The Missing Dough(5)

“I don’t give a rat’s left whisker for the lot of you,” he said, some of his words now beginning to slur in earnest. “Butt out, bub.”

Grant suddenly made a lunge in David’s direction, and Bob pulled David back half a step. As he did, Grant had no one to support him, and he suddenly fell forward on his face. He was so sloshed that he hadn’t had the foresight to break his fall with his hands, and when he stood up again, his nose was bloody from its impact with the bricks of the promenade. “He hit me!” Grant screamed to no one in particular.

“I did no such thing,” Bob said calmly, though he didn’t look displeased that Grant had managed to bloody his own nose. “You can ask anyone.”

“Why should I bother? You already told me that they’ll all just lie for you.” Grant spotted Police Chief Kevin Hurley just then, who was making the rounds of the fair and had no doubt heard the disturbance. “Officer, arrest that man,” Grant said as he pointed to Bob.

“Why on earth would I do that? What’s going on?” Kevin asked. “Is there a problem here?”

“That man struck me,” Grant said, his voice slightly muffled as he held a handkerchief against his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

Chief Hurley looked at Bob as he raised one eyebrow. “Counselor, is that true?”

“He was taking a swing at David, so I stepped in,” Bob explained.

“To hit him?” the chief asked, a little surprise slipping into his question as he asked it.

“Of course not,” I said. “Grant fell down all by himself. We all saw it. He didn’t need any help from any of us. He’s clearly plastered.”

“Eleanor, I don’t believe I asked you for your take on this,” the chief said.

“No, but I’m sure you just hadn’t gotten around to it yet,” I said. The chief and I had had more than our share of problems in the past, dating back to our high school years when we’d gone out briefly, but I wanted to make this go away quickly so we could enjoy the rest of the night. “This is Maddy’s ex-husband,” I explained, “and he’s been blustering around town all day that he’s here to get her back, something she continues to tell him is impossible.”

“Is that true?” the chief asked Maddy.

“I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Maddy said. She looked at me and grinned as she added, “And you know that I would have done it if my big sister had been able to let me have a chance on my own.”

“Sorry about that,” I said with a smile of my own that showed I wasn’t the least bit repentant for my actions.

“You’re forgiven,” she replied with a nod.

“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” The chief turned to Grant and said, “You’ve got two choices, the way I see it. You can move along peacefully right now and leave these good folks alone to enjoy the celebration, or you can spend the night sobering up in one of my jail cells.”

Grant snapped out, “Why am I not surprised that you’d side with them? Are you in their pockets, too?”

“Excuse me?” the chief asked in the near silence that seemed to surround him for a moment. Though the question had been posed in a restricted voice, all of those around us knew that Grant was on dangerous ground at the moment.

“Never mind,” Grant said as he started away. Before he could fade into the crowd, though, he said to the group of us, “This isn’t over.”

“For your sake, it had better be,” the chief said.

After Grant had disappeared into the crowd, Bob spoke up. “Thank you, but I had things under control here.”

Before Chief Hurley could respond, Maddy said, “Of course you did. Now, are we going to finish our dance, or am I going to have to ask the chief of police instead?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Bob said as he took Maddy into his arms.

Chief Hurley looked at me, shrugged, and then went back to his rounds of the festival.

David said, “Our dance wasn’t finished either, as I recall.”

“Then by all means, let’s dance,” I said.

As we moved in time with the music, David whispered in my ear, “Why do I have the feeling that this isn’t over?”

“Probably because you’ve been around Maddy and me too much lately,” I said.

“Too much? Never. I dispute your claim that there could ever be too much contact with you.”

“And Maddy, as well?” I asked softly, for his ears only.

“Let’s just say that I’m glad I chose the right sister,” David answered. When I didn’t respond, he leaned back and asked, “Are you telling me that you’re going to let me get away with that?”