“Bad guys,” Lyric corrected.
“More like juvenile delinquents,” Memphis said. “Now that she’s forced them to lower their hoods, I can see their faces more clearly. I don’t recognize the teenagers, so they must not come into my store.”
“They are definitely miscreants then.”
“That’s so sweet. Thank you, Ric.”
“You’re welcome, Firecracker,” Lyric returned huskily.
“Can we focus here?” I asked impatiently. “How many are we talking about?” Their age didn’t matter if she was grossly outnumbered. “How is she getting them to submit?”
“Sorry, E,” Memphis said quickly. “There are two boys and one girl. Maegan brought a wicked-looking ball bat for protection.”
I’d seen my girl swing a bat during co-ed softball games and knew she could handle herself if they got too rowdy.
“None of them are exchanging calculating looks like idiotic villains typically do,” Memphis added. “They look contrite.”
“I’d even say they look embarrassed,” Lyric said.
Adrian made a sharp right into our driveway and sped up to the house. I didn’t wait for him to turn off the car and join me. I ran through the yard and the woods.
“Don’t be mad,” Maegan said when I came crashing into the clearing. “I saw the water main break earlier when I left the salon and knew it would delay you getting here.”
“We’ll talk about this later, Freckles.” Then I turned to the teenagers who appeared to range in age between thirteen and seventeen. “I’ll have to take the three of you into the station so I can call your parents. I’m sure they’ll want to be present when I question you or provide an attorney.”
“Elijah,” Maegan began calmly, “I think this has all been a big misunderstanding, and a misguided attempt on these kids’ parts to save chickens from what they thought was animal abuse.”
“You interrogated the suspects?” I asked in disbelief.
“I’m not a cop, Elijah. I’m allowed to ask questions without Mirandizing them and such.”
“A judge isn’t going to appreciate you questioning them while brandishing a bat.”
“Do you mean the bat I dropped on the ground as soon as I realized I was dealing with kids?” She pointed to the bat which was a good fifteen feet away from where she stood. The kids could’ve easily fled the scene if they wanted to but chose to stay. Of course, Maegan’s sharp tongue was probably enough to frighten them into staying put. “We’re only having a conversation, and I think you should hear them out before you haul anyone into the station. Besides, I know every single one of the little troublemakers’ names and who they belong to, so we can easily call their folks right now.”
“Maegan, they stole property that didn’t belong to them. Their actions can’t go unpunished.”
“That’s right,” Adrian said, finally catching up to me. Later, I would rib him about needing to work out more to keep up with me, but not in front of the chicken snatchers.
Maegan’s green eyes beseeched me to talk to the kids, so I faced them with my arms crossed over my chest and a serious scowl on my face. “I’m willing to hear you out, but the chickens’ owners will have a final say on whether or not juvenile charges are filed against you. One of you better start talking.”
“We didn’t mean to cause trouble, sir,” the girl said softly. Her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail high upon her head and adorable freckles covered her earnest face. I imagined Maegan looked a lot like the girl at that age. “We thought we were rescuing the chickens.”
“How so?” Adrian asked.
“Holly Gundersen said the chickens were being raised as fighting chickens,” she said in a rush.
“Fighting chickens?” I asked. All three kids nodded.
“Clay Morris said it was a bloody, fight-to-the-finish kind of thing,” the girl said then promptly burst into tears. One of the older boys put his arm around the girl and tucked her beneath his armpit so she could cry into his chest. He had the same color hair, eyes, and freckles as the younger girl, so I figured they were siblings.
“We honestly thought we were saving them,” the oldest boy said. His coloring was slightly different, and his skin was missing the freckles, but he had the same shape of eyes, nose, and mouth as the younger two. “We combined our Christmas and birthday money to buy the supplies to build this coop and provide food for the chickens.”
Adrian and I both let out long sighs because busting these kids wasn’t going to make anyone feel good. Still, they needed to learn a valuable lesson.
“Listen, cock fighting is against the law, and you should come to the police anytime you think a law is being broken or someone is planning to break it. You can’t take matters into your own hands.”
“Serious harm could’ve come to the chickens if you didn’t properly set up their coop. You could’ve exposed them to deadly predators,” Adrian added. “Not to mention the stress of taking the animals from their environments could’ve caused them not to eat or drink. I can see you had good intentions, but your actions might’ve had a very negative outcome.”
