Page 35 of Live Love Steal
“Where are you going?”
“He’s taking me to see a guy about a part. For my car.”
Don’t lie. I tried to scream that at her without saying a goddamned word.
“Did you know the courthouse parking lot doesn’t have security cameras?”
Where was she going with this?
“Well?”
“Ma’am...” The cop was ready to start reading her the riot act, but Isobel tumbled on, her words slightly slurred and her pace a bit all over the place.
Bear was a dead man. I was going to kill him for getting her blasted, then dumping her off on me.
“So, this morning, I’m running late to fight a ticket, and then got stuck in the elevator, with him,” she pointed at me and continued summarizing the morning she had, “and then after all that shit, I come out into the courthouse parking lot and my car was broken into. Thank God my dad put an immobilizer on it, or it would have been stolen. And then I wouldn’t have a car. And David here says, ‘I can fix it’. But he’s not Bob the Builder, sorry stupid reference, and doesn’t know that the fucking steering column parts are on back order everywhere, except maybe this sketchy place in Harrisburg.”
And that’s where her rambling started to make sense. Huh.
“And while I’m getting drunk because today fucking sucked, he’s making arrangements to pick it up. But I…I’m drunk.”
The cop stared at her, then really poked his head into the car and looked at the duct tape that held the steering column together.
He then looked at my license again and handed it back. “Good luck with her. I was going to cite you for an improper lane change, but I see you have your hands full.”
I blinked and almost hesitated too long. “Thanks, man.”
“An elevator? Really?” He was trying not to grin.
“It wasn’t like you think. Trust me.”
He snorted. “Drive safe.” He handed me her papers and waved me on.
I waited until I was at least a mile away before even thinking about thinking. Mostly, I was in a state of shock.
“Hell, yeah. It worked.” Isobel’s slur was gone.
“You were pretending?”
She nodded, pleased with herself. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. It came away wet. Another thing the cop should have noticed. But Isobel had been so convincing that…
“Don’t do that again.”
“It worked. You wouldn’t believe the number of tickets I’ve talked my way out of. And he totally was going to strip this car down to the struts after seeing the steering column like it was.”
I bit my tongue. She had a point, but… damn it. “That was risky.”
“No shit. So is driving a stolen car with a kidnapped woman in it.” Her tone got sharper by the word.
“I deserved that.”
“No, you didn’t. But I’m not going to apologize.” She sighed. Then reached over and grabbed my phone off the dash and powered up the screensaver.
“Hey!”
“He’s cute. His name’s Noah?”
She was looking at my son. “Yeah.”
