“She could do that?” Lucy was horrified.
“I’m exaggerating,” admitted Bob. “But you’ve got to face the fact that this isn’t over. You’ve been charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct, unlawful assembly, and kidnapping.”
“That’s absurd! I was there for the funeral. I wasn’t involved in the protest at all. Then I saw one of the kids from the day care center wandering around and tried to get her to safety. I wasn’t kidnapping her.” Lucy stared out the window at the bare gray trees they were passing. “They grabbed her out of my arms. What’s going to happen to her?”
“Probably social services is taking care of her until her parents can claim her. Were they arrested, too?”
“I don’t know. All I know is her name is Tiffani. I don’t even know her last name.” She bit her lip. “I hope she’s okay.”
“She’s in good hands.”
“I wish I could be sure of that.”
“All right,” said Bob. “I’ll check on her and let you know.”
“Thanks,” said Lucy.
“About time,” said Bob. “Most of my clients are a lot more appreciative. This will definitely be reflected in your bill.”
“I’ll tell Rachel,” said Lucy with a little smile.
“Touché,” said Bob. “This will be pro bono.”
“Thank you. That’s really nice of you.”
“Don’t mention it,” said Bob, turning into her driveway. “I’m just being realistic. If you couldn’t come up with bail, what are the chances you could pay me?”
“My funds were temporarily unavailable,” protested Lucy.
“Never mind,” said Bob. “Just do me a favor and stay out of trouble between now and December fifteenth. Promise?”
“I promise,” said Lucy.
CHAPTER 18
“Mom, you’re on TV.”
Lucy tossed the sponge she’d been using to wipe off the kitchen table into the sink and hurried into the family room. There she watched herself being unceremoniously tossed into the paddy wagon.
“Is my butt really that big?” she asked Bill.
He didn’t answer but walked right past her to answer the phone that was ringing in the kitchen.
She stood there in the doorway, watching the rest of the report. Bear Sykes got a lot of play; he was shown in action leading the protest and was also interviewed afterward, when he had been released from jail.
“Why do you want to get mixed up with a guy like that?” said Bill, returning to his recliner and picking up the remote.
“I’m not mixed up with anything,” protested Lucy. “I explained to you. All I did was go to the funeral. I didn’t even know there was going to be a protest. I got arrested because I saw one of the day care kids had gotten lost and tried to get her out of the scuffle.”
“Don’t give me that,” said Bill. “The cops obviously don’t believe that story and I don’t either. You told me you weren’t going to get involved in this murder, and here you are, charged with ten counts of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Lucy shifted uneasily and looked over at the couch, where Zoe and Sara had gotten very still and quiet. Bill, however, was too angry to notice and continued his tirade.
“You had no business going to that funeral. It isn’t as if there isn’t plenty for you to do around here. The house could do with a good cleaning and Zoe got stranded at her scout meeting without a ride home. Anybody with two working brain cells could have figured out there’d be some kind of demonstration at that funeral but you never gave it a second thought and went off to get yourself arrested and forgot all about your responsibilities.”
“That’s not fair,” Lucy began, ready to argue in her own defense but Bill was having none of it.
“And if all this wasn’t bad enough,” he said, cutting her off, “you know who just called? The Barths. They don’t want to move here anymore. They just want me to finish up the house as quick and cheaply as I can so they can sell it—and I don’t blame them either. Who would want to live in a place with murders and a gambling casino and demonstrations? Nobody in their right mind—that’s for sure!” He glared at Lucy as if it were somehow all her fault.
“Bill,” she began, then realized she might as well talk to a wall. He had retreated behind the newspaper and she knew from past experience there was no point trying to talk to him when he was in this kind of mood.
Besides, she thought guiltily, returning to the kitchen, he did have a point. She had had no business promising Miss Tilley she would try to find out who murdered Curt Nolan and she should never have attempted to conduct her own investigation. She could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she’d stayed home vacuuming or dusting instead of going to the funeral.
Angry and depressed, she yanked open the freezer and pulled out the emergency chocolate bar she kept behind the ice cube trays. She smacked it on the table, smiling with grim satisfaction as she felt it shatter into small pieces. Then she sat down and unwrapped it, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
Sitting there with the sweet, delicious chocolate melting on her tongue, safe in the house she didn’t seem to appreciate and surrounded by the family she had neglected, Lucy felt tears stinging her eyes.
She pictured once again Tiffani’s frightened, tearstained face as she wandered in the midst of the disordered crowd, looking for a familiar face among the struggling police and protesters outside the church. She remembered the fear and outrage she’d felt when the police had grabbed her and how frustrated she’d been to find herself completely powerless, being carted off ro jail. Worst of all was the way everybody had refused to listen to her explanation. To the cops and the judge, she was just another docket number, another case for the system.
And what a system. She hadn’t had any idea how people were treated when they were arrested. All jumbled together in that
