Warrior of the Ages (Warriors of the Ages) (9 page)

THE LOCAL LABORERS, who’d spent the morning trying to overcharge her and exaggerating the already substantial work the house needed, were suddenly on Beth’s side. The Police Chief himself slapped handcuffs over her wrists and led her across the room by her elbow, but now she had five new supporters who followed, shouting angry protests at him. Despite the cop marching at her side, Beth’s eyes kept returning to the door the brute had kicked down. The relief she felt over that intact door made no sense and she wondered why virtual strangers were more upset about her arrest than she herself.

When her new protectors quieted in unison, Beth looked around curiously, trying to see what had caused their silence. One look at the grim faced Police Chief and she had a good clue. The two carpenters became preoccupied with examining the doorframe again, and even the electrician began helping them. Chickens the whole lot of them, afraid to even look at the Police Chief—like he was a Gorgon for heaven’s sake. The plumbers had gone back to the counter to roll up blueprints and Beth looked towards them.

“Excuse me? Please start on the wiring and get gas to the water heater? I’m not paying any of your quotes though. How about you give me the same rate you give Cliff? I know it’s under the going rate…”

The Police Chief gently nudged her towards the door and she tossed back.

“But since you practically tried to rob me I’d say it’s fair!”

Only Sherman stuck with her, dogging the big cop’s steps and holding in his paunch as they moved through the door and down the porch steps.

“Excuse me, Chief? I’m Sherman Kelts. Surely this is overkill? Is this about her parking tickets? It’s hardly a criminal offense to ignore those, everybody does. I haven’t paid one myself in ten years.”

Easily darting past the man, the Police Chief expertly moved Beth along in front of him, one hand firmly on the small of her back. He didn’t reply. Sherman Kelts raced behind him fussing until the cop opened the back door of his patrol car and put a giant hand on the top of her head, shoving her just slightly less politely into the back seat. He tucked himself into the front and shut his door firmly right in Sherman’s pink face.

Beth piped up from the back of the squad car.

“That was rude. Did you know he’s a lawyer?”

The Chief’s good-looking partner caught Beth’s attention. His dark eyebrows shot up in mock surprise and he commented with a friendly grin, “Uh, oh.” The man swiveled completely in his seat and gave her such a welcoming smile that for a moment Beth forgot she was being arrested and felt like they were old friends. That would be if she had any old friends. Smiling blue eyes glanced towards her arms, which were uncomfortably wedged between her and the seat.

The cop apologized. “I’m really sorry about the handcuffs. Twist around and I’ll take them off. Are you Clan Huron?”

Before Beth could even open her mouth the dark haired cop spun around, facing forward, looking straight out the window. The Chief glared in his direction. Something about his expression suggested a shouted reprimand though not a word had come out of his mouth. Beth could see from the side view mirror that all traces of the nice cop’s smile had vanished. Odder still, the cop then immediately slumped against his seat and closed his eyes. It was the worst acting she had ever seen, like a kid trying to get out of school and pretending to be sick. What the heck was that about?

The Chief was watching her in the rearview mirror and he offered up his first words since he’d slapped the handcuffs on her.

“He has a problem with his blood sugar.”

Beth snorted, for pity’s sake what was wrong with this guy and why on earth did they let this nut be the Chief of Police, for that matter what was up with his pathetic little sidekick?

“He does not have low blood sugar, what is your deal? Why did you do this? Sherman will have half his law firm on this in the next few minutes. He already thinks he has a thing for me. The last thing I need is to be rescued from jail by Sherman Kelts!”

There was nothing about this that made much sense, but she wasn’t angry about being arrested, she was angry about the impending attention of Sherman Kelts. He’d spent the whole morning bragging about his law firm, his house, his condo in Mexico and a recent trip to Europe, the whole time with his eyes glued to her legs. Meeting the Chief’s gaze in the rearview mirror Beth had the distinct impression that Sherman’s attention bothered him too. That made no sense, but it felt true just the same.

The Chief, if she remembered correctly, was Kent Costas. Glancing at the steely eyes in the mirror, still looking at her, she had the oddest sensation that wasn’t really the man’s name. His big hands were squeezing the steering wheel as he began to recite her Miranda Rights. She stared at him through the mirror the whole time, but he avoided meeting her eyes again. Everything about him; his voice, his posture, his wacky partner still curled up against the passenger door, told her they were lying to her. She listened to the Police Chief’s voice, analyzing it for truth and found none. Every perfectly delivered word sounded like a veteran actor, and halfway through his speech he tilted his face so all she could see was his mouth. He knew she knew.

When he pulled up in front of the police station, parking right by the front door, she informed him, “You forgot to tell me why I’m being arrested, Chief.”

There was a very pregnant pause during which, for some absurd reason, she felt certain that he and the cockamamie sidekick were somehow talking about her.

“Driving without a license.”

“Look, I don’t want to provoke you, but would you mind clarifying? You arrested me at my house, where you kicked in my door, put me in handcuffs and now I’m supposed to believe you arrested me for driving without a license two weeks ago? If I were a vindictive woman, I would let Kelts, Phelps & Associates have a go at you. As it stands right now, I can hardly wait to see what this is really about.”

Several officers arrived en masse to escort her from the car. Once she’d been taken by immigration, customs and DEA officials from an airport in Asia, and there had been less of them hauling her off. What was going on here? It definitely had absolutely nothing to do with her stupid driver’s license. The men clustered around her, not like they thought she was a dangerous criminal who would run, but like they were escorting her down the red carpet and thrilled to be doing so. A combination of the absurdity of this situation, and the fact that there was something absolutely spectacular about these men, made Beth smile at them, their faces remained solemn but their eyes betrayed enthusiasm. Despite whatever the whacked chief had going on, and she didn’t know why, but she sensed that there was about nothing these guys wouldn’t do for her, so when the Chief moved out of earshot she asked them for her purse.

“SORRY, CHIEF.” HONOR Monroe opened one eye. “I’ve never met an Orphan of the Inquisition before. Do they all do that unchecked thing with their hearts like she does? I thought she wanted to join with me! Are we going to initiate her into the clan?” His last comment was wistful and Kahtar turned to glare. Honor yanked his door open, and slid out and onto the pavement.

By the time he got to his feet Kahtar was standing next to him, hissing. “Do you not understand the laws of the clan, Monroe?”

“Of course. I’m sorry, Chief.”

“Guard her. Somewhere where she can’t see you would be a good idea.”

“What am I guarding her from?” Honor reached to unlock the strap over his pistol and it took effort for Kahtar not to roll his eyes. The woman had definitely disoriented his rookie.

“From us, Monroe, from the warriors here who will react even more idiotically to the touch of her heart than you did. I sincerely doubt you’ll need your gun for that.”

“Sorry, Chief, of course.” Honor scampered towards the door where the lone jail cell was roomed and vanished through it.

ARRESTING BETH WHITE was simply follow through on Kahtar’s previous threat. The moment he’d seen her he’d known his course of action, he did not make idle threats. It had been his job to chase her off and he’d failed. That was going to be remedied. The problem was what he’d learned in the minutes since his men led her off to her cell. Beth White had not only somehow managed to buy a house in town, a house that should never have been for sale, but she was planning to open a business in it and that could never be allowed.

While compiling a mental list of how to dislodge the unwanted Orphan, one of his warriors found him pacing his office and handed him her rap sheet. Miss White had been arrested dozens of times.

No wonder she took it so well, she’s used to it.

In Asia she’d been arrested for trying to bring seeds from poppies through Customs, in Japan—detained for inciting a near riot? Tanzania for disorderly conduct…. Kahtar rooted through the papers, quickly taking in the information.

The door to his office banged open in the customary Honor Monroe entry, and Kahtar opened his mouth to condemn, but then the tall blonde in question appeared and he shut his mouth in surprise. She stood in the doorway, in her too short dress, shoes with five inch heels giving her at least an inch on Honor Monroe who was staring at her star-struck, but following protocol.

“Chief Costas? Beth White has a driver’s license,” said Honor.

“And a lawyer whether she likes it or not, but apparently that was a good thing today.” Beth watched Kahtar with interest as she spoke, and he was careful to keep his face blank.

A voice piped up from the hallway behind her, Squire Tupper arriving for his shift.

“Well hello there! Are you Clan Huron?”

Squire’s curly red head barely had time to become visible before Honor shoved him further into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

Looking through the frosted glass of the door, at the silhouettes of the departing officers, Beth asked frankly.

“Who is Clan Huron? I’ve never even heard of anyone named Clan but apparently I’m her doppelganger. That’s who you thought I was too, didn’t you? When you stopped me for almost speeding the other day?”

“Don’t you mean when I told you next time I saw you I’d arrest you? Did you forget that part, Miss White?” Kahtar glared at her, but it didn’t seem to faze her. She smiled up at him and there was nothing sarcastic in her look. It was disarmingly sweet. They needed to get rid of her quickly, but suddenly he wasn’t worried about the attention that Beth could bring to Willowyth. That she might discover too much about them seemed a bigger tragedy, because if that happened, her life would be over.

“Being arrested for not having a license seemed a bit irrelevant once I got one—do you need to see it?” For a moment she fished in her big silver bag and then waved the laminated square as she pointed out. “Not that it matters because this was just an excuse wasn’t it? Were you so determined to find a perp this morning that you settled on me? Do you have a quota of dangerous criminals to fill? I am being the bigger person here, Chief Costas. I hope you realize that. I’m not into frivolous lawsuits but, I assure you, Sherman Kelts exists for them. That is who I called with my one phone call, and now I’m going to have to deal with him. So the way I see it, it is only fair that you have to deal with me, as this whole thing is your fault.” She crossed the room and took a seat in front of his desk.