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As it turned out, that mattered a lot.
With his support and encouragement, I would be okay. And thanks to the plan he’d concocted, we could scrub my name from the suspect list within mere minutes.
I was going to be okay…
In part, because I didn’t really have any other options.
20
Merlin and I both marched outside. He headed to the yard to do some work with his bird bath cauldron, and I climbed into my car and backed out of the driveway. It would take me about five minutes to reach the police station, which meant I had precious little time to sort through my latest thoughts.
According to Merlin, Officer Dash had lied to me about the poison that killed Harold. But why? The simple answer would be that the medical examiner couldn’t trace the presence of magic and truly thought gas line antifreeze was to blame.
But something in my gut told me that wasn’t quite right.
Had Officer Dash knowingly lied to me to see how I responded? But if she’d intentionally lied, did that mean she knew magic was to blame? Or had she yet to hear anything conclusive from the medical team?
Once again, I wound up lost in the churning sea of my thoughts. So lost, in fact, that I forgot to pay attention to the road signs. I blew right through a stop sign at a quiet intersection that led out of my neighborhood, only realizing it once it was too late to brake.
Crud. I really needed to stop getting consumed by my thoughts and start paying better attention to traffic. I would be better after this quick trip to the police station. Maybe I’d start pulling to the side of the road when the urge to overthink became too great.
Yeah, that would make me less of a hazard to myself and others. And yet…
It seemed I’d made this vow too late, because a police cruiser pulled out after me and turned on its siren.
No, no, no!
Yes, I’d been caught and deserved to be punished for it. I’d find some way to pay the ticket. Right now, I was more worried about the delay in joining Merlin at the police station. Hopefully this routine traffic stop wouldn’t add too much time to my trip. And, yeah, maybe Merlin would be mad about having to wait a few extra minutes, but it wasn’t like running from the police was a viable option here, especially since I was heading straight toward their HQ, anyway.
I groaned and pulled over to the side of the road. The cruiser pulled over behind me, and I watched through my rearview mirror as a uniformed officer climbed out and slammed the car door shut.
Officer Dash, herself.
Double crud.
She motioned for me to roll down my window, and I instantly complied.
“Well, well, well,” she said with a dry chuckle. “You just can’t stay out of trouble. Can you, Springs?”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, hating this—hating it so very much.
“License, registration, and proof of insurance, please,” she barked, all business.
I slowly reached into the glove department and grabbed the needed documents, then took my license from my purse and handed that over, too.
“I’ll be right back,” Officer Dash told me.
I stared straight ahead as I waited for her to run my information and issue my ticket. Time passed much more quickly than I would have imagined, because it seemed like only moments later, Officer Dash returned to the driver’s side of my car.
“Out of the vehicle,” she ordered with a cold, assessing gaze.
“What? Why?” I squeaked.
“Don’t ask questions. Just do what I say!” she shouted.
Her sudden fit of rage frightened me so much that I stumbled out of my car as told. And though she frightened me, I hoped she’d be less frightening if I complied with orders.
“Hands against the vehicle,” Officer Dash spat.
