Chapter Twenty
Bree
Booker was easy. She didn’t know him. He hadn’t been part of the Homicide unit when she was engaged to Eric. He’d never met Zane. From his reaction when they were introduced, Booker had heard some stories about her, but he was friendly enough.
Mackie apologized and didn’t say much to her for the rest of the afternoon. It was painfully awkward. Bree could tell he wasn’t trying to be rude. He smiled whenever she looked in his direction. He kept her glass filled when Eric was distracted. But he didn’t know what to say. He was the one who’d laid into her the hardest about harassing Eric and letting a guy go when he obviously wanted to scrape her off. Bree wasn’t certain if he’d known Eric’s motivation, but in the end it hadn’t really mattered.
Dutch cornered her in the kitchen. Eric and Adam were on the back deck. She could see and hear the pair through the open kitchen window. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Dutch terrified her. He always had. When she was a kid, her dad had introduced the rookie cop into his circle of firefighter and cop friends. Dutch had moved up the ranks until he was a sergeant when Eric had joined the force, with Adam following three years later. Last year, after he’d reached inspector, Bree had reached out in desperation to see if he could offer any insight into Eric’s behaviour. Dutch had banned her from the station unless it was on official business.
Bree had shown up one more time after that.
She’d discovered his teenaged daughter’s predicament by accident. Audrey Holland had been pulled over in front of Bree’s new place. Zane had no reason to stop Audrey on the residential street; the girl hadn’t been doing anything wrong. Bree thought he was looking for reasons to mess with his boss’s daughter to throw his weight around by whatever means he could. She had never gotten along with the surly cop, and she was aware he wasn’t well liked by his colleagues.
The only reason Zane’s attempt didn’t work was poor timing. Bree had been fetching a load of groceries from her car, recognized Audrey and Zane, and overheard the officer’s threats. She still remembered the exchange.
“…busted for having open liquor in the car, violated your Class 5 Full stage, suspected DUI, and whatever else I can think of. Your daddy’s an inspector. He’s going to have to burn all his favours to get you out of this one, sweetheart.”
As a young, half-black woman Audrey was extra-cautious; she wouldn’t give a cop lip. She wouldn’t drop her father’s name. And she wouldn’t be so blatantly stupid as to drive around with open liquor in her car.
“Oh, Audrey, thank you so much for coming back. I can’t believe I forgot that bottle of,” --Bree looked at the wine bottle Zane was waving around-- “red in your car after you dropped me off.”
The poor girl opened her mouth as if to say something, but Bree put her finger to her lips. She didn’t even try to hide the signal.
Zane sputtered. “What do you mean it’s your wine?” he protested.
“Audrey’s been helping me with some shopping. I loaded a bunch of stuff into her car. I must have forgotten that bottle there. It’s certainly not hers.”
“I found it in her car,” Zane insisted.
“I’m sure you did.” Not. Well, perhaps he did find it in her back seat, after he put it there. Bree reached into her hoodie pouch and crumpled the Safeway bag she’d tucked into it. “But that doesn’t mean it’s hers. Especially if somebody else is claiming it.” Bree stepped closer. “That bottle of Naked Oak red is mine, Sergeant Zane.” She reached through the rear driver’s side window and pulled out the bag she’d palmed. “See, it rolled out of the bag I had it in.”
Audrey’s confusion was clear on her face, but the eightteen year old kept her mouth shut.
“I’m still writing her up,” Zane said. He’d already started when Bree had walked up to them.
A reasonable man would have backed off at that point. Would have cautioned them both to be more careful and left them alone. Only a fool would press forward. But it was Zane.
“As you wish, Sergeant. When Audrey goes to court to fight the ticket and charges, I’ll be standing right beside her.”
Steam didn’t actually come out of his ears, but it wasn’t hard to imagine. “I’ll make it a warning. You need to watch yourself,” the dirty cop said to Audrey, jabbing the warning ticket through the open driver’s window. “And you,” he said to Bree.
He turned to return to his unmarked car when Bree called after him. “Oh, Sergeant?”
“What?”
“My wine.” Just to piss him off. It wasn’t the brightest move she could have made but it was very satisfying.
He stared at the bottle in his hand. If he decided to keep it, he could never mention it again, and the warning ticket became harassment of a brother-in-arms’s family member. If he dropped it on the ground, he’d have to explain the destruction of evidence. He held it out and forced Bree to come to him.
She reached for it with both hands. “Thank you, Sergeant. Have a pleasant day.”
Bree walked back to Audrey’s car and waited for the unmarked car to turn the corner before she said anything. “Are you okay?”
The girl nodded.
“Pull over and park properly. Mind the fire hydrant. Then call one of your folks to come pick you up,” Bree said. “I don’t want Zane finding you again today.”
