“Where are you now?”
“I’m still in the Macy’s lot. I thought I’d drive him straight to the pokey.”
“You can’t do that. You aren’t officially hired to do that job. You haven’t got any of the necessary papers to make a capture. Stay in the Macy’s parking area, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
LULA WAS PACING BESIDE her Firebird when I pulled in next to her.
“Where is he?” I asked. “I don’t see him in your car.”
“He’s in the trunk. I couldn’t get him to calm down. He was thrashing around and yelling, so I had to stun him and cuff him, and then I put him in the trunk. It’s nice and quiet and dark in there. I figured he’d be comfy. I keep my trunk real clean. It’s got one of those all-weather liners.”
“We can’t keep him in the trunk. Get him out and we can put him in my Buick.”
Lula opened the trunk and I looked in.
“That’s not him,” I said.
“Of course it’s him,” Lula said. “It looks just like him.”
“Help! Police! Help!” the guy yelled.
I closed the lid on him. He was still yelling, but it was muffled.
I pulled Lula aside. “Did you check for an ID? Did you look in the bags to see if he had receipts for his purchases?”
“Hell, no, I didn’t do any of that. I was too busy wrestling him under arrest. He was totally uncooperative.”
“Maybe because you’ve got the wrong man.”
“Well, I didn’t have the file with me. I had to go on memory. And what about the Escalade? He was getting into a Escalade.”
“Lots of people have Escalades. This one doesn’t have the right license plate.”
“Oops,” Lula said.
I opened the trunk again, apologized, and helped him out. His face was red, and he was sweating.
“She stun-gunned me,” he said. “I thought I was going to die.”
Lula attempted to unlock his cuffs, and he kicked out at her.
“Get her away from me,” he said. “She’s nuts. She’s a psycho.”
I took the key from Lula and got the cuffs off him. I apologized again and told him Lula was on medication and had escaped from her handler. I carried his bags to the Escalade and promised him I would take Lula back to the rehab center. He wanted my name and I told him I was Joyce Barnhardt.
We watched him drive away.
“That was embarrassing,” Lula said.
“We should leave before he comes back with the police.”
“Are you going to the office?”
“No. I’m going to my parents’ house to talk to Grandma about the keys.”
“I’ll follow you so I can make sure you don’t get shot again.”