Chapter 2
“Stupid ass punks,” I mutter to myself as the kids scatter, abandoning everything in their frantic attempts to get away.
Like rats fleeing a sinking ship. I glance at the kittens even now crawling over the side of the cardboard box.
I’ll have to round them up later. I go after the slowest kid.
He’s a little overweight, and by the time I’m done with him, he’ll wish he’d worked harder in gym class.
I scoop him up by the back of his shirt and hang him from a nearby tree. “I wouldn’t move too much if I were you,” I warn him. “You’ll break something falling from a height like that.” It’s only a couple of feet, but his eyes are wild with fear.
He sputters something, but I don’t stop to listen as I’m too busy hurdling gravestones on my way to idiot number two.
He’s faster but appears to have forgotten where the entrance is in the long wrought-iron fence.
I press him up against the bars and decide two is good enough for the cops to work with. One of them will rat out their friends.
Reaching into my jeans pocket for my cell, I glance over my shoulder. Only to see Candy Cane Girl scurrying about trying to find the kittens, I presume. It’s only the white of her pajamas that’s caught by the streetlight over on Pine.
“Fuck,” I growl and pull the kid away with me and start heading back to the scene of the crime.
“Didn’t I tell you to wait in the car?” I scowl at her even as the kid in my grip tries to wiggle away.
“Well yes, but… I figure you need some backup. And… I don’t suppose you have a flashlight?”
I sigh and shake my head. “The cops will help find the kittens after these punks are in the back of the squad car. If you want to help, call 911 and report this so I can keep a tight hold on this idiot.”
She pales slightly but then nods firmly, reaches into her small crossbody bag and pulls out the smallest cell phone I’ve ever seen.
“What is that? Like a toy phone?” I ask in astonishment.
She shakes her head with a grimace. “No, it’s just not a smartphone. I gave up mindlessly scrolling for New Year’s last year.”
“Huh.” I stare at her. I’ve never felt the need to scroll through anything, but then I’m sure her childhood was very different from mine. She pushes the button for emergencies, and I wait, curious to see how she’s going to describe the situation.
“Um, hi, this is Ariel Townsend? I’m in the graveyard at Pine. My uh, associate just apprehended two kids that were about to do despicable things to some kittens.”
Despicable. I would have used a different and much ruder word, but I suppose that fits.
I’m more interested in learning that her name is Ariel.
It suits her. Although how the hell she landed in the police academy is making my brain turn in knots.
She’s got a righting-wrongs, streak of justice thing going on, but she seems too timid to be effective at it.
And I know that for sure when the kid I hung on the tree jerks free and tackles her, probably trying to distract me enough to allow his friend to flee, but it just makes me mad. I grab him with my free hand and haul him off Ariel.
She pushes up slowly with wide eyes. “You okay?” I ask as gently as I can manage.
Ariel nods. “I’ll be alright.” Flashing lights interrupt any further discussion of her lack of awareness. Particularly when one of them, moving his high-power flashlight over the scene, recognizes her.
“Ariel? What the hell are you doing out here? Does your uncle know you’re here?”
She shrugs and rolls her eyes, averting them slightly in the bright light. “Hi, Tommy. Sort of? He’s the one who suggested I contact Howler here.”
And with very little ceremony, the kids are placed in the back of separate patrol cars, and then the paperwork begins.
Ariel tells the whole story from the beginning, all while looking around impatiently.
“Look, Tommy, can we do this part after we find all the kittens? I really need your flashlight for that.”
With a resigned sigh, Tommy keeps control of his flashlight but does help locate the five kittens, none of whom had wandered too far although they did do their best to scatter. I end up with three of them and Ariel two.
“Don’t adopt them out until you get the okay from headquarters,” Tommy, who is actually Seargent Thomas Johnnsen, warns.
I nod, familiar with that drill. They’re quasi-evidence until all legal matters are concluded, but the cops don’t want to be responsible for feeding and litter boxes.
Ariel and I walk back to her car. “So how’d you end up at the police academy?” I ask casually as she hands over her two kittens so she can drive.
A heavy sigh is followed by, “My Uncle Gary dared me. I went to college to become a librarian but halfway through decided I’d rather get married and have kids and read to them.
When I announced this plan at my family graduation dinner, nobody approved.
But Uncle Gary said if I went to the academy and passed, he would buy me a car and support my choice.
I’m horrible with dares. I almost always take them because I convince myself that this is fate trying to communicate something to me. ”
“So you have a serious boyfriend?” I don’t know why this news makes me mad. Maybe because he can’t be any good if he’s letting her traipse through graveyards without him.
“What? Oh no, no boyfriend. That was simply me announcing I was planning on finding one and settling down immediately.”
“So you’re not really planning on becoming a cop?” I ask with relief, which she quickly blows out of the water.
“Oh, well, you see… Uncle Gary is pretty smart. Because I’ve really been enjoying the academy.
So, I think I might try it out for real when I graduate.
I had it in my head that you had to be really big and tough to be a cop, but it turns out you don’t!
” She turns to me with a sunny smile as the light turns red.
“It sure as fuck helps,” I mutter.
Ariel’s smile turns to a frown as we take the last turn before Mickey’s. “How are you going to drive a motorcycle with five kittens? Shouldn’t we be taking them somewhere first?”
“It’s fine. I live over the bar. Have done since I was seventeen. They can spend the night with me, and then we’ll get them over to the rescue center in the morning.”
She bites her lip as she turns off the engine. “Do you think maybe I could adopt one or two? I mean, I don’t have an apartment yet, but…”
I shake my head. “Candy Cane, they’ll be fine. You did right by them, and they’ll have good homes once the cops are done. I promise there will be more kittens in need when you’re ready with your own place and a job and all that other stuff.”
She sighs. “Do you need help getting them upstairs?”
“Naw, I’ve got this. But you can do one thing for me, Ariel.”
Her look of surprise at my using her real name is comically cute. “What?”
“Meet me at London Towing out by the highway when you’re done with your classes tomorrow. If you’re going to pursue a life fighting crime, you need to know how to defend yourself.”
She opens her mouth to protest, but I hold up my hand. “Really defend yourself, Candy Cane. Not that pansy-ass crap the police attempt before they just reach for a gun. You need to know you can get dirty and come out alive.”
She pales, swallows hard, and then nods. Her eyes are wide as saucers, so I’m not sure she’ll show.
“I’ll give you a status update on the kittens, too,” I promise to sweeten the pot.