Now that. That was a comment Leo would not ignore.
“Miss McAdams is the one who taughtmehow to fly, Crenshaw.” Leo kept his voice calm, but he made sure to speak loudly enough that the reporters could clearly hear him. He was thoroughly tired of misconceptions about the depth of Mattie’s incredible talent.
The revelation caused Crenshaw to explode like a shell fired from one of the Archies on the front line. Leo braced for the blow as best he could, readying to use his left crutch defensively. The McAdams brothers were close but not near enough to reach the fray immediately.
Crenshaw lifted his fist, and Mattie darted toward them. Leo prepared to use his body to protect hers, but Mattie was cleverer than both Crenshaw and him. Instead of placing herself in front of the bully, she simply rose on her tiptoes and tapped the enraged aviator on his shoulder. He jumped like a rodeo bull, kicking up dust as he jerked his body around. He struck brutally but blindly, just as Mattie must have anticipated.
She’d bent her body, neatly avoiding Crenshaw’s wildly swinging fists. The undirected force pitched Crenshaw forward, and he stumbled over Mattie. Using her shoulders and her back, just as Leo would have done, she took advantage of the fool’s own momentum to send him flipping over. Crenshaw landed on the ground with a hard thump. He lay shocked for a moment and then started gasping for air like a bigmouthed bass. Clearly, the wind had been knocked from him.
By the time Crenshaw was able to lift his head, Mattie’s brothers and John had surrounded him. They’d just hauled him from the ground when the rev of a motorcycle rumbled through the crowd, like a faraway thunderclap. Enthused by this additional unexpected drama, the crowd seemed to swivel as a unit to watch the approach of a Harley-Davidsonand a ModelT. By the looks of the blue uniforms of the rider and driver, they were the police.
“Let go of me!” Crenshaw wiggled his shoulders and jerked his arms, but Jake, Otto, John, and Will held firm.
When a policeman stepped out of the car to join the officer on the bike, Crenshaw made a desperate attempt to change tactics. “Help! These men assaulted me!”
In a resounding roar, the crowd denounced the claim. The atmosphere had returned to a carnival-type feeling. More than one person wore a broad, pleased smile, as if tickled to be part of a spectacle that seemed lifted from the picture shows.
The police ignored the hubbub and strode straight through the throng. The older officer, whose steel-gray hair peeked out from the bottom of his hat, stopped in front of the troublemaker. “Mr.Earl Crenshaw?”
Crenshaw’s face purpled in suppressed rage, and his lips squeezed into a tight line. He glared defiantly at the lawman, his body shaking worse than an unbalanced propeller.
“That’s him,” John said.
“I thought so. I’ve seen his picture in the paper,” the policeman said and then nodded to his backup. As the coppers took over from the McAdams brothers and John, the senior officer addressed Crenshaw. “I am arresting you on a warrant issued by the Oceanbreeze police in California on suspicion of attempted murder, criminal trespass, and vandalism.”
Crenshaw twisted and thrashed, but the lawmen resolutely marched him to the awaiting car. They managed to push him inside as he shouted a stream of nearly incoherent obscenities.
When the police vehicles pulled away, the crowd cheered like the audience they were. Amid all the whooping and hollering, Mattie stepped toward Leo, her eyes warm.
“Thanks for saving me,” he said, breaking into a grin.
“Thanks for not getting upset that I did,” she answered, smiling right back.
“You’re tough, Mattie McAdams. I love that about you,” Leo said. “And youdidgive me fair warning that you were going to start protecting me too.”
“That I did.” Mattie’s lips curled with pride.
“I’d kiss you right now, but I don’t want the newspapers filled with that photo instead of you with your Fabin.”
“There’s going to be some snapshots of me flipping Crenshaw to the ground.” Mattie winked mischievously.
“Does that bother you?” Leo asked, hating the thought of anything taking away from Mattie’s triumph, especially when it dealt with that particular scoundrel.
“I kind of like it. It makes it pretty hard to say that I can’t play with the big boys, doesn’t it? Unlike back in Chicago after the scuffle at the Gilded Secret, there will be no doubt who unmanned Crenshaw.”
“Indeed.”
Neither of them said anything right away. In lieu of embracing, they just stared at each other, letting their gazes do all the caressing. Leo had no idea how long they would have stood like that if her brother Jake hadn’t bounded up, wiping his hands, as if he’d finished a dirty task.
“That should be the last of Earl Crenshaw bothering you. You shouldn’t have any trouble now.”
Mattie sighed, and Leo knew exactly what she was thinking. Together they swiveled toward Jake and said simultaneously, “There will always be another Crenshaw.”
Mattie turned back to Leo, her eyes shining a bold, fearless gold. “But we know how to handle them now, don’t we?”
“Absolutely,” Leo agreed, and they returned to staring at each other.
Jake cleared his throat. They ignored him. He tried again. Same result.
