Brokenhearted Beauty(Divine Creek Ranch 19)(48)

Movement caught his eye and he noticed the deputy sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper, with a bandana tied around his head, covering his nose. He looked over the edge of his newspaper and frowned at the young woman and she said, “These two are here to see the perp—I mean Mizz Woodworth.”

He shrugged and folded up his newspaper.

Leah jumped up from her spot on the rumpled old cot. She wrapped her hands around the bars and gazed at them through the barrier. “Am I seeing things?”

Vincent stepped over to her and threaded his arm through the cell bars and put it around her. Her forehead clunked wearily against the bars and Vincent kissed it, even as he obviously fought to not react to the odiferous cloud that surrounded her. A soiled gauze bandage was wrapped around one of her fingers.

James gestured at the locked cell door and said, “Why is she in a cell with a man? There are rules about putting men and women in cells together.”

The deputy waved a dismissive hand. “Arnie won’t hurt her.”

“Maybe not but I’m about to hurt you if you don’t unlock that cell,” Vincent said in a grating voice that promised he was serious. “There are no solid charges against her. Even if that hasn’t been proved yet, what do you have to fear from a little five-foot-tall wisp of femininity like Ms. Woodworth?”

Leah looked worn out and very irritated. “Wisp of femininity?”

Vincent turned serious eyes on her. “You can chew me a new one after we get you out of here, okay, doll? Tell us what happened.”

She rubbed her wrists, and said, “My intention was to be in this shithole of a town for five minutes to gas up and be on my way,” she said, going on to explain the events that led to her being placed in a cell. “The skunk sprayed Dicky Bob and the other driver ran off, he cuffed me and said I was under arrest for obstructing justice and disturbing the peace. I threw up on him and he started screaming at me and shaking me. The only way I could get him to stop was to knee him in the nuts.”

She looked at him and pressed her lips into a straight line, and a snort escaped her.

“You threw up on him?” Vincent asked, still frowning as he wrapped his other arm around her.

“Uh-huh.” Her snort turned into a giggle.

“You shouldn’t be doing that with a prisoner,” the deputy said pointing at the way Vincent was holding her.

James turned to him and said, “As a fellow brother in law enforcement, I’m gonna tell you that the shit is about to hit the fan around here and when it does, you don’t want to be on the list of people she points fingers at. All he’s doing is comforting her, you ass-wipe, so sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up.”

The deputy shrugged and went back to his newspaper after adjusting the bandana. “No sweat off my back.”

“That seems to be the motto around here,” James said as he looked around at the dingy room and then moved over to stand beside Vincent and Leah. “Makes me appreciate my hometown even more.”

Squinting at the patches on their uniforms, the deputy inquired, “Divine? Where’s that?”

Leah snarled and said, “I’d tell you but you’d probably come visit and fuck it up.”

Vincent chuckled and squeezed her. “Shhh, now, little jailbird.”

She looked up at Vincent and in a barely discernible voice said, “I’m happy to see you, but don’t get the impression that you’re off the hook. I told Evelyn not to call you.”

Vincent had the decency to look ashamed and murmured, “I know. Hank called us. He’s in with Harmon right now setting this all straight so we can spring our little jailbird.”

James leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, honey.”

“Am not,” she said. “I’m a mess. He pulled me down with him when he fell after I kneed him, so now I have road dust and scrapes on my knees, plus I have vomit and skunk spray on me. These have not been my finest hours.”

“He had you on the ground?” James asked and then looked over at Vincent. “Hank will see all of that on the video.”

She whispered, “And I have to pee really, really bad.”

“They wouldn’t take you to the restroom so you could have privacy?”

“They told me that since I was a flight risk, I could pee with Harmon’s daughter standing in the bathroom watching me or they said I could use the toilet in the cell. I don’t think Arnie would’ve minded,” she said, gesturing to the sleeping drunk. “But I did. I’ve been holding it.”

“A flight risk?

“You know me. Rule breaker. Troublemaker. Hell on wheels,” she said with a tired smile.