“Listen, girl, I don’t—”
“No. Nothing you can say will change my mind. I honestly care about this man.” I gave a bitter laugh. “I was naive to think this could work. If I care for him like I claim, the best thing I can do for us both is to walk away now.”
The driver’s side door opened and Chase sank down behind the wheel. “Officer Clairmont is staying here to take down witness statements. Pretty much everyone is saying the same thing, that Schuler started it. Officer Wen is going to take your parents to the station and we’ll book from there.”
“What’re we being charged with?” Mimi demanded.
“Right now, you and Alexa’s parents are being charged with public nuisance and destruction of property.”
Mimi scoffed. “Child’s play.”
Chase met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “I’m afraid, though, Alexa, you’re going to be held on a little more serious charge. But don’t worry, I’ll have you out as fast as I can. Pops had his scanner on and heard the call go out. He texted and said he figured Mimi was involved and he would get hold of Lance. So hopefully Lance will already be at the station.”
Mimi scoffed. “I’m not sure if I’m insulted or proud.”
Chase winked at me through the mirror, and I tried to smile back, but my heart was breaking too much. Here he was being kind again, and I was going to kick him in the teeth.
“What about your dad?” Chase asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Your dad. I know he jokingly said not to run him through the system the other day. But am I going to find something substantial? Outstanding warrant for his arrest, maybe?”
I chuckled. “No. Dad likes to relive his glory days. As far as I know, he hasn’t been arrested in nearly ten years.” I smiled wryly. “I’m the one carrying on the family criminal arrests now.”
It wasn’t just Lance who was waiting for us at the front of the police station, but so was Gilda, Ingrid, Marla, Sheriff, Judge, and Frank. When Mom, Dad, Mimi, and I came through in handcuffs, chaos erupted.
“What’s going on?”
“This is ridiculous!”
“I have my Saxe handy if you need me to pick the lock!”
“Throw away the key on Mimi!”
That last one was from Gilda Rossi.
Chapter 17
Chase held up his hand. “Guys, let us do our jobs, and then they’ll be back out here with you shortly.”
Chase and Wen pushed the four of us through the door and down a narrow hallway that eventually led to a great room of sorts. It was a lot bigger than the small county office I’d been detained in two weeks ago. There were about twenty desks piled high with paperwork and computers, a door that said “Chief,” and three or four smaller rooms that branched off from the main area.
Chase pointed to one of the doorframes. “Through there is where we’ll fingerprint you.”
“Been there, done that,” I murmured.
Once the four of us were fingerprinted and ran through the system, Wen shuffled Dad to a different holding cell for men while Mom, Mimi, and I shared a cell with two women who looked like death.
“Whatcha in for?” the blurry-eyed redhead asked.
“Bank robbery,” Mimi said. “You?”
The woman’s eyes grew wide. “No kidding? Cool. Me and Louisa here evidently got into a fight with one of the bartenders over at Rockin’ Randy’s Bar. Don’t really remember much. Those Wine Wednesdays can be brutal nights.”
Within the hour, the two women were released, leaving just the three of us alone in the cell. I was starting to worry when Chase finally appeared again.
“I have good news and bad news,” he said to us. “The good news is Starla and Mimi are being released with all charges dropped.”
