CHAPTER TEN
But when he got back up front, the lobby was even busier.
The desk sergeant was preoccupied with three trailer park types getting belligerent because they haven’t been allowed to see their incarcerated brother.
And then he saw the young lady he now knew was Tabitha Morgan, standing at the personal property checkout window while the clerk was on the phone.
They had released her already, which he was pleased to see.
When Tabby saw him coming into the lobby, she did a doubletake. She remembered him from the scene. He was the only one trying to help her. Did he come to the police station to help her too?
She left the line and walked over to him. “Sir?”
She still had that deer-in-headlights look about her. He still saw pure innocence in her eyes. And a new terror, of being locked up, was there too. “Yes?”
“Were you the person that bailed me out?”
Bailed her out? Did they get it wrong, he wondered. “You weren’t bailed out. The charges were supposed to have been dropped.”
“Yes, they were dropped. That’s what I meant. I don’t know why I said bail. But I just wanted to thank you.” She looked so sincere.
Stuart smiled. “No need. I saw what happened. It was an absolute miscarriage of justice.”
“They wouldn’t even listen to me. Nobody would. Thank you for coming over and telling them what really happened.”
“No worries,” he said with a smile. Then he just stood there as if he didn’t have a million things to do. “Anyway,” he said, “stay out of trouble.”
“You too,” she said with a smile of her own, and then he began heading for the exit.
The clerk behind the personal property desk ended her phone call. “There’s no information on where they took your car,” she said to Tabby.
Tabby hurried back to the window. “What do you mean no information?”
“Just what I said. Now step aside so I can help the next person in line.”
“But you don’t understand. Everything I own is in that car.”
Stuart stopped in his tracks and looked back at Tabitha when she said those words. Everything she owned was in a car? Why? Did she live out of her car???
But why should he care? He did his bit. He got her out of lockup. That was enough.
Besides, he had his own shit to deal with. Which was overwhelming in and of itself. He was nobody’s crusader. He walked on out.
But after pleading with the property clerk who didn’t give a shit either, Tabby, in desperation, ran out of the police station to try and catch the man that had helped her. He was in the parking lot, opening the car door of a gorgeous white Porsche. “Sir? Sir?!” She ran to him.
Stuart looked over and saw her running his way. And now he felt put-upon. Why was she bothering him? He did all he was going to do. Who did she think he was? Some sucker? Some sugar daddy? She wasn’t going to run any game on him! And suddenly she didn’t seem so innocent to him anymore.
But as soon as she ran up to his car, and he saw that desperate look on her anguished face, he knew he was fooling himself. That kid wouldn’t run game on a fly. He knew it as if it wasn’t just his impression, but an actual fact. “Yes?”
“They won’t tell me where they towed my car. They won’t tell me anything. And my whole life is in that car.”
“Are you homeless?” Stuart asked her.
Tabby didn’t expect that question. “Homeless?” Why would she be homeless? “No.”
Then what did she mean by her whole life being in a car, Stuart wondered. It made no sense to him. Or was it hyperbole to make a point?
“I hate bothering you again,” Tabby continued when she could tell he really didn’t want to be bothered anymore. And she hated to beg anybody. But she didn’t see where she had a choice. There was nobody else to help her. “But if you go inside and talk to them, maybe then they’ll do something.”
Although he still didn’t want to be bothered, that look on her face, and the fact that in that town she was probably right, made him agree. He closed his car door again, pressed the lock to lock it, and then reluctantly followed her back into the station.