Catherine Nelson - Zoe Grey 02 - The Trouble with Theft by Catherine Nelson Page A

know!”
    “Both of you, walk out
here. Now.”
    Both men complied.
(Ellmann had that effect.) A quick pat-down confirmed neither of them was
packing a gun. Ellmann and I both relaxed.
    “What the hell was
that?” Ellmann asked, slipping into don’t-lie-to-me cop mode.
    “I didn’t know!” the
trucker cried again. “How was I supposed to know?”
    “Know what?” Ellmann
asked.
    “He had something on
his belt,” the blonde said. “Something metal. When he got up to the magnet, it
pulled it in. It was something heavy; that’s why it was so loud.”
    “I didn’t know! It was
a Leatherman. I carry it on my belt. How could I know that would happen?”
    “Did you think this
was just decoration?” I snapped, smacking a hand against the sign. “Don’t you
know how magnets work? Or were you confused when he asked you about removing
your metal? What the hell’s the matter with you?”
    “I did ask you to take
off your belt,” the blonde said.
    “I didn’t think it
mattered,” the trucker said. “It’s just a belt.”
    “What do you think
now?” I asked. “Think it matters?”
    __________
     
    “You guys cops?”
    Mackenzie had found
her voice again.
    “Yes,” I answered,
pointing at Ellmann.
    “Close enough,”
Ellmann answered, pointing at me.
    Mackenzie looked
between us, eyes still slightly wide. “Right.”
    The trucker was moping
in a chair beside the door. The blonde had called another man from the x-ray
department, and the two were currently struggling to get the Leatherman free
from the machine. Because the magnet was three times stronger than the ones
used to pick up cars in junkyards, and because the Leatherman weighed infinitely
less than a car, there was doubt about their success and a lot of swearing.
Unfortunately, turning the magnet off wasn’t an option.
    “Listen, I’m sorry I
grabbed you,” I said to Mackenzie. “I thought it was a gunshot, and you were
totally exposed.”
    “It scared me,” she
said. “That sound. I didn’t know what it was. I just froze.”
    “Scared me too.”
    She glanced at the
trucker, but she just looked sorta sad for him. This was what made her such a
nice person. When I looked at the trucker, it was not pity in my eyes.
    “You reacted so
quickly,” she went on. “Both of you. That also surprised me.”
    “Reflexes,” Ellmann
said gently.
    For him, that was
true. Mine was instinct. I’d been shot at too many times to wait around for
confirmation of a threat. And being so recently traumatized, my instincts were
that much sharper at the moment. It was slightly embarrassing, knowing now it
was a gross overreaction. But I’d take embarrassment over death any day. I
could recover from that. I was less likely to recover from death.
    Mackenzie didn’t say
much else, but by the time the exam was over, she was smiling again. The
trucker was gone from the small lobby, and the door to the second scan room
closed, the sound of the machine audible beyond. Apparently the Leatherman had
been successfully removed, and the trucker was getting his MRI after all.
    Ellmann and I grabbed
breakfast at Silver Grill Café and coffee from Dazbog on Cherry Street (my
favorite Dazbog store) before he dropped me off back at home. He’d been overly
curious about my plans for the day and asked me twice to promise to check in
with him frequently. Taking the path of least resistance, I promised.
    After a shower and a
change of clothes, I set out again. But my morning didn’t get much better. Dix
was at the top of my to-do list. So far, he’d cost me my cell phone, my
favorite pair of jeans, a perfectly good pair of shoes, and embarrassment in
front of my archnemesis. All for a lousy five hundred bucks. It was time to put
an end to this thing with Dix.
    I envisioned an easy
capture, preying on a hungover twenty-year-old college student on summer break
at ten o’clock in the morning. With any luck, he’d still be in bed. I hoped to
trap him in his bedroom. Of course, he