“What are you planning to do? Drag her down to the station for getting scared?”
“Yeah!” I roared. The girl jumped a little and started picking at her lip. Sexy teacher walked over to me and pulled me slightly out of earshot of the girl.
“Detective. Obviously this girl is a jumpy driver. Wouldn’t it be best if we called her parents and did the usual ticket and exchange of information?”
“And why would that be better?”
“She’s just a kid. If you haul her down to the station, it will terrify her for life. Janie is a very shy girl and that would be cruel and unusual punishment for someone like her. I could see if she was a wild child, but she’s not.”
“And you think we should coddle her and make her feel better about herself. Maybe tell her she’s not a bad driver and it’ll get easier with practice.”
She pursed her lips at me. “I didn’t say that. I just think you should call her parents and explain to them what happened. I know her parents. They won’t take it lightly and will most likely sign her up for another driver’s ed course.”
I sighed and ran a hand over my face. I really wanted to haul this girl down to the station just to put the fear of God in her, but the woman had me rethinking my bad mood.
“Fine. Let’s get this taken care of.”
My attention was divided over the next hour between the girl and her parents and the sexy teacher that stayed, most likely to hold me to my word. I wasn’t actually planning on booking the kid or anything. That wasn’t really what happened. I just wanted to put the fear of God in her so she wouldn’t pull that crap again. She could have seriously injured someone.
When the parents finally talked the girl down from near hysterics, I issued the ticket and then put in a call to Jack, my buddy at the garage. He would need to tow the girl’s car because there actually was something wrong with it. Jack couldn’t get over for another hour because he was backed up with other jobs.
“Shit,” I said as I hung up the phone.
“What’s wrong?” The sexy teacher walked up to me and looked at me with concern.
“Tow truck won’t be here for another hour, so I’m gonna have to get a patrol car to pick me up.”
“I can take you over there. It’s right on my way home.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I’m Lillian, by the way.”
She held out her hand and I noticed how thin and delicate her hand looked. Dainty would be a better word. I would snap her like a twig if I had her in my bed.
“Sean. It’s nice to call you something other than sexy teacher.”
She reared back like she was highly offended by that, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned on her sexy heel and marched to her car. I couldn’t help that my eyes drifted to her ass as I watched her hips sway from side to side. I glanced around and saw several other male teachers that were leaving and all were staring at the gorgeous specimen in front of me. I quickly made my way to her car that looked more like a toy, in the hopes that no one would approach her if I was with her.
Once we got to her car, I buckled up and sat waiting for her to start the car. It was an honest to God five minute process. She buckled in, then checked all of her mirrors several times and adjusted where needed. Then she took out her sunglasses and gently put her glasses in the sunglass holder. After adjusting her seat, which I’m not sure why she would have to if she was the only one driving, she did another check on her mirrors.
Finally, we slowly pulled out of her space and drove the exact speed limit through the parking lot, which was now empty. She stopped at the stop sign and checked both ways down the deserted street twice before slowly pulling out onto the road. Her acceleration was so slow that by the time we got up to the thirty-five mile an hour posted speed, she had to break for the stop sign up ahead. I could have walked to the police station faster.
“You’re a very careful driver, aren’t you?”
“I just like to follow the rules. They’re there for a reason.”
I nodded and widened my eyes in annoyance at how slowly she pulled through the intersection. We made it to the highway that led to the police station a few minutes later. She was just merging with traffic when I saw the car that belonged to Carlos Ramirez.
“Speed up. That’s my suspect.”
“I’m sorry, what?” She asked, but didn’t accelerate.
I glanced through the back window and saw that there were cars that would catch up in the merging lane if she didn’t get over now.
“Quick, get over or we’re gonna get stuck behind people.”
She turned on her turn signal and glanced in the side mirror and then over her shoulder. As she started to merge over, she suddenly pulled the wheel back.
“What are you doing? We have to get over there. Merge!”
“I can’t! There’s a car coming,” she shrieked.
“It’s at least ten car lengths back. Merge!”
She let out a frustrated noise before checking her mirror once again and looking over her shoulder. She finally got onto the highway, but we didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
“Step on it. We’ve got to catch up to the suspect.”
Ever so slowly, she pressed her foot down on the gas pedal and we slowly gained speed. The speed limit was fifty-five and cars were flying past us. I called dispatch quickly asking them to send a car out to Highway 30 after spotting the BOLO suspect.
“Why are you accelerating so slowly? A grandma in a car ten years older just passed us.”
“It’s not safe to accelerate quickly. That’s how accidents are caused.”
“Lady, you’re going to cause an accident if you don’t put your foot down on the fucking gas.”
“Don’t swear at me. I didn’t sign up for car chases.”
“What car chase? The fucking car isn’t even in sight anymore and you have to be going at least the speed limit for it to qualify as a car chase. At this pace, a turtle would outrun you.”
“I’m going to take you to the station. You can have someone else look for your suspect.”
“No, I need to catch this dealer or you’re gonna have a lot more drugs in your school.”
“Fine.” She pursed her lips and we finally picked up a little speed. We were just about to pass a gas station when I saw the suspect pulling out from filling up with gas.
“Seriously, he had time to stop for gas. That’s how slow you were driving.”
“Whatever. I’m going the speed limit.”
“You are now, but it took you five minutes to get to that speed. Drive a little faster. He’s putting some distance on us.”
“I’m not driving faster. It’s against the law,” Lillian said primly.
“You’re with a cop!”
“But I’m not an officer. I could get pulled over and then I would get a ticket.”
I stared at her for a second in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I shouted. How did I possibly get stuck with the slowest driver in the world when I was after a suspect?
“Shit. Where’d the car go?”
“It didn’t go anywhere. It’s an inanimate object.”
“What do you mean it’s inanimate. It’s moving!”
“But only because someone is making it move. It doesn’t move on its own, therefore it’s an inanimate object. So, it can’t go anywhere. The correct way to say it is, ‘where is the car’.”
“Just pull over the fucking car and I’ll walk. I can’t deal with an English lesson while trying to do my job.”
“I can’t pull over. There’s nowhere safe to do so.”
“Then I’ll jump from the fucking car.”
“Now that’s just silly. Do you realize how injured you could get?”
“At the speed you’re going, I could probably land on my feet.”
“Fine. You want me to speed up, I will.”
“Thank you.”
The car lurched forward as she pressed her foot all t
he way down on the gas and took off into the traffic. She barely weaved in and out of traffic, avoiding cars, but almost clipping a semi.
“Oh my, God!” she screamed. “I’ve never done anything like this before. This is so scary!”
“You’re doing great. Just keep driving.”
“Ahhh!” Her voice was a piercing scream and if I wasn’t afraid she would step on the brakes, I would tell her to shut the fuck up. Another police car came from a side road and pulled in front of the suspect’s car, slowing him down and then guiding him over to the side of the road. After they were stopped on the side of the road, Lillian eased the car over to the side of the road and put the car in park.
“Criminy Dick that was close.”
“Criminy Dick? What does that even mean?”
“It’s like saying ‘oh gosh’ or ‘gee willikers’.”
“Or you could just say ‘oh fuck, that was close’. Even though that wasn’t even nearing close. What exactly was close? It would have been close if you hadn’t driven like a grandma the whole way. Oh wait, a grandma passed us! You are a terrible driver.”
“I am not. I drive the speed limit. It’s the law. How do you not understand that? You’re a police officer!”
“But, you were driving with a police officer that told you to step on it.”
“I’m sorry! I’m not used to high stress situations! Stop yelling at me!”
I wanted to yell at her some more, but she looked close to tears, so I did the only thing I could. I reached across the seat and grabbed her by the nape of the neck and pulled her in for a rough kiss. She hesitated for a moment, but then she moaned and kissed me back. When she opened her lips slightly, I took advantage and slid my tongue in, tasting her sweet flavor.
A pounding at the window made her jerk back from me, but I couldn’t stop staring at her. My breathing was ragged as I tried to get myself under control. We stared each other down for a moment and her fingertips went to her lips, no doubt still burning from our kiss.
I wasn’t sure what just happened, but what I felt was beyond anything I had ever felt for any woman, except maybe Vira, but those feelings were all jumbled with her lack of willingness to be in a relationship.
I wasn’t sure how someone so infuriating could make my heart pound so wildly. There was one thing that was clear, though. I wanted to do that again to see if we both had the same reaction.
Pulling myself together, I stepped out of the car to talk with the officer that came to our window. There was another officer that was already at the passenger side of the suspect’s car.
“Are you the one that called in the sighting?”
“Yeah, that was me.”
“How did we beat you? You were quite a ways back.”
“I was with the slowest driver on the face of the Earth.”
I glanced at the car just as a shot fired and the officer fell to the ground. I pulled my weapon and started shooting, but the car was already peeling away and getting back on the highway. I ran around to the driver’s side of the car and yanked the door open.
“Move over, Miss Daisy. I’m driving.”
“Hey!” She wasn’t happy with me, but she moved over and I threw the car into drive and took off after the car. The other officer had stayed behind to help his partner and radio for help.
“Sean, do you really think it’s wise to bring a civilian along on a car chase? Doesn’t this go against some protocol or something?” She asked nervously as I weaved in and out of traffic.
“Would you have rather stayed behind and waited for the ambulance?”
“Was he dead?”
“I don’t know. It depends on where he was shot, but at that range, I sure hope he had his vest on.”
“I think I might be sick.”
“No time for that, Daisy. I need your help if we’re gonna catch this guy.”
“Stop calling me Daisy. My name’s Lillian.”
“That’s a mouthful. Here, take my phone and hit speed dial one. It’s the station. Ask to speak to Chief Jameson and tell whoever it is that we’re chasing down the suspect that shot Officer Wheeling.”
She reached for my phone with shaky hands. “Alright.” She placed the call and relayed what I had said and then told them our current location. She continued to text our location to the chief as we drove since we didn’t have the tracker from my car.
The suspect’s car was a few car lengths ahead of us and I really wanted to take the fucker out, but traffic was still too thick. It would only cause more accidents and possible casualties. Until the station could get other cars here to help, I was on my own to stay with this guy.
“Lillian, you want to tell me why there’s a battery indicator on the dashboard?”
She leaned over and looked behind the wheel where the speedometer was. “Oh, that tells me how much battery I have. This is an electric car.”
“I know it’s an electric car. Why the fuck are you driving an electric car?”
“It’s better for the planet.”
“Yeah, I’m not touching that one. When was the last time you charged your car?”
“Um..a few days ago. I usually don’t have to charge it more than once a week because I don’t drive very far.”
“Shit.”
“Why? How much power is left?”
“About five percent. I need to get ahead of this guy and cut him off, otherwise this car is going to die before we get help.”
“Take a right up ahead.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me!” She was getting really worked up and I was a little nervous to listen to her. If I followed her instructions and it got us nowhere, I would lose the suspect. If I didn’t listen and I didn’t get help soon, the car would die and we’d lose him anyway.
I swung the car right and followed her instructions as she shouted them out.
“Take the next left and we should be coming right at him.”
“How do you know that?”
“The city started construction back here. Some of these streets were closed off as of yesterday.”
I took the next left and was completely shocked when we were suddenly playing chicken with the suspect. I glanced over and saw Lillian texting furiously on my phone.
The car started to slow and no matter how hard I pushed the accelerator, it wouldn’t speed up.
“Shit. How close is backup?”
“I don’t know! They’re not responding. Ooh. Okay. They should be here any minute.”
“Any minute. Not fucking fast enough. We’re going to either lose this guy or get run over in about twenty seconds.”
The car continued to come at us, not realizing that we were now going about ten miles an hour and falling. I hit the button to roll down the window so that I could shoot at the car. The window slowly rolled down, dying about a quarter of the way along with the car.
“Oh shit. Hold on to something. This guy’s gonna hit us.”
“Well, tell him to stop!” Lillian screamed next to me.
“Sure, I’ll just yell at him that we’re in an electric car and can’t move! Maybe you have his phone number!”
“Son of a haaamsteeer!”
I thrust my arm out in front of her and turned my face toward her. Her eyes were wide as she stared straight ahead. I heard the squeal of tires and looked ahead to see the car turn sharply to left and come to a stop mere inches from our bumper.
I quickly opened the door and got out of the car, weapon pointed at the vehicle.
“Hands up! Use your right hand to open the door. Now step out of the vehicle with your hands up.”
The suspect followed every word I said, his gun nowhere in sight. I had him cuffed moments later, making sure they were extra tight after the fucker shot a fellow officer.
“You better hope that officer lives or I’ll make sure you become someone’s bitch in prison. I’ll make sure your life is short and filled with pain.”
Several police cars came screaming down the street,
blocking his car from the other side. Within minutes, the suspect was in the back of a squad car and I was filling the officers in on what had happened.
“What’s going on with Wheeling?”
“Shot to the chest, but he had on his vest. Probably a few broken ribs.”
“Thank God. That could have turned out so much worse.”
Lillian was still sitting in the car that was now dead in the middle of the street. I saw her get out once the suspect was secure in the back of the squad car. She stood at the front of her car, not wanting to interrupt.
“Give me a second,” I said to the officer, then I walked over to where Lillian was standing.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’ve just never done something that intense before. I mean..that was..”
“Intense.”
“Awesome!” I pulled back in shock. I thought sweet, prim Lillian was going to freak out, but she seemed exhilarated by our adventure.
“Um..Okay. Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”
“Oh, well. You know, it’s not something I think I want to do again, but boy, what a rush.”
“Did..Did you yell ‘son of a hamster’?”
A big smile split her face and we both started laughing. I watched her face, seeing the sparkle that danced in her eyes and found that I really liked to see her like this. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she actually let her hair down and enjoyed herself more often, but I decided that I really wanted to find out.
CHAPTER SIX
Lillian
THAT WAS THE biggest thrill of my life to date. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Part of me was happy to step outside my shell a little, but the other part of me said that living that way just wasn’t who I was.
The other thing I wasn’t too sure about was the scorching hot kiss Sean laid on me. I was a little taken aback by it, but then I just seemed to melt into him. Still, we were so different and if he knew that I wasn’t going to sleep with him, would he still be interested? Somehow, I really doubted that he would.
I waited around for quite a while for Sean to finish up with his fellow officers and then there was the issue of getting my car towed. Luckily, his friend Jack was able to pick it up and tow it to my house. He even got it plugged in for me after I gave him the code to the garage. I would have just gone home, but Sean said I would need to go down to the station with him and give my statement of what happened. Apparently, there was a lot of paperwork when a civilian tagged along with a police officer. Not that I really tagged along, more like I was dragged along.
Sean Page 5