Against the Rules by Tori Carson Page B

heard, the price for Teague was set at ten million. That would certainly buy a lot of tea and fancy suits.
     
    * * * *
     
    Chantel sat rocking on the closet floor until the nine-one-one operator told her the police had arrived at her house. The police, through the operator, warned her to stay where she was until they had searched the premises. She heard the police give the all clear just a moment before the operator told her it was safe.
    Slowly, she opened the closet door and stepped out. She knew they would freak out when they saw that she was armed so she wasn’t too shaken when the officers all pointed their weapons at her, yelling “Drop it” in unison.
    “I’ll holster it, but I’m not dropping it, gentlemen,” she assured them with as much grace as she could manage. She noticed that no one moved until she had shoved it into the shoulder holster and clipped the thumb snap into place.
    “Ma’am, you’re perfectly safe. Please remove the weapon and place it on the floor.” The officer in charge spoke calmly, expecting his order to be followed.
    Chantel’s eyes widened, matching her rising temper. “Did you look at my home, officer? Clearly I am not perfectly safe. In my purse, you’ll find a concealed weapons permit authorizing me to carry a loaded firearm. Now get out of my way. I need out of here.”
    Another officer came into the room and whispered a message to the man in charge. Immediately, he lowered his weapon and helped Chantel wade through the debris on the floor. The other officers followed his lead and holstered their weapons as well.
    “Ms. Donley, we will need to ask you a few questions,” he spoke softly once she was seated on the couch.
    At first, he was the perfect gentleman, very sympathetic, but as she evaded their pointed questions about her whereabouts over the weekend, the kid gloves came off. She refused to tell him. Once her father found out, and he would, Reese would have his entire life sifted through. It wasn’t fair to him. Deep in her heart, she knew he wasn’t a part of this.
    “Let’s recap. You spent the weekend with a ‘friend’. A friend you refuse to name,” the officer began.
    “That’s right.”
    “You were upset. By what, you again refuse to say. But you were so upset you don’t remember if your door was locked or if the security system was armed.”
    “That’s right. I assume they were, but honestly, I don’t remember. The company could probably tell you if the system had been armed or not over the weekend. I believe the computer keeps track.”
    “So, you walked in, dropped your purse on the couch and walked straight into your bedroom. You didn’t notice your room in disarray and headed straight into the bathroom. Once there, you again didn’t notice the shredded robe or wet towel until after you’d showered.”
    “That’s right. And, officer…whatever your name is, your condescending attitude is insulting.”
    “I’m having some trouble with this. You seem like a very observant person. How could all this”—he waved his hand to encompass her trashed house—“go unnoticed?”
    “I was upset.”
    He nodded. “I see. It must have been something very traumatic to upset you to that extent. Honestly, I was a bit shaken by the disturbing condition of your things and yet you have managed to sit here with me without any hysterics. No sobbing, no fainting.” He gave her a once-over. “In fact you seemed unfazed facing four seasoned police officers with their service weapons pointed directly at your pretty little face. I am certainly curious what could shake you up enough to miss all this.”
    Policemen didn’t intimidate her. Weapons certainly didn’t. She was practically born with a gun in her hand. If he kept ticking her off, she was going to rip his patronizing eyes out with her bare hands.
    “Jeff, you might want to see this,” one of the officers shouted from her bedroom.
    ‘Jeff’, aka big stupid buffoon, turned to another officer