Heat brushed the side of my face. He had his flashlight on me.
I nodded quickly. “Yeah, we’re fine.”
But my hands started shaking. We shouldn’t have stopped. If we’d just been able to get down into the village, around people…
“Can you pop the trunk for us?” the cop asked, his tone clipped. “You have a bulb out. I’ll check it.”
Us. There were two of them.
“I do?” Ethan shifted in his seat again. “That’s weird.”
The trunk popped open, and Ethan exhaled as I waited quietly, still feeling the heat of the flashlight.
“If you see any bodies back there, they’re not mine!” Ethan called back to the second cop at his trunk, joking.
The car shifted under me a little as the second officer fumbled around at the rear, and I clasped my hands together.
“Congratulations to your sister, Winter,” the officer still at the window said. “Looks like your family’s luck is improving. You must be grateful.”
I pursed my lips.
“So where are you two going?” he asked.
“To my apartment in the city,” Ethan replied.
There was a pause, the heat left my cheek, and then he continued, “Planning on staying a while, Winter?” the officer questioned. “Is that your bag in the backseat?”
I swallowed, my heart suddenly hammering.
And then I hear the officer’s low, taunting voice. “Tsk-t
sk-tsk… Damon won’t like that.”
I turned my face away, out my window. Shit. I knew it.
“Excuse me?” Ethan interjected.
But he was interrupted by the officer shouting from the back. “Found something?”
“What?” Ethan blurted out.
I turned my head back toward their direction.
They found something? In his trunk?
“Step out of the car, please, Mr. Belmont.”
No.
“What is this? What’s going on?” Ethan argued.
But the next thing I knew, his door was opening, and I could feel him getting out of the car. I didn’t know if the officer helped him or he did it of his own free will, but I opened my mouth to speak. “Ethan…” But I didn’t know what to say. They had him now.
Shuffling and mumbling, I could feel the car shift under me as they dug in the trunk again.
But then…
“What?” Ethan shouted. “That’s not mine!”