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“Are you pressing charges, or are you letting him drive it to the department?”
Finn looked at me like I was two beats shy of a melody. “I am pressing charges. Big ones. All the charges.”
I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. He was so goddamned cute, I couldn’t stand it. Seeing him angry made me want to kiss his face off for some reason.
I didn’t think he’d appreciate it at the moment, and I didn’t really want to lose my job in a giant scandal either.
“Hang tight,” I told him before returning to Kix. “Sir, it appears you are here in a stolen vehicle. Deputy Kepplow, please arrest this man on suspicion of auto theft. Once you’ve secured him in your vehicle, I’ll need you to arrest the other suspect in my vehicle before we take them both in to get this sorted out.”
Rolly looked at me funny but didn’t ask questions. He simply began reading Kix his rights and escorted him to the back of the vehicle. Once Kix was secure, he returned to my vehicle and Mirandized Finn as well. Finn’s eyes widened in surprise as they flicked over to me. I couldn’t even give him a reassuring expression considering I didn’t know how this was going to play out.
I turned back to the crowd of witnesses. “Can anyone here give me a witness statement about either the altercation or the arrival of the blue sports car?”
A few hands shot up, and I pulled out my little notebook to take down contact information and hand out my business card so the witnesses could come in at their leisure tomorrow to make statements. One of the witnesses was Gentry Kane’s uncle Doran, who’d just pulled up to pick up dinner from Kozani’s also. He wasn’t known for keeping his mouth shut, and I knew he’d run right back to report what had happened to Gent and Winter, who’d probably tell Mikey and Tiller what was going on with the film crew who’d rented their property.
There were several witnesses for both crimes which made me both relieved and also angry as hell. Why had Finn thrown the first punch? If he’d just kept his cool and stayed in the vehicle, we’d be happily eating Greek food right now.
I looked over at the restaurant. Castor held up a finger for me to wait, so I re-entered the shop. “Sorry about all this,” I said. “Is it okay if the sports car stays in the lot until tomorrow?”
He waved off the concern. “Yes, yes, of course. Your food is almost ready. Tell Janine I made extra so she has enough for a midnight snack.”
I smiled my appreciation at him, taking a small moment to appreciate how much I loved living in a small town where everyone knew everyone and people looked out for each other. Even though I had strong feelings for Finn, I was going to be very happy when the film crew left town and Aster Valley returned to normal.
When the food was ready, I got back in the car and handed one of the bags of food to a stone-faced Finn.
“That motherfucker read me my rights and told me I was under arrest.”
I glanced at him in the rearview as I settled into the driver’s seat. “You are. You’re under arrest for assault. Second-degree assault is a class four felony in Colorado with a potential jail term of two to six years.”
The blood drained from his face. It was a familiar response to a law enforcement officer, but not one I’d ever wanted to see on his freckled face.
“But I was defending myself.”
I chose my words carefully. “From what? Menacing? Menacing, or threatening bodily harm, is also illegal in Colorado. It’s a class three misdemeanor. Up to six months in jail.”
His eyes widened as he realized what I was saying. Not only could he hold the car theft over Kix, but he could also suggest the man had violated the law when he’d approached Finn with anger. The combination of potential crimes might make Kix rethink pressing assault charges against Finn.
This was all something a high-paid criminal attorney would know, but Finn wouldn’t see an attorney for several hours at least. If he didn’t want to spend the night in a jail cell, he might want to use some of this information before the fancy California lawyer arrived.
But it wasn’t my place to suggest it.
Finn spent the rest of the drive shoving food in his mouth since he correctly assumed he wouldn’t be able to keep eating once we began processing him in.
As soon as we walked into the department, Janine raised her head up and gestured to a man in the small seating area. “Mr. Heller’s attorney.”
I was stunned at how quickly they’d gotten someone here. Even a lawyer from Denver would have had to take a helicopter to get here this fast.
