Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

“I have to administer the law equally to everyone. I can’t favor the woman who’s going to take my blood pressure.”

“How about the woman who can order your colonoscopy?”

That made him stop. Another thing he hadn’t thought about. “She’s obviously a professional.” At least he hoped she was. A man’s colon was a sacred thing. A doctor knew that. “Our first meeting didn’t go as well as I thought it would, but there’s always next time. We have to work closely with the clinic. I’m sure I can find a reason to get over there soon.”

“There’s a next time?” Noelle asked.

He wasn’t going to get into this with his teenage daughter. “Don’t you have homework to do?”

“I’m three weeks ahead of pacing.” She shut the lid to her laptop and wheeled herself from behind the desk.

A junior. His baby girl was a junior in high school. Oh, sure, that high school was online, and she didn’t do what other girls her age were doing—like going on dates with boys and giggling with her friends at Friday night football games—but she was a junior.

Had he made the wrong call by not sending her to a physical school? Had he made the right call letting her hang out at a station house most of the time?

Being a parent sucked.

“She’s doing great, Armie,” a familiar voice shouted across the floor. “She took her calculus quiz and got a ninety. Smart as a whip, that one.”

He sighed and started toward the three cells at the back of the building. It was basically a drunk tank, or a place to hold a prisoner before the marshals came to get him. Or her. Except he rarely had female prisoners. Nope. He did have Zep Guidry. He pretty much always had Zep.

“Do you do this to save on rent?” Not that Zep had rent. He was a twenty-four-year-old who still lived at his momma’s. If the kid wasn’t so good-looking, he’d be considered pathetic. Somehow those movie-idol looks of his kept the women coming even after they figured out he was the worst bet in the parish.

“I love it here. It’s my happy place.” Zep sat back on the cot and crossed one long leg over the other. “This particular incarceration isn’t my fault. Look at me. I’m perfectly sober and I didn’t even get into a fight. What you are looking at is false arrest. I’m going to get an attorney this time.”

The only attorney in town was Quaid Havery, and he might bail Zep out, but he was smart enough to know Zep had probably deserved it. There would be no help from that direction. “What did you do?”

“He irritated Roxie.” Noelle moved in beside him. “She’s out back gassing up her vehicle. I don’t think it really needed it. I think she wanted to get away from Zep.”

If she wanted to get away from him she shouldn’t have arrested him. There was an idea.

Noelle frowned like she knew exactly what had gone through his head. “Dad, you are not going to arrest the new doc so she has to listen to you.”

It had been worth a thought. “What’s he in for? And can we get rid of him before I have to feed him? He eats a lot, and the mayor told me I can’t put prisoners on bread and water.”

“We don’t have any bread,” Noelle said helpfully. “We’ll have to order out.”

“I’ll take the gumbo. Wait, we have to heat that up. Maybe a sandwich. Yeah, I’ll have a BLT. Tell my brother to not skimp on the bacon,” Zep said, like eating in lockup was an everyday occurrence.

There were times when he wished his deputy hadn’t fallen hard for that idiot. Mostly those times were always. He could try to point out that Roxie was showing her affection by arresting him, but that could only make matters worse.

“I’m not calling your brother.” He had plans for the night and they did not involve hanging out with a prisoner. Roxie was on nights this week, and he wasn’t going to leave those two alone. The world could explode. “What’s he really in for?”

“Roxie pulled him over for ignoring a stop sign,” Noelle explained.

“I paused,” Zep claimed. “Damn, man, there’s no one out there for me to hit. I like to think of that particular stop sign as more of a suggestion.”

“Then, according to Roxie, he argued with her for twenty minutes, refused to take the ticket, and suggested that she shouldn’t be on patrol during her time of the month.” Noelle shook her head.

Damn, he’d stepped into it. Still, Zep could cause trouble down the line if he ever did find a lawyer who would do more than try to get him out of his numerous parking tickets. Armie’s hands went to his keys and he stopped because he had wanted intel and Zep’s brother was married to Lila’s sister.