“Yeah, I’m a … a deputy.” He patted his badge. “Deputy Gonzales here to serve and protect, Miss … what was your name?”
Natalie frowned back and forth between Kate and the deputy, unsure what taking off her shirt would do besides make her cheeks burn as hot as the deputy’s were at the moment.
“Her name isn’t important right now,” Kate said. “Maybe you could take my friend in back and have her show you the proof in private.” She pointed toward the hall at the other end of the room. “Back by the jail cells where there are fewer windows.”
A light flickered on in Natalie’s head. Kate wanted to be alone in the front office for some reason. Jeez, if she had just given Natalie a hint of why they’d come here in the first place, they could have avoided this bumbling in front of the deputy.
“I’m good with that,” Natalie told Deputy Gonzales. “Lead the way.”
Although, there was the small problem—the only thing under her shirt was a bra and two boobs. No evidence of … what had Kate called it? Ill-treatment.
Oh, but she did have a big bruise on her thigh from working on the back porch. That would do in a pinch.
She followed the deputy to the doorway leading down the hall, pausing to wrinkle her nose at Kate, who gave her two big thumbs-up. And a shoulder twitch.
Crazy Kate strikes again!
The deputy turned toward her when they reached the jail cells. “I don’t think anyone can see us back here. The windows in the cells are high up and look out over the back alley and parking lot.” He glanced around with a worried brow. “You can just lift your shirt some to show me. You don’t have to take it all of the way off.”
A thunk sound came from out front, followed by a small crash. He stepped around Natalie, peering down the hallway. “Everything okay up there?”
“Sure. I bumped one of the waiting room chairs,” Kate hollered back.
Liar! Chairs don’t crash when bumped.
When Deputy Gonzales focused back on Natalie, she began unbuttoning her jeans. “There’s a little problem.”
“A problem?” he repeated, looking down as she unzipped her pants. “What problem?”
“The evidence of my ill-treatment is on my thigh. I’m going to have to pull my pants down.”
He puffed his cheeks and blew out a breath, focusing on the jail cells. “Okay, let’s see it.”
She started to wiggle her jeans down over her hips, careful to keep her underwear firmly in place. She was willing to distract the deputy for Kate, but this striptease was only going to make it to first base.
Before she got her jeans over her hips, he held up his hand. “Hold on, let me go get the sheriff’s camera.”
“Wait!” she grabbed him by the wrist, holding him when he would have returned to the front office. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
In fact, she knew it wasn’t. The less they had officially recorded, the better.
He pulled free. “Why not?”
Another thunk sounded from out front.
Deputy Gonzales frowned. “Don’t move.” He ran out front, skidding to a stop at the other end of the hallway. “What are you doing in there?”
Shit! Natalie raced down the hall after him, zipping and buttoning her jeans as she ran. The jig was up.
“I was looking for a pen,” Kate said.
“That’s the file drawer. Give that back to me.”
Natalie skirted them as Deputy Gonzales tried to tug a manila folder from Kate’s hand. She headed for the front door. “You know, on second thought, I don’t feel like reporting any ill-treatment today. Kate, let’s go.”
“Hold it right there!” the deputy commanded.
Natalie froze. Who knew that the young deputy had such a powerful voice?
“What are you two really doing here today?” he asked.
“Just reporting an ill-treatment situation.” Kate’s forehead turned bright pink. “We’ll just let you go back to your business.”
“I don’t think so.” He snapped his fingers and then pointed at Kate. “I know you! You’re one of the Morgan sisters. I’m not letting you walk out of here until the sheriff gets back.”
“What? We haven’t done anything wrong. You can’t hold us here.”
“You were trying to steal this.” He held up the manila folder.
“I wasn’t going to steal it, only read it quick. I was bored waiting for you two.”
“I’m no hayseed.” He moved, blocking the path to the front door. “You two head in back and get in a jail cell. Now!” he added when they didn’t obey.
“On what grounds?” Kate asked.
“Attempted theft.”
“Ah, fudgeberries,” Natalie said under her breath.
“Hmmm.” Kate worried her lower lip. “That could stick.”
He pointed toward the hall that led to the jail cells. “Go now or I’ll add resisting arrest to the charges.”
Kate’s fists clenched. “I will not be—”
“Come on,” Natalie said, grabbing Kate’s arm and tugging her back to the cells.
“Your usual cell,” the deputy instructed as Natalie started into Cell B.
Kate dragged Natalie into the other cell.
The deputy closed the cell door behind them. “Hand over your phones and any other paraphernalia. You know the drill.”
They both gave up their cell phones and Kate added the car keys.
“I’m going to call the sheriff and see what he wants to do about you two. If he allows you a free phone call, I’ll come back and let you choose who gets to make the call.”
They watched him walk away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Natalie whirled on Kate. “You know, if you’d have told me your plans before leaving the car, we might not be here right now.”
“I was working on the fly.”
“What was in that folder that you wanted so bad?”
“Nothing. I just grabbed it quick when I heard the deputy coming back out front.”
Natalie crossed her arms. “What the hell, then?”
“I needed to distract him from what I had in my other hand until I could hide it.” She peeked out front and then dug in her pants, pulling out a small black rectangle. She held it out to
