Page 97 of Out on a Limb
That was Grant’s mother?
It was an interesting development. One that cleared some things up.
But muddied others.
Collette glanced back at the station. “Let’s get the hell out of here before they see that she’s gone and decide to arrest all of us.”
“They won’t arrest any of us.” Julia snorted a little. “We could probably rob a bank and get away with it.”
Collette’s head snapped my way. “We need to go to the bank.”
“I wasn’t being serious.” Julia stepped closer to Collette, lowering her voice. “I was just joking.”
The door behind us opened and I turned to find one of the officers who arrested me coming out.
I put one hand on each woman’s back and pushed them toward Collette’s Jeep. “We need to get moving before we test Julia’s theory.”
I believed it completely. Grant’s mother had the same sort of power I’d noticed her son had. It was that power that I assumed would get me out of the spot I was in.
When the cops came this morning it was clear Grant had some connections that made them treat him differently. Maybe his mother was that connection.
Not that it explained anything any better.
The drive was quiet except for a call Julia made to Grant, and her end of the conversation was mostly yes and no answers, making it clear the bulk of it was about what happened this afternoon.
Which was unsurprising.
I stretched one arm across the back of the seat, trying to look as relaxed as I could, which was no easy task considering just a few hours ago I’d been in handcuffs.
But I’d do it all over again.
Collette pulled up in front of a house that probably cost more money than I’d made in my whole life.
Grant immediately came out through the open garage door, his shirt sleeves rolled up, sipping a glass of something that would probably make me feel a hell of a lot better right now.
Collette turned to Julia. “Thank you.”
Julia grinned. “Don’t tell Sylvia. She’ll be mad we didn’t call her.”
Collette shook her head. “Can you imagine what she would have wanted to do?”
“Plan A would have been burning the station down.” Julia opened her door. “Plan B would have been toilet papering the chief’s house.”
Those were two pretty different offenses.
About as different as burning down a trailer and dropping chickens through the roof.
Julia closed her door and headed straight for Grant, smiling wide.
I watched how he reacted to her, dissected his every move, filing it all away in the bank of expected responses I’d collected over the years.
“Are you staying in the back seat?”
Collette watched me from between the front seats, her eyes barely narrowed as they moved over my face.
Like she was looking for something.
Something I should be offering.
