then replayed in regular time.

  And there it was, slight, but definitely limping on his left leg.

  “And he doesn’t even come close to resembling Boyd, does he?” Kate said.

  “No one said Boyd dropped the car, just that he stole it.”

  By the time they saw the guy drop the car in the Kroger parking lot, Kate’s eyes burned from staring at the screen for hours, barely blinking. She looked at Zane, who rubbed his eyes.

  “Let’s take a break. Grab lunch or something. I have a headache,” Zane said.

  “My eyes are killing me. Let’s grab something from a drive-thru and stop at CVS for eye drops and Tylenol.”

  Just as they stood, the door opened. Chief Rambone walked in. “Hey, how’s it going? Find anything?”

  Chapter 20

  After wasting ten minutes updating the chief, they finally left to grab lunch. Kate couldn’t wait to get back and go through the rest of the video to see Boyd’s part in this crime.

  Drive-thru it was, and they each held their own bags, ordering from Sonic because they knew it would be quickish, and Kate loved their pretzels.

  Zane tore open his bag from the side and used it as a placemat on the table. He dumped his onion rings on a napkin, then unwrapped his slinger. He had ordered three slingers and two orders of onion rings, along with the largest pickle juice slushy they offered.

  Kate ordered the bacon slinger, tater tots, and a diet Sprite. She pulled her food from the bag, smashed the bag down, and placed her items on top, then reached for the remote to turn on the video.

  “Your fingers aren’t greasy, are they?” Zane asked as he stuffed an onion ring in his mouth.

  “I haven’t even eaten anything yet, and I’m saving my pretzel for dessert.” She clicked the remote to start the video.

  They watched the same camera video, now that they knew which one they needed, in double time while they ate. Both had decided during their drive to get food that Boyd had to have jacked the car right before Kate tried to pull him over. Or at least within the hour, but they wanted to look through the timeline from two to five just to be sure nothing else happened in the interim.

  They’d finished their meals and put the garbage in the trash receptacle in the kitchen before getting to the next juicy part of the video. The time stamp: 5:23 a.m.

  Boyd entered the scene from the lower right side, just walking around the parking lot like he didn’t have a care in the world. Because you know, it’s perfectly natural to be cruising the Kroger parking lot on foot at five-thirty in the morning. He wove between cars, as if looking for something specific. He stopped to look in the passenger side of a red Pontiac Grand Am, tried the door handle (locked), looked around to see if anyone was looking, then walked down another row of the parking lot. Stopping at a newer Ford 250 Super Cab, he looked in the driver’s window, then went around to the passenger side. Kate realized he could see if keys had been left in the ignition from the passenger side, but not the driver’s side. That little prick was actually actively looking to jack a car.

  Then Boyd looked up. It appeared he spotted the Mercedes parked eight spots out in the next row. He looked around, then walked directly to the Mercedes. His modus operandi with this car changed from the others. Constantly looking around as he walked to the car, he didn’t look around the car or check the passenger side. Walking straight up to the driver’s door, he reached for the handle and opened it.

  Zane paused the video. “Did you see what I just saw?”

  “He wasn’t smart enough to make it look random. His movements at the Mercedes were completely different from the other cars. He knew that car would be there, and that the keys would be in it.”

  “Just making sure we saw the same thing.” He turned the video back on.

  Boyd immediately started the car and drove away.

  “Someone told him to jack that car,” Zane said.

  “Why else would he be randomly walking around the Kroger parking lot at five in the morning? They don’t even open until six. But I’ll bet employees were there at that time.”

  Zane took a long sip of his pickle juice slushy, face puckering like he’d bitten into a lemon. “I think it’s time we had another chat with little Danny Boy.”

  Kate cringed. “Is it bad that he makes my skin crawl?”

  Zane laughed. “It would be bad if he didn’t.”

  “He’s still in the county jail, isn’t he?” Kate asked.

  “As far as I know. I heard he couldn’t post bail. But who knows? I’ll check into it and get him transported back here.”

  “No, I need to get out of here. And we can work patrol on the way. Let’s go to the jail and pay him a visit there.” Kate stood, grabbing her garbage to toss it in the trash, but made sure she pulled her pretzel out first. She took a big bite then asked, “Are you coming with me?”

  “Damn, this investigation is getting me so far behind on everything, including paperwork.” Zane stood, pulled the lid off his drink and tipped the cup up as he leaned his head back.

  Kate could feel her taste buds pucker as she watched him finish off the slushy. “I don’t know how you drink those. It’s just gross.”

  Zane chucked the cup into the waste bin. “I love them. And it’s probably only going to be around for the summer, so I’m getting as many as I can before they quit selling them. Let me stop in and talk to the chief. I’ll meet you at the jail.” Zane opened the door, holding it for Kate.

  Kate walked down the hall toward the parking lot, and Zane went in the opposite direction. As she walked out the double doors, the stifling wet heat took her breath away. Every day she worked, she wore four layers of clothing, so any time she heard someone bitch about the heat, she had the urge to throat punch them. Good thing being a cop made her think twice before doing stupid things.

  “Hey, how’s your murder investigation?”

  Kate looked up to see Jake walking toward her. She fought to keep from rolling her eyes. “It’s going. How’s your girlfriend?” She just couldn’t help herself.

  “Very funny. I’m sure I’m the laughingstock of the department over Kim.”

  “Not really, it’s even too stupid for anyone to talk about.” Kate felt especially salty to
ward Jake for some reason.

  “Not nice at all,” Jake said, his normally jovial face drawn.

  “Look, you’re young, and you let your dick do the thinking for you. It’s a guy thing. Girls are idiots, too. Look how many corrections officers fall for the loser inmates.”

  Jake’s brows furrowed. “Really?”

  “You’re nothing special, sorry to have to tell you. But like I said from the beginning, rein little Jakey in, and keep your mind in the right place. Besides, how gross to have sex with a junkie like that. Who knows what she’s taking in just to get a fix?”

  Jake turned a shade of green.

  Kate smacked him on the arm. “Please tell me you didn’t have sex with that girl. Please!”

  “I’ve gotta go. This conversation isn’t appropriate for work.” He stormed by her and into the building.

  Kate laughed hard as she walked to her car. “He’s gonna need a thicker layer of skin.”

  “Hey, wait up,” Zane called from behind Kate.

  “I thought we were meeting at the jail?”

  “Change of plans. Let’s take my car.”

  Kate walked to the passenger side of Zane’s vehicle. “What’s with the change of heart?”

  Zane unlocked the passenger side as he climbed in the driver’s side. As Kate climbed in, she looked at Zane, to see if something may have gone wrong in his talk with the chief, but she didn’t dare ask.

  Zane’s movements seemed jerky and rough, so Kate waited him out. Once on the road, he said, “Something about the raid the other night has been bugging me.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?” Kate watched their surroundings as Zane drove.

  “Did you find any drugs on that Kim chick the night of the raid?”

  “No, nothing upstairs. Just an empty baggie on her. Enough to arrest her, that’s all.”

  “Right? Only the one guy trying to get rid of a little bit of weed.”

  Kate stopped scanning the streets and turned to look at Zane. “That house was a notorious drug house.”

  “But Boyd did have those baggies up is butt cheeks,” Zane said.

  “He was outside the house, and no way did he have time to take his pants down and shove that shit up his ass crack.”

  “You never know, but I think they were tipped off,” Zane said.

  “It didn’t even dawn on me. But now you say it, there should have been enough drugs in that house for distribution.” Kate mentally smacked herself for not seeing it earlier.

  “The problem is everyone and their partner knew about the warrant. If we have a leak, it’d be impossible to find at this point.”

  Kate thought about the process and timeline leading up to them busting in the door of the house on M Street. Zane was right; they made no secret about the warrant, or the raid.

  The scene from the house played in Kate’s mind: the chaos, everyone running in different directions, the guy upstairs fighting with Dornan, her little Angry Betty who turned out to be Underwood’s childhood heartthrob. Most importantly, the suspect in the kitchen, getting rid of just a little bit of marijuana. Barely enough for a misdemeanor. Something about the situation stunk, and it wasn’t the skunk weed.

  “Anyone we arrested a CI?” Kate asked.

  “Good question,” Zane said. “I’ll have to look into it. The biggest thing is the murders. Foss and Campbell don’t seem smart enough for much more than local small time. You know?”

  “But you know how it is, if their lips are movin’, they’re lyin’.”

  “Ain’t that just about everyone we deal with?” Zane snorted in disgust. “I wanted to be a cop to help people. Never in my life did I think my perspective of people would change so drastically. I actually think everyone is lying until proven otherwise, even good people.”

  “Thanks,” Kate said, knowing she fell into the people he spoke of.

  Zane’s disgust with people in general, and always expecting lies, hadn’t helped their relationship. Kate had grown up not being trusted, so she had issues with people not believing her. Sure, she told her share of lies, but for some reason, Zane never believed her when she told him she’d never done drugs, never been arrested for drug use or dealing. Of all the issues, too many one-night-stands, black out drunk, rebellious, she’d done it all, but never drugs. When she found out he tried to get her juvenile records, she flipped out. That was the beginning of the end. She already second guessed herself for committing to a relationship that terrified her, and him looking into her past behind her back destroyed her trust.

  Growing up in the foster system, trust meant everything to her. She couldn’t say she never lied, but she tried to be upfront, even when caught having sex with more than one guy at a time. If her mom taught her anything, the lies catch up to you. She didn’t have the energy to keep it all straight when she was a kid, and had even less energy now.

  “Not everyone is a liar, Zane.”

  “We don’t need to go there again,” he said. “Especially not now. I don’t want to go into the jail with tension between us.”

  “Whatever,” Kate snapped.

  “No, not whatever, Kate. Drop it.”

  “Fuck you.” Kate leaned against the passenger door and looked straight ahead.

  The crackling of the radio and dispatch were the only sounds in the car for the rest of the drive.

  Chapter 21

  The light at Market and Hawthorn turned green, and just as Zane started forward, a silver Kia flew through the light doing at least fifty in a thirty-five zone.

  “Oh, hell, no,” he said, flipping on his lights and siren. He keyed his mic. “117 headquarters, copy signal 18 HQ.”

  “Go ahead, 117.”

  Zane described the Kia and their location, then said, “Stand by for stop, HQ.”

  “Standing by.”

  “Don’t we need to get to the jail?” Kate asked, anxious to talk to Boyd.

  “We aren’t in any hurry.” Zane floored it and burned rubber as he turned left from the middle lane. As he turned onto Market, most of the traffic parted ways.

  “Heading west on Market Street,” Zane updated over the radio. He blared his horn for a car who somehow didn’t see or hear them coming up, and the car promptly ignored them. “Get that license plate and run it,” he said to Kate.

  Kate did as she was told, writing down the plate number and make and model of the car. Nothing pissed her off more than assholes who didn’t give the right of way to law enforcement or first responders.

  The Kia, still going fifty in what was now a forty mile per hour zone, cruised through a yellow light this time. Zane slowed for the intersection, not wanting to be t-boned for rushing through and having someone hit them, then floored it. They followed behind the Kia for about four-hundred feet before the driver finally looked up and slowed.

  “Holy shit, that idiot was on his phone,” Kate said.

  “Could you tell if he was texting or talking?” Zane asked.

  “Does it matter?” Kate asked. “He had his phone in his hand.”

  The entire state of Texas now had a hands-free law, but Peculiar had implemented the law in 2015 and saw phone related accidents decrease since.

  The driver practically dropped the phone as he slowed and pulled over into the right lane before coming to a complete stop.

  “117 HQ, stop is at Market and Mulberry. Occupied by one. Stand by.”

  “Standing by.”

  Kate and Zane exited the car at the same time, Zane approaching from the driver’s side, touching the left rear fender above the lights. Kate did the same on the passenger side, holding her hand on her service weapon as they approached.

  She could only hear Zane’s part of the conversation, but that didn’t matter, her focus was on the movements of the driver, who was alone in the car. She pushed the button on the mic at her shoulder. “229 HQ, silver Kia occupied by one.”

  “10-4 229.”

  “Do you know why I pulled you over?” Zane asked.

/>   Kate tried to hear the response.

  “Not exactly, but yes, you were going fifty in a thirty-five zone. But speeding is the least of your problems. I need your license, registration and insurance, please.”

  The driver turned out to be female, but had her hair pulled back at the nape of her neck. She did look a little masculine, but not enough to think she was a dude. Kate felt bad for assuming it was a guy. Then again, it was a Kia, she should have assumed it was a chick, because this little boxy Kia was a chick car for sure.

  She continued to search her car’s center console, seeming to scramble and get frustrated.

  “Ma’am, do you have your license at least?” Zane asked.

  Kate noticed she didn’t go into her purse first like most women would if looking for a driver’s license. Unless she kept her ID in her phone case, which wasn’t unheard of.

  Kate didn’t hear the response again, but she heard the tone of the woman change.

  “Okay, just give me your name, Social Security number and date of birth.” Zane pulled his notepad from his pocket.

  Kate listened.

  “Okay, I’ll need you to get out of the car,” Zane said, his tone no longer friendly, but stern.

  Kate heard an emphatic “No!” from the driver.

  She walked around the back of the car, ready to assist Zane.

  “Ma’am, I asked you nicely to get out of the car. You haven’t shown me any identification or registration.”

  “I know my rights, I’m not getting out of the car.” This girl who looked to be in her early twenties spat the words.

  “You’ve apparently been misinformed of your rights, ma’am. He’s asked you nicely to exit the vehicle. I’m now asking, please exit the vehicle. If I have to ask you one more time, it won’t be asking. I’ll remove you from the car.”

  The girl’s head snapped toward Kate. “I know my rights.”

  After giving the girl a few more minutes to calm down and comply, Zane reached for the door handle to open the door. Locked. He reached inside to unlock the door, and the girl moved to roll her window up.