Mrs. Bane looked at him incredulously. “You can’t be serious? She admitted to touching up a horse, Officer Bell. That’s the true crime here. And, while you’re at it, charge her for her terrible grasp of the English language. The world has to have standards, and hers are so far in the dump, it’s criminal. There’s your crime!”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I stayed quiet while the women began bickering again. Finally, unable to stop them, Alex joined me next to the staff, who were all watching them now.
“You don’t need the police, you need the principal or an exorcism,” he told the care workers, holding his hands up in the air. “I’d suggest the latter.”
“We’ve tried everything, but if we try to keep them separated, they go nuts,” the manager said, looking like she was about to rip the hair out of her head. “Even their families can’t figure it out.”
Done with it all, I stormed over to the cart where the tea and coffee were for the residents and filled two cups. Taking it over to the ladies, I put it on the coffee table closest to them and scooted it between their chairs.
“Here you go. Have a great day.”
Both of them stayed silent as I walked to the door, and then at the same time they giggled. I didn’t need to turn around to know they were sipping the coffee or that Alex was behind me. No one in their right minds would stick around to make sure they stayed calm.
As we drove out of there, Alex mumbled, “I don’t know how you do it. Last week you tossed a cookie to both of them, and it did the same thing.”
“Yeah, but a month ago, I tried the coffee trick, and both of them started lecturing me on etiquette and providing cream and sugar when I served ladies their drinks. There was no guarantee it’d work, which was why I walked out of there.”
Restless, I took a turning that led in the opposite direction to where the station was, making Alex chuckle. “I take it we’re running an errand.”
Not answering, I continued driving toward the destination I was aiming for, and when we pulled up behind Naomi’s car, I was glad we’d done it. Every Saturday, she went to the store and stocked up for the week ahead, and today was store day, which meant she had a lot of bags to take in.
Reaching for the door, Alex said, “I’ll give her a hand while you talk to her.”
“Carter, Carter,” Shanti screeched, running up to me and wrapping her arms around my legs. “You arrest the bad guys?”
Knowing how this would play out, I started walking with her still wrapped around me, making sure I didn’t knee her in the face. Giggling uncontrollably, she did some sort of monkey-type swing so that she had her arms and legs wrapped around only one leg now.
“Nope, I haven’t had to do that today, kiddo. But, if you want, I’ll give you my cuffs to go and arrest Alex.”
Bless her, she didn’t let go of me until I got to Naomi’s car, where she was standing laughing at us like she always did, the sun making her hair look a brighter shade of red than usual. Stunning!
“Okay, gimme the cuffs.” Shanti held her hand out, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Not thinking twice, I held them out and then reached into the back of the car. “Make sure you read him his rights, Shanti.”
Oh, she knew every word of the Miranda Rights and could recite them verbatim. I was kind of impressed with her four-year-old brain and scared of it at the same time. Her vocabulary was advanced, I was sure of it, and she didn’t act like I’d expect of a kid her age.
“Hey,” Naomi finally greeted, growling under her breath when I brushed her hands away as she leaned in to pick up some bags. “I didn’t expect to see you guys.”
“We were driving past and saw you with all of this,” I lied. When she tried to reach in again, it was my turn to growl at her. “Naomi, for the love of God, will you let us do the work for you just this once. You look after Shanti twenty-four/seven, and I just want to give you a break once in a while. Could you let me do that?”
Blinking, she straightened up. “I don’t need a hand. It’s not like I do anything major.”
“I’d say raising a kid was major, and I’d also say being a single parent was major. To add to that, you work a full-time job at a police station, which means your days are busy as hell. So, when people offer to lend a hand, just take it.” I always made sure I didn’t swear with Shanti around, but Jesus, it was hard.