Driven to Ink

Chapter 34

I hung up on Bitsy, tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, eased the Jeep over to the curb, and cut the engine. I leaned over and opened the glove box. A flashlight and a couple of CDs. I didn’t see the registration. Where did Tim keep it?

A glance in the rearview mirror told me the cop was almost to the door. I sat up straighter, looking around for some other hiding place but not seeing anything.

Except the box on the floor. The one that had the big gun in it.

My heart started flip-flopping inside my chest, and I was having a hard time breathing. Especially when I saw who the cop was.

Willis. The fireplug cop who showed up at my house when I found Ray Lucci in my trunk.

So not my lucky day.

I flashed a smile at him, even though I was having a panic attack. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” he asked, as if he didn’t know me from beans.

I shrugged, swallowing hard to push back the panic.

“You were not using a hands-free device for your cell phone.”

This was totally why I adhered to the rules of the road. Although people talk on cell phones all the time while they’re driving and there’s absolutely no enforcement, it figured that I’d end up being the poster child for it.

“I was stopped at a light.” Great. The moment my voice comes back it’s belligerent. “I was not driving.”

“You were going through the light, and you were on your phone,” Willis said sternly. “I need to see your license and registration.”

This was the sticky part.

“I’ve got my license,” I said. “It’s in my bag. I’m leaning over to get it.” And I did as I said, sliding my hand in my bag and taking out my wallet. I slipped the license out and handed it to him.

He held it for a second, his eyes skipping around the inside of the car.

“Registration?”

I made a kind of twittering sound. “That’s the problem,” I said. “This is my brother’s Jeep, and I thought the registration was in the glove box, but it’s not, and I don’t know where it is.”

He studied my face a second, probably trying to see whether I was lying, then said, “Your brother’s Jeep?”

I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself. “Tim Kavanaugh. Detective Kavanaugh,” I said.

“I know who he is,” Willis snapped at me. “Step out of the vehicle.”

This wasn’t going well. I did as asked and stood by the door as Willis looked around the inside of the car.

“What’s in the box?” he asked.

My chest constricted, and I couldn’t breathe. My mouth was as dry as the desert.

“The box? What’s in it?” he asked again.

I tried to swallow. “Tattoo stuff,” I croaked.

“I’d like to see it.”

Now, I know how to talk to cops. And when a cop wants to see something in my car, I should just let him.

Why hadn’t I gone straight to Tim rather than come out here?

I walked slowly around the Jeep and opened the passenger door. Willis was right behind me. I leaned in and picked up the box, handing it to him.

Willis’s eyes widened when he saw the address on the front.

“This belongs to Ray Lucci?” he asked.

I nodded. “I can explain.”

He flipped up the box flaps and looked inside.

Willis looked back up at me. He held the box with one hand, grabbed my arm with the other, and said, “Let’s go.”

“I was bringing it to Tim,” I started.

“You’re not exactly in the neighborhood,” he reminded me.

“I needed to make a stop first,” I tried.

He started leading me toward the cruiser.

“Can I at least get my bag?” I asked.

He let go of me, went to the Jeep, and got my bag for me, but he didn’t hand it to me. He indicated I was to keep heading toward the cruiser.

“Can I lock it up?” I asked, indicating the Jeep.

Willis sighed, as if I was the biggest pain in his butt all day. I probably was. He allowed me to get the keys and lock up the Jeep before he stuffed me in the back of the cruiser and we headed back downtown.

Willis put me in one of those concrete interrogation rooms you see on TV. It’s really like that, except possibly more uncomfortable. I waited there about twenty minutes before the door opened and Tim stepped in. He was not happy with me.

“Where did you get the gun?” he asked without saying hello.

I told him everything. About Sylvia giving me the receipt this morning and then going to see Jeff and finding the box at That’s Amore and deciding to go see Rosalie first.

Tim took it all in, pacing back and forth in front of me as I spoke.

“I couldn’t find your registration,” I said. “I thought it was in the glove box. Why don’t you keep it there?”

Tim stopped pacing and shook his head. “You’ve got an illegal gun in my Jeep, and you’re worried about the registration?”

“You can call Jeff Coleman so he can corroborate my story,” I said.

“Don’t worry; we’ll do that,” Tim promised.

“So am I free to go now?” I asked.

“I’m not letting you go by yourself,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“First off, my Jeep is somewhere in Summerlin. You have no way to get anywhere. Second, you obviously can’t be trusted on your own, so I’m going to have to take things into my own hands.”

“Take things into your own hands? What does that mean?”

“That means you go to work and you go home, no stops in between.”

“Like I’m under house arrest?” While I’d been having panic attacks with Willis, now my heart was pounding with anger.

“Exactly.”

My eyes filled with tears, and I struggled to keep them at bay. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I tried.

“You’re putting yourself in danger. What if someone else had found that gun in the car with you?”

I shrugged. “No one did.”

“Because Willis stopped you first.”

A knock on the door interrupted us.

Detective Flanigan stepped in. Might as well make it a party. It would be the only one I’d be able to go to for a while, it seemed.

“So, Miss Kavanaugh, you seem to find yourself in interesting predicaments, don’t you?” Flanigan asked before turning to Tim. “Have you told her?”

“Told me what?” I asked as Tim shook his head.

“I haven’t had a chance yet.”

Flanigan took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. My throat tightened. Whatever it was he was going to tell me-well, I knew it wasn’t going to be good.

“Your brother here is taking a couple of days off. To make sure you stay out of trouble.”