Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
* * *
The Cadillac in front of Huck had swerved over to the side and hit a dirty snowbank. He called in for backup from the county, finishing with, “I’m going to need somebody else to bring the driver in for processing. I have my truck with the dog in the back and am unable to transport.” He clicked off just as a car rolled to a stop behind him. His hand on his weapon, he stretched out of the vehicle, turning.
“Hey, Huck, it’s just me,” Rachel Raprenzi called out, stepping out of her dark blue compact behind him.
“Get back in the vehicle,” he said, using his best cop voice. “Now.”
She faltered and then did as he said. Great, now the reporter was following him? He’d already called in the license number of the vehicle in front of him, and he walked toward the passenger door, angling his head to make sure there wasn’t anybody in the back seat. He had to knock on the front door window. It slowly rolled down.
“What’s wrong, Officer?” a female voice slurred.
He pointed his flashlight inside the vehicle to see the mayor’s wife in the front seat, her eyes bloodshot and the smell of alcohol pouring from her. Just wonderful. This was all he needed. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“I do not.” She hiccupped. “I do know that you’re messing with the wrong person, so I suggest you get back in your truck.” She narrowed her gaze. “I know you, don’t I?”
“Captain Huck Rivers,” he said. “License and registration, please.”
She snorted. “You know who I am. I’m Teri Bearing, the mayor’s wife.”
“Yes, I remember.” Huck had interviewed her for an earlier case. At the time, she had seemed like a nice person. “Mrs. Bearing, have you been drinking tonight?”
“No,” she said.
Right. She smelled as if she’d crashed into a liquor store. “License and registration, please.”
“I am not going to put up with this indignity,” she snapped. “Now get the hell away from my car.”
He held on to his patience with both hands. “Mrs. Bearing, I need you to give me your license and your registration, and we’ll go from there. All right?”
“No.” She started to roll her window up.
He put a hand on top of the car. “If you don’t give me those documents, I’m going to have to arrest you. Now, it’s a cold night and I don’t want to ask you to get out of the car quite yet, so how about you hand those over?”
“No.” She opened her door suddenly, slamming the metal into his legs. He stepped back, anger whipping through him. Yet he kept his hands loose. She jumped out of the car, slid on the ice, and grabbed her door. “Now you listen to me. My husband runs this town. I’m not going to take this bullshit from you.”
Dressed in a flashy white sweater and tight leather pants, her red-bottomed boots were causing her problems on the ice.
A light flashed to his right, and he noted Rachel approaching with the camera in her phone lit up. He gave her a look. “Get back in your vehicle. I’m not going to tell you again. I’ll arrest you as well.”
The reporter backed away.
Police lights swirled through the darkness as a county patrol officer rolled onto the scene. His hand on his weapon, the man stepped out of his vehicle. “We have a problem here?”
Huck nodded. “Yes. The driver was maneuvering erratically, and she refuses to hand over a license or her registration.”
Mrs. Bearing punched him in the shoulder. “You’re not even a real cop. You’re Fish and Wildlife.”
“Actually, ma’am, we are fully commissioned police officers,” he said.
She glared at the other officer. “Then why’d you call for backup?”
“So somebody could take you in,” Huck retorted. He didn’t want her in the back of his truck with the dog, so it had been necessary.
The county cop hitched up his belt. “Ma’am, can we please have your license and registration?”
“Who are you?” she hissed.
“I am Deputy John McDonald from Tempest County,” the guy said smoothly.
Huck nodded. “Huck Rivers.”
“Pleasure,” the deputy returned. “Ma’am, have you been drinking tonight? I smell alcohol.”
Teri Bearing glared at him. “I’m the wife of the mayor here in Genesis Valley. I have not been drinking, which I just told this Fish and Wildlife officer. This is harassment, and I will not stand for it.” She lifted a hand.
“Ma’am, if you hit me again, I’m going to arrest you for battery,” Huck said, wanting nothing more than to get home.
She dropped her hand. “This is unreal. This will not be tolerated.”
“All right, ma’am,” the deputy said. “Hand over your license and registration.”
“Fine.” She leaned back into the car, grabbed the documents, and slapped them at the deputy. “I’ll deal with you, not the Fish and Wildlife moron.”