Page 100 of Wild Card
“You did the right thing,” I assured her.
Hushpuppy wasn’t much of a guard dog, and Elaine loved him like a child, so I wasn’t surprised she hadn’t sent her pooch in to clear the house. Had a real burglar been inside, Hushpuppy wouldn’t have been much help, anyway.
Thankfully, the culprit wasn’t a person at all. Elaine’s Roomba had gotten stuck between the sofa and the front door and was ramming into walls, causing the thuds she’d heard from the porch.
“Can I get you a piece of pie to go?” Elaine asked. “I feel so silly making you come out here for nothing.”
“Well, I?—”
My radio crackled, cutting across my words. “Deputy 4 to Deputy 2. Go to phone.”
“Sorry, Elaine. Business calls.” I hit the Talk button on the radio mic at my shoulder. “Copy.”
“Stay safe, Deputy!” Elaine called.
I opened the car door, giving her a distracted wave as I dropped into the driver’s seat and grabbed my phone from the glove box.
It was already ringing, flashing with Chloe’s name on the ID.
“Deputy Harvey,” I answered. “Everything okay?”
“I don’t know,” Chloe said hesitantly. “I pulled over this rental car. They were speeding and driving erratically.”
“Go on.”
“It’s Dallas Hale.”
I swore under my breath. “Dallas is driving a rental car?”
“Blue Kia Optima,” she confirmed. “He’s drunk. I asked him to submit to a breath test, and he laughed in my face. Told me his dad would have my badge if I so much as wrote him a ticket.” An edge of panic crept into her voice. “What do Ido?”
Goddamn it. Dallas was going to end up killing himself or someone else if this kept going. I had a hunch he’d been involved in that hit-and-run, and here he was, driving a rental car. Two and two equaled four, but with the sheriff in the equation, there were compounding factors that complicated the solution.
“What’s your location?”
“We’re just past the Pizzaco’s on Rainier Avenue.”
“Keep him there,” I said. “I’m on my way.”
“But the sheriff?—”
“I’ll handle him.”
I disconnected before Chloe could argue. Sheriff Hale would be pissed when his son got booked, but I’d make sure he was pissed at me. The man already hated my guts, and Chloe was still learning the job. She didn’t need this bullshit raining down on her.
I reversed out of Elaine’s driveway, turned east down Corker’s Road, and then hit the sirens as I came up to the busier intersection with Rainier so I could flip a quick left and haul ass north.
I pulled up behind Chloe’s cruiser, cutting my sirens but leaving the lights for visibility. It was already dark, and I didn’t want any of us to get hit by another driver.
Chloe stepped out of her vehicle as I approached. “He’s in the car. I took his keys.” She dangled them. “He’s still refusing a breath test.”
I nodded. “This should be fun, then.”
Chloe followed me as I approached the driver’s-side window. I kept a hand on my holster, even though I didn’t expect any serious trouble from Dallas. He was a danger to himself and others, but he was predictable. His daddy had been getting him out of hot water for years, so he had no reason to expect anything else now.
Still, I’d learned the hard way to never make assumptions when walking into a situation. Or, rather, Shane had learned the hard way. I’d watched, helpless to do anything, as my partner bled to death in a parking lot while the perp got away.
Dallas slouched low in his seat, one arm popped on the steering wheel. His left hand was scratching his balls. No guns in sight.
