Page 23 of Robin and Marian
Guy’s voice went low. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Marian’s eyes darted between them. Before Robin could elaborate, Richard made his way over, his narrow mouth gaping in his surprise. He leaned next to Robin, running thin hands over his shoulders. “You all right, boy?” Before he could answer, his grandfather’s head whipped over to John and he scolded him like an errant child. “John, what did you do?”
“What didIdo?” John snapped. “You mean what did Robin do?” He stared at Robin in disbelief, and a little admiration. “You don’t need those arrows anymore. What did prison do to you, man?”
“Enough of that!” Richard barked. “This isn’t funny.” His hovering assistant helped the old man to stand while he looked over at the twins filming the whole thing with their phones. Richard turned to his helper. “See what you can do about that.”
Could Richard possibly fix that?
Richard’s assistant approached the twins to get rid of the video, just as the sheriff appeared at the entrance of the archway. His polyester navy blue suit looked out of place. Once again, he hadn’t been invited to the party, but he’d come to crash it anyway. He stared at the mess in the courtyard. His lip curled up when his eyes alighted on Robin in the middle of it. He headed for him, the material of his meticulously ironed pants hitting against his long legs.
Tuck rolled his eyes at Old Man Pete like he’d lost his bet. The old man’s grin lit up his face like a leering Jack-O-Lantern, and, unbelievably, Tuck put his hands together in prayer.
Robin set down the drink that Marian had given him on the cobbles and looked from the sheriff’s scraped brown shoes to his scowling face. “Well, Robin.” The man’s hands were at his side like he’d done the last time he’d arrested him. “That didn’t take you long.” With a quick movement, he unfastened the cuffs at his side, reading Robin his rights like he could do it in his sleep.
This was one thing Richard couldn’t fix. Robin’s grandfather turned from it, his shoulders sagging. Robin grunted in pain when the sheriff grabbed at his swollen wrist to cuff him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” John called out. “Not like that. He’s damaged, man!”
Marian gave a little cry. Robin’s heart melted at her concern and he was quick to comfort her. “It’s okay,” he said.
“Stop!” Alan came out of nowhere, pushing forward like he held some kind of authority. His movements were smooth in a black suit with leather peak lapels that only a rock-and-roller would dare wear. “Aren’t you going to take our statements? This was clearly a case of self-defense.”
The sheriff made a sound of disbelief and pulled back from Robin. “Yeah? Who’s responsible?”
Alan seemed torn, and Robin wondered whose side he’d take. His best friend had been notorious for never getting along with John in high school because they’d both gone after Robin’s sister, but everyone knew how he felt about Robin now, too. Behind Alan, Robin saw who was responsible for his brother-in-law’s change of heart. Scarlett stared at him through the shadows in a flowing white dress. It looked like it killed Alan, but he pointed at John as the culprit.
“No,” Robin said reflexively. “It’s fine. He didn’t do anything.”
John’s mouth loosened in surprise.
“He didn’t?” The sheriff asked. “You beat up yourself then? Maybe you’re real clumsy and fell down the stairs? Or did you just deserve it? Not that Idon’tbelieve that.” Stepping over to where John was still sprawled on the ground, the sheriff looked him over too. “You’re not looking so high and mighty now.” The sheriff sounded strangely vindictive. “Maybe next time think twice before getting in between me and my job.” Was he even talking about their fight anymore? “I can throw the book at you.”
“C’mon,” Robin said. He shifted into a more comfortable position while he could. The sheriff was sounding like a cop from a badStarsky and Hutchepisode. “Can we just agree to not press charges and be done with this?”
“I didn’t come all this way for nothing,” the sheriff said testily. “Someone’s going in for this, and maybe it’s you. You’re not supposed to be within ten feet of John.”
“Wait,” John said, judging the distance between the two of them. “He’s ten feet from me. Now what?”
“You see?” Robin joked. “I can’t even reach his money.”
John glowered at him, and Marian gave him a look to shut up.
Giving a grunt of frustration, the sheriff consulted with Guy. “You okay with them ripping up your place like this?”
His cousin drew himself up, but after exchanging looks with Alan, and after Richard’s final one, surprisingly, he gave in, too. “Thanks for coming, Sheriff. We’ll get this cleaned up. Just escort John out.”
A flash of resentment ran through the sheriff’s pale eyes, and he nudged John with a foot. “I’m not wasting the muscle. See your own self out, big guy.”
Little John—yes,Robin’sLittle John, because how could he be anything else—stretched to his feet. His anger had melted into confusion when he’d studied Robin’s face. That made two of them. Robin knew why he’d spared his old friend, but why hadn’t Little John let Robin fry, either?
“Robin!” The sheriff pointed to the wreckage of the room and lectured him as Little John hobbled on his way out the door. That’s when Robin noticed Scarlett duck out of the shadows and meet Little John at the archway, plying him with concerned looks and whispered inquiries. She wiped the blood from his face. Of course, she did—because that made absolutely no sense! She couldn’t even look at Robin, but she’d go to the aid of the man who’d beaten him up?
The sheriff shouted harshly down at Robin, and his attention swerved back to him. “You won’t get away with this again!” the officer bellowed. “The terms of your parole are clear. No contacting the victims of your embezzlements. No leaving the boundaries of Nottingham without my permission. If you do anything tricky that stinks of your past, I’ll be after you.” The sheriff’s eyes shifted to the drink Robin had set on the cobbles. “What’s that? Have you been drinking?” Without waiting for an answer, the sheriff picked up the glass and threw the contents into a barrel raging with fire.
After no explosion, Robin smirked. Marian had given him water, and feeling annoyed, he chanced a cocky lift of his shoulders. “No, Sheriff.I’d never.That would violate my parole.”
The sheriff let out an angry grunt and stormed away, catching Little John on his way out and dragging him away from Robin’s sister tohelpescort him from the premises.
