Trouble Read online

  “My ex-boyfriend,” I wasn’t going to be tricked into incriminating myself. Was that even legal? “Can I see him, please?”

  Those dimples made another appearance. “Sure, come on through.”

  Constable Heron led me through to a visiting area. A few tables were bolted to the floor, along with their seats. It wasn’t exactly a romantic rendezvous point.

  I waited for prisoner one-nine-three-four to join me. I found some satisfaction in hearing him referred to as a number. I knew I shouldn’t. Weren’t we in bed together less than forty-eight hours ago? I should have felt ashamed but I couldn’t conjure the emotion.

  Finally, Ryan sat across from me. He was wearing prison-issued orange with his hands cuffed together. Good. He needed to be taught a lesson.

  “Have you come to bail me out?”

  I wasn’t sure if I had heard right. “What?”

  “I need someone to bail me out of here. Have you got the money?”

  If the guard wasn’t standing less than three feet away, I would have slapped him right across the face. It took all my resolve not to.

  “I’m not here to bail you out, Ryan. You deserve to rot in here forever for what you did to me. Did you even tell the police I was innocent?”

  At least he had the sense to look guilty, he started fiddling with his cuffs. “My lawyer told me to blame you.”

  “Well I hope you told him that you wouldn’t?”

  His eye started twitching, I knew what that meant. So Ryan was going to use me as his scapegoat. Oh my God, I could pick them. Only the most upstanding gentlemen for me.

  “Ryan! Tell them the truth, I had nothing to do with the damn robbery.”

  “I told my lawyer that,” he said earnestly. His eyes flicked to mine. They were still gorgeous, and now he had that whole bad boy thing going for him. I needed to get out of there.

  “Look, whatever, I’m sure my lawyer will have something to say about that.” Note to self: hire a lawyer. “I came to find my jewelry. It wasn’t in the apartment, what did you do with it?”

  “What makes you think I did anything with your stupid jewelry?”

  “Look around, Ryan, you’re in jail. You tried to rob a bank, don’t pretend you’re innocent.”

  He put his hands in his lap and I knew I had him. I expected a full confession at any moment. He glanced at the guard, was he worried about being overheard or hopeful he would come to his defense if I got violent? I guess I’ll never know.

  “I pawned them.”

  I refused to lunge across the table like I was on a reality show. I just nodded, like a lady. “Where?”

  “Siegfried’s over on Twelfth Street.”

  I didn’t say another word, just stood and stared him down. Perhaps a nunnery would be a good place for me. Jesus couldn’t hurt me, right?

  Ryan seemed to panic as I was leaving. He yelled after me. “So are you going to bail me out or what?”

  I kept walking.

  CHAPTER 3

  I got the dreaded phone call while I was standing in line at Siegfried’s Pawn Shop. “Calm down, Mom. I know you’re upset but I didn’t realize I was robbing a bank. Ryan left that piece of information out of our plans for the day.”

  “You’ve disgraced our entire family. All the ladies at my charity league keep looking at me like I’ve raised a serial killer,” Mom’s voice was getting more high-pitched the longer she went on. “You were on the news.”

  I rolled my eyes, grateful I didn’t have a video phone. “I’m sorry, Mom. I don’t have a time machine so I can’t go back and fix it. All I can do is apologize.”

  I couldn’t hear it, but I knew she was sighing. Really, she should have expected something like this one day. I was no Lily. I was always making mistakes, this was just another one in a long line. She should have been immune to my embarrassment-inducing incidents by now.

  She ranted for another five minutes while I stood in line. Finally, I had to interrupt her. “I’ve got to do, I’m being served.”

  “Served with what? Court papers?”

  I cut her off before she could start a whole new wave of lecturing. “No, at the store, I’m being served. I’ll call you later.” I wouldn’t, but she didn’t have to know that.

  “Can I help you?” The counter assistance asked me. He had one of those horribly thin and creepy moustaches. The kind reserved for pimps and silent movie actors. I didn’t want to guess which one he was.

  I explained about my jewelry. “Can I get them back? I’ll pay whatever is owed on them.”

  “Do you have the ticket?” He leaned on the counter with just one elbow. It was kind of sleazy, I think I knew which moustache guy he was.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “No ticket, no items. Next.” He looked behind me, calling up the woman standing too close to my back for comfort. She stepped up, nudging me as she did.

  “No,” I protested. “I need my jewelry. Please, I can tell you exactly what they look like. They were stolen from me.”

  “Then get the police report,” his moustache twitched at me. “And then come back. Next.”

  He moved onto the pushy woman. I left the pawnshop, empty handed. I tried to recall if I saw a ticket at the apartment. I didn’t even know what it was supposed to look like. Knowing Ryan, he probably lost it. I’m sure he had no intention of actually getting my jewelry back. Especially not when he had to rob a bank for cash.

  Perhaps the cash was to get my jewelry back? Nah, he wouldn’t be that thoughtful. I doubt he ever gave them a second thought once he had the cash in his grimy hands.

  As I walked the block to my car, I heard someone calling my name. At first I thought it might just be echoing in my head like a conscience to torture me but I recognized the voice so I knew it couldn’t be that.

  I turned around and was face to face with Rueben. I think he was mistake number four. “Hey, Rueben, how’re you doing? It’s been a while.”

  “It has been. I saw you on the news this morning, you’re really making headlines. Nice mug shot,” his voice was joking but I’m sure it was just an act. Reuben spent his entire life enjoying the misery of others so he could tell himself he wasn’t the weasel he really was. It took me five months to figure that out.

  “Yeah, well, you’ve got to do something to keep yourself amused, don’t you?” I laughed but I think it only made me seem insane.

  “We should catch up sometime, maybe get a drink?”

  That was never going to happen. “I’m looking at twenty years in jail so perhaps after that?”

  Reuben was speechless, which only made me happy. I stared him down while he grasped for something to say. I decided to make it just that little bit worse.

  “You could always visit me in jail.”

  “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you around,” he backtracked. I smiled politely as he left. Relationships were all fun and games until one of you went to jail.

  I got in my car and drove back to my former residence – our apartment. I needed to get the pawn ticket or I would never see my jewelry again. The ticket had to be in the apartment somewhere.

  I started with the trash cans and worked my way around the apartment from there. I briefly wondered who was going to pay the rent next week with Ryan in jail but I couldn’t find the energy to care. All my stuff was out of there, if the landlord decided to sell everything, then good luck to the grumpy old man.

  I spent an hour turning the place over from top to bottom. I only had the bedroom left and it didn’t offer that many hidey holes. Most of the drawers were empty now and the closet only held a few of Ryan’s good clothes. The rest were on the floor.

  His underwear drawer just held pants. His socks, only socks. I was giving up hope. I checked the bottom drawer last. His boxers were hiding a set of fluffy handcuffs. I had never seen them before. Whoever Ryan was playing cops and robbers with, it wasn’t me. Kind of ironic really. I put them back in the drawer and closed it with a thud.

  The damn ticket was not
in the apartment, I was certain of this fact by that stage. I racked my brain trying to work out where else it could be. Ryan didn’t own anything, it’s not like he had a holiday house or an office to stash things away from me.

  The only other place it could be was in his car. Which was still parked near the bank, it never got its chance to shine as a getaway vehicle. The police never mentioned it in the interrogation, I doubt they would have moved it from the street. Even the parking inspectors normally waited a few days to tow.

  I grabbed Ryan’s spare key and left my car at the apartment. I would drive his vehicle back, perhaps it would help my case if they didn’t think we were prepared enough to plan the escape. I caught the next bus downtown.

  I grew up using public transport. I used to ride it all day long when I was skipping school. I liked the anonymity, the way you could ride with strangers and just be left alone.

  At least, I used to be able to ride the bus like that. Thanks to the news reports, I was the weirdo on the bus that everyone stared at and nobody wanted to sit next to. An old woman at the front kept looking at me, clutching her bag to her chest like I was about to steal it. Thanks to Ryan, I was a leper.

  “Hey, you’re the bank robber,” the male voice came from the seat across the aisle from mine. He said it loud enough to tell everyone on the bus if they didn’t already know. “Shouldn’t you be in jail? Did you escape or something?”

  “I’m on bail,” I whispered back, praying he would shut up and leave me alone. I’d never been on such a slow moving bus before.

  “Oh. They just let you out? Like that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Man, that’s messed up. Aren’t you dangerous or something? I heard you shot someone.” He just wouldn’t shut up. To make it worse, everyone else seemed to be hanging on every word he said.

  I could only see one way out of it. I didn’t just address the man, but everyone. I was done with whispering. “I only hurt people who get in my way or talk to me. Especially on buses.”

  Every single set of eyes suddenly averted to the floor. My own went back to the front of the bus. You could hear a pin drop for the rest of the journey.

  Downtown, my stop finally came. I stood to leave, a path was magically made for me. They were avoiding me like I was the sticky patch on the railing. Apparently I was worse than a mystery goo.

  I walked the two blocks to the bank, cringing when I caught a glimpse of the yellow police tape still stuck to the wall. The bank was open but they were under heavy guard. I could see the beefy security men standing just inside the door.

  I kept my head down and continued walking. Ryan’s car was supposed to be at the corner in the disabled spot, the first in the row. It was the perfect spot to getaway quickly, I can’t believe he had blindsided me like he did. I guess you never expected your boyfriend to be robbing a bank with you. Next time, I’ll be more suspicious.

  “Oh my God, it’s the bank robber. She’s going to rob the bank. Everyone, get down,” a woman shrieked just beside me. I saw her out of the corner of my eye, pointing to me and looking like she had just seen a ghost. I walked faster, trying to act normal. “Someone get her!”

  Everyone on the street looked at me but didn’t stop. Either they didn’t care or didn’t believe the hysterical woman. Nobody tried to get me like she was demanding. I turned the corner to get away from her.

  My day was getting worse by the minute. The place where Ryan’s car should have been was empty. So the police had worked it out and impounded the vehicle. Another bus ride. Great.

  CHAPTER 4

  “I was only thinking about you the other day and now here you are.” Bradley smiled at me, just like he used to – crookedly.

  Initially I had been mortified to see Bradley at the impound lot. However, our break up hadn’t been the worst so I thought I might be able to use him to my advantage. Perhaps I wouldn’t need a ticket there.

  “It’s funny, but I was thinking about you too the other day. We had some good times, didn’t we?” I leaned on the counter, trying my best to be flirty. It might have been easier to pull off if I wasn’t hungry and desperate for a hairbrush.

  Bradley nodded, his grin growing even wider. It actually made it to his other cheek, fixing up some of the crookedness. If he didn’t knock up some other woman while we were together, I might have stuck around for a little longer. “We had some great times.”

  It was time to get moving, I doubted my definition of our great times together would be the same as his. “So… I’m looking for a car I think has been impounded. Think you can help me out? For old time’s sake?”

  “Oh, I guess I could do that. What’s the registration?” He opened the ancient ledger book on the counter between us. His finger was poised.

  “A-U-G-1-9-5,” I said before he started skimming the entries. He stopped at one mid-way down the page. “It’s here?”

  “Yep. It’s going to cost two hundred bucks to get it out.”

  “I don’t want it, I just want to have a look inside it.” He raised an eyebrow at me in question. I guess I did need to explain a little further. “I don’t have the cash right now but I left something in the car that I’d really like back.” It was only partly a lie. Not that I felt any guilt about lying to Bradley. He deserved worse, much worse.

  “We’re not supposed to do that. It’s pay or nothing.”

  “Since when did you follow the rules?” I challenged him, knowing it would stroke his ego. And if Bradley liked anything stroked, it was definitely his ego.

  He stared at me and I shrugged, refusing to say anything further. I could see the cogs in his head turning, thinking what a man he would be to bend the rules.

  “Fine, but be quick about it,” he grabbed the keys off a corkboard and handed them over. “Row five, it should be about the middle. Bring the keys back when you’re done.”

  I thanked him before hurrying away. As I left, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was still with the girl he left me for. His kid would be about two now, I think he had a boy. Or it could have been a girl, I didn’t care to ask. Knowing there was a pregnant woman in his house was the only thing stopping me torching it at the time.

  Ryan was just like Bradley when I thought about it. They were both charming fast talkers. Easy to get me into bed and I was too lazy to get out again. I seriously needed to stop falling for their act. From that moment onwards, I vowed I would be smarter. Perhaps then I could avoid stalking the rows at the council impound.

  I found Ryan’s car and started with the glove box. He had so much junk in there I wondered when the last time he had cleaned it out had been. Probably never.

  Besides an optimistically large box of condoms, there was nothing other than maps and take away menus. Definitely no pawn ticket.

  I looked under the seats, in the back, on the dash, and then finally in the boot. It was at that point that I knew the police hadn’t been the ones to find the car. It had to have been the council, parking in a disabled spot without a permit tended to anger them. Sitting underneath a blanket were two more handguns.

  I have no idea where Ryan got all the guns from or why he had so many, but there they were. The bastard knew I didn’t like weapons and refused to have them in the house, I guess he decided to keep them in the car instead. At least he listened to me occasionally. And abided with my wishes, that was almost sweet.

  Making sure I didn’t touch the weapons, I checked the rest of the boot. The elusive ticket was nowhere to be seen. I locked up the car, returned the keys, and waited for the next bus.

  If the pawn ticket wasn’t in the apartment and wasn’t in his car, I was at a loss for where it could be. Ryan had no secret hiding places, I would have found them. He wasn’t the most subtle at hiding things. With the exception of big things, like his master plan to rob a bank.

  I wondered how he even managed to plan that. At what point did he think robbing a bank would be a good idea? And then how did he come to the conclusion that I would willingly hel
p him? Did he seriously think I would just go along with it once I was inside the bank? I was certain his brain didn’t function like a regular person’s.

  There was only one more place I could check for the ticket and, to do that, I had to return to the police station. And I would have to convince the cops to let me go through his wallet. I think I had a death wish.

  Walking through the station doors, the face of Constable Lucas Heron was starting to appear familiar. Not that it was a bad thing, if there was ever a face to filter through my mind, his was rather nice. Those dimples were to die for.

  “Miss. Cressly, you’re back again,” he smiled and I almost felt my knees go weak. I had to stay strong, I had to remember why I was there and how sneaky the cops were at getting people to reveal too much information.

  “Yeah, I can’t stay away,” I joked, trying not to cry. It was all I had left. “How’s the inmate this afternoon?” Not that I cared.

  “He’s doing well, complaining about the food. I told him if he wanted a la carte service he should have robbed a bank uptown. I hear they have pancakes at their precinct.” Charm was not what I wanted right then and there.

  I decided to cut right to the chase, I didn’t have anything else to lose. If I stayed there any longer, I might not want to leave again. “I was hoping for a favor.”

  “What kind of a favor?”

  “I need to have a look in Ryan’s wallet. It’s not like I want to take anything, I just need to know if he has something of mine.”

  “Sounds cryptic. What is it you are looking for?” His blue eyes were piercing me, I could have fallen into them like they were as deep as the ocean. Stay focused, Tessa, stay focused.

  “He pawned my grandmother’s jewelry and I can’t find the ticket. Without the ticket, I can’t get them back. I’ve searched everywhere and can’t find it. His wallet is my last hope.”

  “And how do I know it’s your grandmother’s jewelry and not the spoils of a previous robbery we haven’t caught you for yet?” Constable Heron said it light heartedly but I think that was only for my benefit.