Page 141 of Fall Into Temptation
Eva gasped when he took off his hat.
“Hey, boss. You know you got gum in your hair?” Minnie Murkle bustled in with an overnight bag and a stack of takeout containers.
“Gum?” Willa called from her table. “I can take care of that for you. I’m great at cutting gum out of hair.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Donovan told her.
“I’ll take over processing if Eva can manage the hospitality table,” Millie offered.
“Sold,” Eva said. She rose and put her hands on Donovan’s chest. “You’re sexy even with gum in your hair,” she told him.
“I can’t wait until tonight is over,” he whispered. “I’m going to sleep for a week, make love to you for twenty-four hours straight, and then put us on a plane to anywhere but here.”
Eva grinned. “The faster you lock everyone up, the sooner we can get on that plane.”
“Willa, can you cut fast?”
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The woman gave him a mohawk. With shears she found in the sheep shearing lab.
And by that point, Donovan didn’t even care. As far as he was concerned he’d have his balls waxed if it meant the night would be over. With his deputies and mother working territories around town, they’d managed to round up fifty-seven delinquent weirdos caught red-handed doing mischief.
There were no serious crimes. That wasn’t Blue Moon’s style. No, rather than a homicide or an assault, Mooners were satisfied breaking into the juice shop, whipping up their own concoctions, and leaving money on the counter for their drinks. Or the spontaneous naked sit-in protesting mainly clothing but also taxes and the town ordinance stipulating the appropriate grass height for lawns.
Nothing, after tonight, would ever surprise him again. Wearily, Donovan opened the gymnasium door for his latest perp, Old Man Carson. The elderly farmer had decided to liberate his neighbor’s herd of goats. They hadn’t gone far. They’d followed Carson home and into his house where they ate the better part of his couch and the hammock swing on his back porch.
Carson had called the police himself and confessed.
Donovan led the nonagenarian to the processing table.
“Really, Sheriff? Old Man Carson?” Minnie asked in exasperation. “I feel like you’re just picking people up out of their beds.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing, Minnie. Picking on the innocent citizens of Blue Moon.” Donovan shook his head. Eva was staring at him from her spot in the guard section of the bleachers. He raised his hand in an exhausted wave.
She skimmed her hand over her own head and gave him the thumbs up, mouthing the word “hot.” He winked in return. At least his girlfriend wasn’t horrified by the chop job Willa had given him.
Beckett was across the aisle from Eva, talking to another client. After Kathy Wu had demanded representation, so had most of the rest of the yahoos he’d dragged in. It was pointless. None of them were going to actual jail, and he doubted that most of them would face any real charges. He just needed to get them off the streets until the sun came up.
Layla, yawning, marched two teenagers covered from head to toe in flour in through the side door toward the processing table.
They just needed to hang in for a few more hours. Then this whole shit-tastic mess would be over.
“No touching!” Eva yelled into the bullhorn at meditation boxes thirteen and fourteen. The two temporary residents stopped their slap fight.
Gia was there, too. She, Phoebe, and Franklin were doling out pillows and blankets to the detainees. Donovan’s father was manning the hospitality table and accepting the community donations that were still arriving in the middle of the night.
Michael was deep in conversation with Wallace Wu who had arrived with a toiletry kit, pillow, and lotion-infused socks for his incarcerated wife.
The conversations amongst the detainees and the volunteers were more hushed now at three in the morning than they had been a few hours ago. As the moon sunk lower in the night sky, Donovan began to feel a spark of hope that this could all soon be behind them. He vowed he’d be retired before the next planetary crossing.
His mother ambled up behind him and thumped him on the shoulder. “Streets are quieting down. I think we’re on the downslide.”
Donovan put an arm around her shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. “You ever miss this?” he asked, yawning.
Hazel grinned up at him. “Every damn day. It’s nice to spend your days making a difference.”
“I feel like today was just chasing my own tail.”
