He wanted more—more Tara, more Colleen, more time at their house, more time getting to know them.
Glancing out the window at Evan talking to Polly, he sucked in a ragged breath, wondering if he was going to get more.
The lunch line had dwindled, leaving the volunteers putting away the tables and Evan talking to Polly. Evan had managed to maneuver them down the sidewalk, out of sight from the others. Carter could see Evan coughing and wiping his nose but held his breath as Polly reached into her bag and pulled something out that she gave to Evan. Unable to see what it was, he waited.
It did not take long for Evan to give the silent signal, and Polly jumped in surprise as two officers approached. Normally, Carter would have approached as well, taking the evidence from Evan and gaining a statement from Polly. But his supervisor had insisted he let the officers carry out the arrest, both because of his involvement with the shelter and keeping a low profile if they needed to go back in for someone else in the clinic.
Even from a distance, he could see that Polly was crying as the two officers placed cuffs on her and started to assist her into the back of their patrol car. Movement near the back door of the shelter caught his eye. Fuck no! Goddamnit! Tara had rushed through the door, her eyes wide as she stared at the scene in front of her. She started toward the patrol car, but he could not hear what she was saying.
Jumping down from his SUV, he ran across the street and intercepted her. “Tara, you need to go back inside.”
“No, no, no,” she cried, fighting against the grip he had on her arms as her gaze shooting from Polly up to him. “What’s happening? Why are they taking her? What’s going on?”
He shifted them onto the sidewalk so that his body was blocking her view. Bending, he moved his face right in front of hers. “Tara. Listen to me, honey. Polly is being taken in for questioning. You need to go back inside and let us do our job.”
She stared up at him, eyes wide, mouth open in shock. “J… job? Your job?”
Polly was not fully in the police car yet and turned to see Tara. “Tara!” she sobbed. “They’re arresting me for distributing drugs. It was just the antibiotics! You know they need them! I’m just helping them!”
The police car door shut, silencing Polly’s shouts. He felt Tara’s knees buckle and held on tighter. He wrapped one arm around her back, but before he had a chance to move his other arm, she jerked backward, stepping away.
“Tara—”
“This is you. You did this. Oh, my God, I told you that she offered something to Colleen, and you decided to do this. Oh, God, how could you have done this?”
He lifted his arms to reach toward her, but she scuttled backward. He stepped forward to remain close but did not attempt to touch her again. “Tara, listen to me. Let me explain—”
She closed her eyes for a few seconds before snapping them open again. Agony was plastered on her face as she slowly shook her head. “You used me. You took something that I told you, and you used it. I thought… I thought I could trust you. Jesus, what a fool I am.”
She whirled and ran back into the shelter, leaving him calling after her, fighting the desire to rush in, hold her tight, and make her listen to reason. Standing on the sidewalk, shaking with frustration and anger, he jerked his head around when Evan spoke through his earpiece.
“We need to go, Carter. I’m sorry, man. Really, I am. Give her time. She’ll come around, I’m sure. She just needs some time.”
He turned and looked at Evan standing off to the side away from the police but said nothing. As far as he knew, Evan did not have a wife or girlfriend. Evan was a good detective but shit with giving relationship advice. Without saying anything, he turned and walked toward his vehicle. Evan hurried across the street and into the park. Once he drove several streets away, he parked, allowing Evan to climb into the passenger side of Carter’s SUV.
“I was closer today,” Evan began. “I stayed near the end of the line, but there were several other people around me that were sick, and when Polly came by, I was able to see that she was handing them pills in a drugstore-type bottle. I hung back like I didn’t want to be around anyone, and she stayed with me. I didn’t have to ask for anything. I didn’t even tell her I needed anything. I just coughed and sniffed like the flu or pneumonia was biting me in the ass. She reached in that bag of hers and pulled out a bottle.” He held up the clear evidence bag containing the generic amber-colored plastic bottle that almost every drugstore uses to dispense prescriptions.
Carter glanced over at the evidence and asked, “Did she say what she was giving you?”
“Yep. Didn’t hesitate. She said she gets free antibiotics from the drug manufacturers and passes them out to people who need them. I said I thought a doctor had to prescribe those, and she said that she couldn’t see letting somebody stay sick if she could help them.”
“Fuck,” Carter sighed heavily. What Polly was doing was illegal, even if her motives were just to assist people.
“I tried to do it discreetly, but I couldn’t
