Page 42 of Abandoned

The next afternoon, Zara got to the station and looked for Will. She’d wanted to call him after waking up, which didn’t happen until eleven o’clock. At some point, she had wandered into her room and slept for the remainder of the night in her bed.

She hated being so confused about her and Will’s relationship. Had she been clear enough that she regretted her part in their fight? Why hadn’t she apologized or told him that she didn’t want them to be over?

But she didn’t see Will anywhere.

She rushed to roll call, but he didn’t come in until the sergeant was already getting started. The wink Will sent her almost undid her in front of the rest of their shift.

After the briefing, Will was called aside, so she didn’t get to talk to him then either. She had to get to work and trust that they’d get a chance at some point along the way.

The shift proceeded as normal. A few run-of-the-mill calls. A bunch of traffic stops. And a lot of driving around town. She was headed back toward the station when a call came over the radio for a fight that had broken out in front of a club. She was close. After she reported in, she drove straight there.

She pulled up in front of the address. Dispatch had failed to tell her what kind of club. The rundown building appeared to be one step less shady than a back alley after midnight.

The sign read “The Hive.” The very leggy women on the sign left nothing to the imagination of what kind of “club” this was.

Among the half dozen cars parked outside, a woman and a man were screaming at one another. Another man stood to the side with a phone to his ear. Others were gathering around, cell phones up as if they were recording.

Zara sighed. As if all her actions weren’t judged enough with a body cam, bystanders taking video made her self-conscious. How would someone misconstrue her actions?

There were enough bad cops out there and enough people looking for any little thing to accuse cops of, the last thing she needed was to be distracted with that line of thinking. She needed to be focused on handling the situation.

She spoke into the radio. “Appears to be domestic, plus crowd gathering. Request backup.”

Pulling the car to a stop in front of the strip club, she got out.

“What seems to be the problem here?”

The couple froze and stared at her. The light from her squad car illuminated them.

Ernie. Rainie. You have got to be kidding me.

Backup better get here immediately.

Zara rested one hand on her pistol and the other on her Taser, prepared to draw either if necessary.

Rainie put her hands on her hips. “Seriously, of all the freakin’ cops in Hazel Hill, and they send you?”

“Well, it seems that I was the closest, so why don’t we have a nice conversation. What’s happening here?”

“She hit me,” Ernie bellowed.

“I’m out of jail for less than twelve hours, and he’s already at a freakin’ topless bar. Who goes out to get a lap dance on a Wednesday night?”

“You didn’t expect me to go to church, did ya?”

Zara kind of wished she could just Taser the both of them and be done. “Ernie, maybe it wasn’t the best choice.”

“You tell ’im. Wait, you still want him for yourself. You conniving little—”

Another squad car pulled into the parking lot, and Logan appeared.

“Everything going okay?” he asked.

“Ernie and Rainie seem to be having a little spat about the fact that Ernie decided to spend his time at this establishment tonight.”

The man Zara had spotted with the phone to his ear stepped forward. “Spat? Not hardly. She busted into my building and shoved several of my patrons. One of the girls got a scratch on her back when she fell into a table.”

Ernie said, “Yeah, and then she whacked me upside the head with her purse.” He stared at Zara as if calculating his next words very carefully. “She assaulted me, and while it may not qualify legally, that thing is a deadly weapon.”