Dinah sighed. “He said I was standing in the way of his career opportunities and tried to make me feel guilty. When I didn’t budge, he postponed his so-called meeting until tomorrow. When I left he was trying to put them to bed.”
“It sounds like the same old Jeremy.”
She sighed again. “You’re probably right. What was I thinking letting him stay with me?” She set down her cup. “You’d think a woman of my age would have more sense.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You were just giving him the benefit of the doubt.” I glanced back toward the house. The couple was still sitting there; I could see the flickering bluish cast of the television. “Haven’t they had enough passive entertainment for one night? Why don’t they go to bed and read a book or something?”
“What’s that noise?” Dinah said, looking out the windshield. I heard it, too. It was a rhythmic thwack kind of sound and seemed to be getting louder. I pressed my face close to the side window and noticed the flashing lights of a helicopter in the distance.
“I think it’s a police helicopter. There’s probably another one of those chases that keep showing up on the news. The cops try to pull somebody over and they just take off instead. What are they thinking of? Do they honestly believe they have a chance of getting away when they end up being chased by a helicopter and a whole line of police cars?”
The noise grew louder, and suddenly the area around the car was bathed in an intense white light. I turned and looked over my shoulder to see if the car being pursued had turned on this street.
Just then a knock at the window made both of us jump.
“Open the window, please,” a deep voice commanded.
I glanced up at the rearview mirror and saw a line of police cars with their lights flashing pulling up behind us. They didn’t seem to be chasing anyone. “You better do it,” I said to Dinah.
As soon as the window was open, she stuck her head out. “Is there some kind of problem?” she asked in her most innocent, charming voice.
The deep voice belonged to a patrol officer with a somber expression that didn’t lighten up at her comment. Instead he ordered us to step out of our vehicle with our hands on our heads.
We followed his request, and Dinah put on her best blathering act.
“Am I glad to see you,” she said. “My friend and I are lost. Do you know what street this is? We were trying to see the street sign, so I could check it on my
I decided to let Dinah do the talking since she seemed to think so well on her feet. I stood outside the car and glanced down the street. It was choked off by black-and-whites with their doors flung open. I had seen something like this only on TV, and in those fictional situations the cops were always crouched behind the doors with their guns drawn. I swallowed hard and wondered if that was what was happening here.
Another officer approached us warily as someone yelled at us to put our hands on the roof of the car. Dinah gave them a dirty look but complied. I slapped my hands down on the cold metal without hesitation.
“Officers, I think there’s been some kind of mistake. I don’t know who you’re looking for, but it couldn’t be us,” I said, looking over my shoulder. What criminal would be wearing a black dress, red jacket and heels? Lights had come on in most of the houses, and people were standing in the windows; some had even streamed out into the street. I hoped there wasn’t anyone who recognized us.
I felt hands get way too personal as one of the patrol officers patted me down. I heard some kind of skirmish going on with Dinah’s search. Apparently the cop got all twisted up in the long pink and orange scarves she had draped around her neck. I got a glimpse of the bald man’s house. He and his wife were outside talking to several uniforms. There seemed to be a lot of pointing toward us.
“That’s them,” the bald guy shouted. “They were going to rob us.”
I was about to say something about how ridiculous that was, but one of the officers spoke first and asked if he could have a look in the trunk.
We had nothing to hide, so both of us nodded yes. I just hoped Dinah didn’t have anything weird like that dismantled mannequin she’d picked up at a garage sale once. One of the officers checked the trunk, and the other shined her flashlight in the car. Apparently there was nothing weird in it, because after a moment he shut it. The officer with the flashlight spent a lot of time around the base of the seat, but eventually she shut off her light.
The officer who had checked the trunk walked over to the bald man. “We didn’t find any weapons in their car. Sir, there’s no law against them sitting in their car.”
“I don’t care,” the bald man shouted. “Arrest them. Maybe they don’t have any weapons because they were just casing the place and waiting for their gang to show up.”
We still had our hands on the roof. My arms were starting to feel a little tingly, and I wished I’d gone with the ballet flats. Dinah and I looked at each other over the car. Would anyone seriously believe we were gang leaders?
Another car pulled up, and the helicopter continued to circle, keeping the area illuminated. The uniforms were talking to someone. I hoped it was about letting us go.
“Molly?” a familiar voice said in an accusing manner.
“Barry?” I said, trying to pick him out of the group.
He turned back to his associates. “This is who you thought were gang leaders?” Even in the darkness I could see him shake his head with disbelief. There was a lot of discussion I couldn’t hear, but finally somebody said we could take our hands off the car roof.
Barry was next to me now. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Telling him we got lost on the way home from the movies didn’t work. The movement of his head made it clear he was rolling his eyes even though it was too dark to actually see what his eyes were doing.
“C’mon, Molly. There is no way you have to come up here to get home from anywhere. Besides, the people who called said you’d been sitting here for a while.” He looked in the car and pointed at the empty coffee cups. “You two were playing detective, weren’t you?” He shook his head with hopelessness.
I stepped closer. “You should tell Detective Heather to check out that guy. He was there the day Drew Brooks was murdered.”
“Sure, I’ll tell her,” he said.
“You will not. You’re just humoring me, aren’t you?”
He tilted his head and let his breath out. “Maybe a little. Now go home.”
He stood there until we got in the car. The helicopter had left, and the police cars were turning around and heading back down the street. Barry waited until we’d put on our seat belts and locked the doors, then he headed back to his car. I saw his partner in the front seat. He appeared to be laughing.
They were still there when Dinah hit the headlights and we drove away.
Dinah dropped me at my car in the bookstore parking lot. When I got home my phone was ringing.
“Mother,” Peter said in that tone that came out like an accusation, “are you watching the news?”
“No, honey, I just came in,” I said, hoping my pleasant voice would diffuse his mood.
“From where? Jail perhaps?” he grumbled.
While he was talking I had flipped on the set and cringed. Apparently one of the many neighbors on the street had brought out his video camera. The screen showed the police officer standing next to Dinah and me as we put our hands on the roof of the car.
“Tonight, on our
“It was just a mix-up,” I said, hoping to avoid going into detail. Meanwhile, I kept watching the screen. The video panned past several of the houses as Richard Beekman explained that his neighbor had discovered the pair just as they were about to strike. The neighborhood reporter went on to explain that seven black-and-whites had shown up as well as a helicopter and that no arrests had been made. The video panned back over the houses and pulled in for a clumsy close-up of the bald man’s house.
Richard Beekman wasn’t the best cameraman and kept zooming in and out, trying to be artsy. He zoomed in on the entrance to the house. Just when I caught sight of the sign on the porch, Richard pulled out to give a bigger
