charge?” Attempted murder was my first guess, but I went with door number two. “Assault with a deadly weapon?”
Fritz shook his head. “Nah, can’t really see that.”
“Discharging a firearm in the city limits?” This was my mother’s sweetheart, after all.
Again the negative. “If Miz Jennings across the street wants to press charges for disturbing the peace, I’d have to do that, but she don’t. She only called in because she was worried about Lucille. Said there was a suspicious looking character lurking around the house and it looked like he was trying to get inside.”
I suppose he had been attempting to knock on the door, but I hadn’t actually witnessed anything before the gunfire started.
“That’s exactly right. He was sneaking around my house, trying to break in,” Lucille said firmly and with a straight face. “The little weasel scared me half to death. I thought he was some ugly rapist on the loose.”
Said weasel shifted about from foot to foot, but didn’t act the least bit offended, or concerned about Lucille’s accusations, or more accurately, fabrications.
I glanced at Fritz. “So what are you going to do?”
“We’ll figure out what charges ought to be filed once we get back to the station.”
“Fine,” I said, with not a hint of cheer. I’d known it would come to this. It always comes to this. “Give me a minute to brush my teeth and grab my purse—”
“Oh, no, Jolene, you don’t have to go,” Fritz said. “I’ll take Mister Saide here on over by myself. Probably all we can really do is charge him with trespassing, but we’ll haul him in to sort things out. I’ll take your statements before we go.”
Huh? He’s the one going to jail? The guy who was dodging bullets behind his now-ruined car is the one in trouble? While I grappled with my rapidly deteriorating mental state, it somehow occurred to me that it was not time for me to be out of bed, much less dealing with law enforcement officers, or bullets, or my mother. “What time is it any way?”
“Seven thirty-five,” Damon Saide said helpfully. “I’ve tried to catch her at home later in the day and she’s rarely here. I thought this would be my best opportunity to talk with her.” He smiled amicably, with not a hint that he’d just been hiding behind his car in fear for his life and was now headed to jail. “I brought a new contract for her to look at. I am sure she’ll be pleased with the new terms.”
“Quit talking about me like I’m not standing right here, hearing every word you say, you little twerp,” Lucille snapped. “And I’ll be pleased when you get yourself off my property. Don’t you set foot out here again either or I can’t be responsible for what might happen to you.”
I didn’t see that she was shouldering any responsibility for anything now, but maybe I just wasn’t seeing the whole picture. Come to think of it, I didn’t want to see any more of the picture at all. “I’m going back to my room, climb back into bed and hope this was all just a really bad dream.”
“Oh, no, Jolene, you can’t do that. You need to get your shower right now and get dressed. We’ve got to be at the rally by nine.”
Chapter
Six
No, there had been no previous warning about “the rally” and no, I didn’t know what the rally was even for, although an anti-park demonstration was a fairly good guess.
Lucille hadn’t done much explaining either, only order-giving. I’ll spare you the “are you going to wear ‘that’,” and the “put on some makeup” scenes, but the battle lines were clearly drawn. I wore the shorts and tee shirt anyway. Again she insisted we take her car. She also insisted that I drive so she could concentrate on “other things.” Probably what hell she could inflict on me next and the series of lies she could tell about it. Not that I was jaded or cynical at this point.
She was still deep in thought as I pulled her Buick off the highway onto Turkey
Fritz shook his head. “Nah, can’t really see that.”
“Discharging a firearm in the city limits?” This was my mother’s sweetheart, after all.
Again the negative. “If Miz Jennings across the street wants to press charges for disturbing the peace, I’d have to do that, but she don’t. She only called in because she was worried about Lucille. Said there was a suspicious looking character lurking around the house and it looked like he was trying to get inside.”
I suppose he had been attempting to knock on the door, but I hadn’t actually witnessed anything before the gunfire started.
“That’s exactly right. He was sneaking around my house, trying to break in,” Lucille said firmly and with a straight face. “The little weasel scared me half to death. I thought he was some ugly rapist on the loose.”
Said weasel shifted about from foot to foot, but didn’t act the least bit offended, or concerned about Lucille’s accusations, or more accurately, fabrications.
I glanced at Fritz. “So what are you going to do?”
“We’ll figure out what charges ought to be filed once we get back to the station.”
“Fine,” I said, with not a hint of cheer. I’d known it would come to this. It always comes to this. “Give me a minute to brush my teeth and grab my purse—”
“Oh, no, Jolene, you don’t have to go,” Fritz said. “I’ll take Mister Saide here on over by myself. Probably all we can really do is charge him with trespassing, but we’ll haul him in to sort things out. I’ll take your statements before we go.”
Huh? He’s the one going to jail? The guy who was dodging bullets behind his now-ruined car is the one in trouble? While I grappled with my rapidly deteriorating mental state, it somehow occurred to me that it was not time for me to be out of bed, much less dealing with law enforcement officers, or bullets, or my mother. “What time is it any way?”
“Seven thirty-five,” Damon Saide said helpfully. “I’ve tried to catch her at home later in the day and she’s rarely here. I thought this would be my best opportunity to talk with her.” He smiled amicably, with not a hint that he’d just been hiding behind his car in fear for his life and was now headed to jail. “I brought a new contract for her to look at. I am sure she’ll be pleased with the new terms.”
“Quit talking about me like I’m not standing right here, hearing every word you say, you little twerp,” Lucille snapped. “And I’ll be pleased when you get yourself off my property. Don’t you set foot out here again either or I can’t be responsible for what might happen to you.”
I didn’t see that she was shouldering any responsibility for anything now, but maybe I just wasn’t seeing the whole picture. Come to think of it, I didn’t want to see any more of the picture at all. “I’m going back to my room, climb back into bed and hope this was all just a really bad dream.”
“Oh, no, Jolene, you can’t do that. You need to get your shower right now and get dressed. We’ve got to be at the rally by nine.”
Chapter
Six
No, there had been no previous warning about “the rally” and no, I didn’t know what the rally was even for, although an anti-park demonstration was a fairly good guess.
Lucille hadn’t done much explaining either, only order-giving. I’ll spare you the “are you going to wear ‘that’,” and the “put on some makeup” scenes, but the battle lines were clearly drawn. I wore the shorts and tee shirt anyway. Again she insisted we take her car. She also insisted that I drive so she could concentrate on “other things.” Probably what hell she could inflict on me next and the series of lies she could tell about it. Not that I was jaded or cynical at this point.
She was still deep in thought as I pulled her Buick off the highway onto Turkey
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