Page 4 of Tristano

“Sir, please do as I say.”

“No.”

“Sir, if you do not exit the vehicle, I will forcibly remove you. Do you understand?” Ricky tells him.

I withhold my smile as I see several other officers begin to arrive.

Edgar sees it too. He relents, huffing as he gets out of the car.

As soon as he is, Ricky turns him, pinning him to the vehicle.

“You are under arrest for the solicitation of underage prostitution,” Ricky informs him as he begins to read him his Miranda rights.

Edgar is cussing as another officer comes to my side of the vehicle. I roll my eyes at Nigel. He’s a rookie on the force but knows me very well, seeing as he is the son of my mentor and pseudo-uncle.

“Excuse me, miss, I need you to exit the vehicle,” he tells me.

I do as he asks, conjuring tears as I turn to face Edgar. His eyes are wide as he looks at me.

“Daddy, don’t let them do this to me. Don’t let them take me. Please. You promised.”

“Shut up, girl. I don’t know why she’s calling me daddy. She’s a disturbed child,” Edgar calls out.

Nigel frisks me quickly before cuffing me and leading me to the back of Ricky’s patrol car.

Then I wait. For at least twenty minutes. The entire time I go through all of the emotions. Exhilaration for another one being caught, yet apprehension. Will the charges stick, or will he talk his way out of it?

Once he’s booked into the station, it’s out of our hands.

Finally, Ricky slides into the driver’s seat.

“What took you so long? I almost thought I was going to have to touch that fucker somewhere I didn’t want to.”

He snorts. “Had to take a phone call.”

“Really? Right then?”

He looks at me in the rearview mirror.

“Boss wants a word with you.”

I swallow hard. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. What trouble did you get into this time?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. Is that where we are going?”

Usually after they take me away from the scene, they drop me off in a nondescript area outside the city. Anything to keep my cover.

“Yep. You’re getting booked this time.”

I snort, but don’t say anything else.

Seems like the boss may have found out about my side project.

I’m in deep shit.

* * *

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