A Catered Fourth of July by Isis Crawford

sure they didn’t believe me.”
    â€œYou don’t even have a gun!” Bernie exclaimed.
    â€œI guess they think I do.”
    â€œYou don’t know one end of a gun from another,” Bernie continued. This thing was just getting sillier and sillier. Well, one thing was for certain. The Longely PD hadn’t been following Marvin after all. A fact that was good and bad.
    â€œYou should tell them that,” Marvin said.
    â€œI intend to.” Not that it would make a difference.
    â€œI think I should call a lawyer,” Marvin opined.
    â€œI thought you’d done that, Marvin. You said you were going to.”
    â€œWell, I haven’t.”
    â€œWhy the hell not?”
    â€œI guess I was waiting for this to go away, but it’s not going to, is it?”
    â€œMost definitely not.”
    â€œI can see that now. Things are just getting worse. They . . .”
    â€œThey who?” Bernie asked.
    â€œThe police,” Marvin clarified. “They said something about getting a warrant to search the house. My father will have a coronary if that happens. How’s he going to explain that to our clients? Hell, how am I going to explain it to our clients?”
    â€œDon’t worry.”
    â€œDon’t worry?” Marvin yelled into the phone. “Are you insane?”
    Bernie held the phone away from her ear until he stopped shouting. “Maybe a little bit.”
    â€œI don’t even know who to call.” Marvin’s voice was plaintive. “The lawyer my dad uses does stuff like real estate.”
    â€œMy dad will know. Come over to the flat and have some coffee and cake and we’ll discuss strategy.”
    â€œI don’t want to discuss strategy.”
    â€œThen what do you want to do?”
    â€œSleep. I want to wake up and find that this whole thing is a bad dream.” There was a short pause then Marvin said, “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
    â€œMarvin, you can’t go to bed and pull the covers over your head.”
    â€œI didn’t say anything about covers, Bernie”
    â€œYou have to fight this, Marvin,” she told him as a car went by. The Miata slowed down, and for a moment, she thought the driver was going to stop and ask for directions. Then it sped up and turned the corner, leaving a vague smell of exhaust in its wake.
    â€œBut I don’t want to fight,” Marvin wailed, responding to Bernie’s last comment. “I just want this thing to disappear.”
    â€œLibby and I are trying to make that happen.” Bernie watched a butterfly land on a daisy growing by her left foot. “We really are. But we can’t do it without your help.”
    â€œAll right,” Marvin said grudgingly after a minute had gone by.
    Bernie shifted her cell to her other ear. Her face was slick with perspiration. She was positive that the suntan lotion she’d applied earlier was now on the face of her cell phone. “So you’ll come to the flat?”
    â€œYes, I’ll come. I don’t want to, but I will.”
    â€œAnd drive over in the Taurus. I want to look at the windshield.”
    â€œI can’t. The cops are impounding the car.”
    â€œThat’s absurd.”
    â€œTell me something I don’t know,” Marvin said. “But what can I do?”
    â€œStall them until Libby and I get there,” Bernie told him.
    â€œHow am I supposed to do that?”
    â€œI don’t know, Marvin. Figure something out.” Bernie hung up and called Libby. The phone rang and on the seventh ring went to voice mail. “Come on, Libby, pick up the phone,” Bernie urged as she called again.
    But Libby didn’t answer. Then Bernie’s phone went black.
    â€œArrrgh,” Bernie cried. She’d run out of juice.
    She slipped her cell back in her bag and started walking. She didn’t think it was a good omen for how the rest of the day was going to